Leno to stay at NBC (VAR, LAT, WSJ, NYT, THR)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Ending months of speculation, NBC will move Jay Leno to the 10pm weeknight slot next fall, after he hands over the �Tonight Show� mantle to Conan O�Brien. The move solves a pressing issue for NBC: How to keep Leno at the network and away from the competition. It also saves O�Brien from having to compete against Leno who could have landed at another network in the 11:35pm slot.

ABC, Fox and Sony, among others, had expressed interest in Leno.

The move to put Leno on at 10 completely alters the primetime landscape as it heads into next season. With Leno in primetime and with Sunday Night Football consuming four hours on Sunday and repeats on Saturday, NBC may program as few as ten hours of traditional primetime fare next fall.

The move also probably signals an end, at least for now, to NBC's ambitious and costly 10pm dramas, notes The Los Angeles Times. "ER" is ending its run this season, and new efforts have failed to find viewers.

According to insiders, when NBC U president Jeff Zucker finally sat down with Leno last month to map out the 10pm strategy, the late night king almost immediately signed on.

As part of his new deal, insiders have suggested that Leno could make between $40 million to $50 million a year. No matter what the network pays Leno, the result will be huge cost savings given that an hour of scripted programming can cost about $5 million to make while the talk format is considerably less expensive.

Still, the network is essentially wiping out any long-term windfall a hit series could achieve in domestic syndication and foreign since a talk format has limited backend possibilities beyond a time-shifted second window on cable, notes The Hollywood Reporter.

The new show is expected to be set in Leno�s longtime studio in Burbank and he is expected to retain many of the most popular elements of his �Tonight Show,� says The New York Times. One �Tonight Show� staff member told the NYT that the new program would not be a variety show.

The offer of a weeknight primetime show is not a new idea. Zucker offered David Letterman an 8pm show in 2002 when he was contemplating whether to renew his CBS contract and NBC also went to Johnny Carson in the late 80s with a similar idea but Carson turned it down, says the NYT.

Peter Lassally, the longtime late-night producer of shows starring Carson, Letterman and now Craig Ferguson, told the NYT, �It�s all different now. The economic factors have changed so much it makes complete sense for NBC to try this.�

Leno will air his final "Tonight Show" on Friday, May 29, with O'Brien taking over on Monday, June 1.

O'Brien had reportedly been told that such a move with Leno was going down, and was informed on Monday that it would be official. According to insiders, the O'Brien camp feels that it's better to have Leno as a lead-in than as a direct competitor, says Variety.

"It's great for us," a source close to O'Brien told THR. "We're really excited because the alternative is him leaving angry and going to another network, competing against Conan. What it means to the drama business is another story."

Related Links

NBC moving Leno to 10 p.m. slot (VAR)
Jay Leno lands at 10 p.m. as NBC cuts program costs (LAT)
NBC Plans Prime-Time Slot for Leno (WSJ)
Where Is Leno Going? To Prime Time, on NBC (NYT)
Jay Leno given new NBC show (THR)