This was one of Carson's last shows. He had announced his upcoming retirement and NBC had decided on a replacement. At the time, Letterman hosted the NBC show after Carson's time slot, Late Night with David Letterman. Letterman expected to become Carson's replacement on The Tonight Show, which would have amounted to a promotion -- the earlier time slot was seen as more prestigious and the job could be expected to pay more money. NBC executives chose to offer the position to Jay Leno instead. Rumor had it that Carson preferred Letterman himself. There was a lot of media buzz about the choice, and some bad feelings between Letterman and Leno. Ultimately Letterman left NBC and hosted a competing show on CBS, The Late Show with David Letterman, in the same time slot as Leno on NBC.