I read tonight that NBC is set to announce they’re holding onto Jay Leno in a most unexpected way. Now, as many of you may know, NBC worked out a deal with both Leno and Conan O’Brien a couple of years ago in which Conan would inherit The Tonight Show in fall 2009. Since then, it’s been announced that Jimmy Fallon would take over Conan’s slot. And Jay would….well, no one really knew what Jay would do. Unlike, say, Johnny Carson (and there’s a little debate about how much Johnny really wanted to leave too), Leno didn’t really want to go. Whereas Carson had The Tonight Show for 30 years, Leno had had hit for about 15. And all indications were he still loved doing it. But NBC was desperate to hang on to the younger-skewing Conan, whose contract was due to expire. So they worked out this deal, and, for a while anyway, Conan was happy, NBC was happy, and Leno ….. if not exactly happy, he at least had a lot of money.
But then there began speculation about Leno moving to another network after his gig on The Tonight Show ended. There were serious rumors that he might head to ABC and take over the 11:30 p.m. slot there (moving Jimmy Kimmel back to 12:30 a.m. and displacing Nightline altogether). Meanwhile, The Tonight Show, under Leno, was still doing well in the ratings, still topping Letterman every night. People in the industry started to question the wisdom of the Tonight Show move (it didn’t help matters that the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson — which in most places airs directly after Letterman; just not in CT — had caught up with Conan in the ratings). NBC’s ratings also continued to fall into the toilet. Simply put, if Leno were to hop to another network, it would not have been a shining moment for the Peacock Network.
So, it seems, based on stories in The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter and other outlets, NBC has managed to retain Leno. They’re not letting him keep The Tonight Show. Instead, they’re giving him a new, five-nights-a-week talk show, airing…..weeknights at 10 p.m.
This is a big deal. A five-nights-a-week talk show has never been done in prime time before. This is basically NBC throwing in the towel, at least on the 10 p.m. hour. Now they’ll only really have to focus on 8-10 p.m. Monday-Friday (as they schedule repeats on Saturday nights and air football from 7-11 p.m. on Sundays). You have to wonder what’s going to happen to some of their shows. The highly-rated SVU still airs at 10 p.m., as does the still-decently-rated original Law & Order. (ER airs at 10 too, but this is its final season.) If they return next season, it’ll have to be at an earlier time. So what gets the axe? Knight Rider? Chuck? ….. Heroes? Or does NBC actually decide to cut back on some of its reality shows, like Deal or No Deal and The Biggest Loser? (Don’t hold your breath.) Also, if Leno’s new show does well, do ABC and CBS follow suit? After all, a talk show is significantly cheaper to produce than a scripted, original drama.
Leno’s apparently going to take all his Tonight Show trademarks — like “Headlines,” “Jaywalking,” etc. — with him to the 10 p.m. show. So basically, it’ll be The Tonight Show, just at 10 p.m. And Conan, who was poised to be the star of NBC Late Night, now finds himself in the odd position of hosting The Tonight Show but still playing second fiddle to Leno. Also, you gotta wonder what this means for Jimmy Fallon and his new show. After two hours of late-night talk, who’s gonna stick around for a third? And you know this means those tiny little ratings for Last Call with Carson Daly will get even….tinier.
As pretty much a lifelong student of television and its history, I found tonight’s news fascinating. And I don’t really like it too much either. Like I said, this is basically NBC throwing out an hour of prime time every single night, and that’s really kind of a shame. There’ll be less original, scripted programming on the network now (because like I said, don’t hold your breath that a reality show will meet the chopping block), and as a fan of scripted TV, this disappoints me a little. It’s the network cutting costs, and the viewer that suffers in the end. Well, I suppose if you’re a Tonight Show with Jay Leno fan, you’re not suffering. But I’m not a fan; he seems like a nice guy, but his humor just seems to aim a little too much at the lowest common denominator. I prefer Letterman, but actually like Conan better than both of them, so I was really kinda looking forward to the fall of ‘09. Now, a little less so.
Tags: Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, Late Night, NBC
