Leno's 10PM Slot In Prime Time: NBC Move Keeps Leno From ABC

NEW YORK — Jay Leno treated his move to prime time at NBC like all headlines _ as monologue fodder.

"A lot of people were shocked," the host of "The Tonight Show" joked Tuesday night. "They didn't know NBC still had a prime time."

The network announced Tuesday that Leno will get a show five nights a week at 10 Eastern, after he leaves the "Tonight" show next May. The network had announced nearly five years ago that Conan O'Brien would move to "Tonight" and succeed Leno.

Leno, 50, made light of his possible jump to another network, playfully telling stagehands: "Guys, leave those boxes. We're not going anywhere."

He also said reports about a possible move "were nothing but rumors started by a disgruntled employee: me."

Leno joked that his longtime rival _ CBS' David Letterman _ would try to one-up him with a scheduling change by having a show at 9:59 p.m. (Earlier this year, Letterman said he wants to continue hosting his "Late Show" past 2010.)

Letterman's only allusion to Leno's deal in his monologue Tuesday came at the very beginning: "Welcome to the 'Late Show,'" he said. "Still at 11:35."

Craig Ferguson on CBS also had a little fun with it. "Jay's getting a little older now," Ferguson said. "So 10 p.m. is kinda 'late night' for Jay."

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Leno's deal also has the potential to be a big cost savings for NBC. A talk show is considerably cheaper to produce than the dramas that usually air at 10 p.m. Eastern.

Leno could now deliver his nightly monologue and sketches to more viewers. Generally about 50 percent more people are watching TV at 10 p.m. than at 11:35 p.m.

Dramas used to be a mainstay of network schedules, and NBC's own history at the time slot includes "ER," "Hill Street Blues," "Law & Order" and "L.A. Law."

Yet dramas have been fading in recent years. One reason is digital video recorders; more people are watching shows they taped earlier than the live 10 p.m. shows.

Ten years ago, "ER" was the top-rated show in television, with an average of 25.4 million viewers. This season, its last, "ER" is averaging 9.9 million viewers and is ranked No. 33 in prime time.

Besides "ER," NBC this season airs "Law & Order" and its "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" spinoff in the 10 p.m. time slot _ both shows that could easily move to an earlier hour. "My Own Worst Enemy" and "Lipstick Jungle," shows in the 10 p.m. hour on Monday and Friday, have already been canceled.

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NBC is owned by General Electric Co.

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On the Net:

http://www.nbc.com

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AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle contributed to this report.

Comments

[Dennisjr]

Congrats to Jay Leno...

[waxandwane]

Agreed that Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert are the Masters of Late Night - no question.

However, I must digress when it comes to Conan. He is the only one that entertains me in a funny, silly, entertaining way. He is goofy, irreverent, self-deprecating, totally original, and often he has good up-and-coming, interesting new bands. His skits (Triumph, etc are awesome)!I think guests are more comfortable around Conan and relax when they are on his show.

Plus the hair....go­tta love the hair......

[jankvkleve]

Minor correction: Leno is 58, not 50.

[deminmo]

I have to admit, I was a Johnny Carson fan. Never really cared for
Leno and barely watch Letterman let alone the other late night
shows. Will Leno be able to carry a prime time show primarily
done with late night humor? Well, good luck and good night.

[Cos1]

With the invent of Youtube and other internet sites, Leno and Letterman are becoming irrelivant. If he was loosing viewers in his original time slot, what makes them think more people want to see him at prime time. People do have shows they watch during primetime and I don't think Jay is enough of a draw to pull them away. NBC must love being embarrassed by the fact that they can't do something original and actually entertaining. Rehash the same ole, same ole stuff. Guess I will continue to watch cable.

[jaydon2]

Jeff Zucker should be the one given the boot.

In recent memory the best shows have been new and original in concept and production. All we have from Zucker is a repeat mentality.

CSI was new, original and daring. It didn't insult the intelligence of the viewer. If the viewer didn't understand the tech terms they had to learn or watch something else. The audience learned. Zucker came up with Crossing Jordan.

Ghost Whisperer gave us Medium.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire gave us a number of game shows with Deal or No Deal making a good showing.

Survivor gave us countless hours of unwatchable reality TV.

Lost gave us Heroes.

The Today Show gave us an additional 2 hours of the Today Show.

The Tonight Show is giving rise to The Jay Leno Show.

Law and Order is almost 20 years old. ER is 14 and going away.

My question is: what new, original, bold and daring program did Zucker approve? His last few successful programs have been copies of successful British programs.

NBC needs someone new and willing to take chances instead of Zucker who is hiding in his office waiting for someone to create a successful program and then coming out with a clone.

[UncleJimbo]

The whole concept...­..Crash,Bu­rn!

[kassandranobody]

I went to see leno in person once and it was amazing how funny he was until he put his jacket on.

I have never thought he was interesting to watch, I think he thinks he is johnny, that's how outdated his show is

no one will watch his new show

he is gone

[toocoldout]

I like Jay.

[ReelBusy]

Ben Silverman said they are trying to build their comedy brand and create Tivo-proof programming.
Yet Tonight Show/SNL TV humor is not Tivo proof because the two minutes of actually funny clips of each episode will be online at NBC.com or Hulu or here at HuffPost etc with 6-12 hours.
So that theory is wrong.
You can either have broadcast/online synergy or be tivo-proof.
Not both.

Also the 10pm time slot is when all the Emmy qualified shows tend to run because that's when the grown-ups watch so NBC is essentially abdicating any Drama Emmy's during Leno's prime time run.

Also I'm curious if anyone thinks a daily monologue will work before the pump priming info in the 11 o'clock news.
Historically in television the news sets up the viewer with the info needed to get the late night show joke.
Knowing this Jon Stewart's The Daily Show also acts as the news and informs the viewer about the story - then he tells the joke.

Ben, Just because the viewers don't like the shows you picked to be on the air does not mean the basic structure and business model of your network, late night programming and the TV business in general is broken. It means the public didn't like your shows versus the other networks shows.
maybe you should make better shows instead of abdicating prime time, reshuffling hosts and extending late night.

[pixy242a]

Except that news is available and repeated throughout the day. No need to watch the late news to follow current events.

[AprilPA]

When you're the fourth place network like NBC, they don't have much to lose by putting Jay in the 10 PM slot on weekdays except falling to the fifth place network behind the CW if Jay doesn't work out at 10 PM.

This really looks like a cost cutting move to me. It saves money now that they don't have to produce as many expensive dramas to fill up that 10 PM slot.

[kennybean]

Jay Leno s u x. Who's his demo, 85 year olds?

[Tamalpais]

I actually think that this may backfire on them. While it may be easier to watch at that time there will be more competition. Let's face it by 11:30 how many choices are there? I also think that by making him more accessible the casual viewer will soon grow tired of him. Kind of like when "Who wants to be a Millionaire" was on almost every night.

[Clare53]

I dropped acid on Mt. Tam in 1969.

[Imzadi]

Would have been fun to join you. Flashback?

[1logicalthinker]

You have the right to remain silent...

[mredder4]

This move also serves to cut the knees out from beneath Conan, who will have to make sure that his comedy isn't something that's already been done by Leno and aired an hour and a half hour earlier. Conan's being set up for failure to placate Leno's ego.

Shameful.

[devadasi]

Leno, Letterman, Conan: all a bunch of homoginized crap....on­ly worthwhile talk shows are Bill Mahr and Charlie Rose.