Conan O'Brien's ratings are soaring as he nears a bitter exit from NBC's “Tonight” show, his ridicule of his network executives apparently resonating in a country filled with the unemployed. His ratings Friday were 50 percent higher than they've been this season, and he beat CBS' David Letterman, according to a preliminary Nielsen Co. estimate based on large markets. In the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that NBC relies on to set advertising prices, O'Brien even beat Jay Leno's prime-time show. Settlement talks continued Saturday on a deal that would let O'Brien leave NBC and restore Leno to the 11:35 P.M. time slot he occupied for 17 years through last spring. O'Brien's ratings have been rising through the week, which was an extraordinary one in late-night television and saw O'Brien and Letterman hurling barbed remarks at Leno, and Leno firing back.
