NBC Confirms Leno Moving to Late Night, But No News on Conan
USA Today reports that NBC has now confirmed that Jay Leno's show will end with the start of the Winter Olympics and when those are over, Jay will be returned to late night. But it's still up in the air whether Conan will stay or move to Fox, and what format Jay's should would take if Conan decides to stay and be bumped back to a later timeslot.
NBC on Sunday confirmed plans to drop The Jay Leno Show from its prime-time lineup after his Feb. 11 show, and return him to late night on March 1, after the Winter Olympics, in a half-hour format.
"While it performed at an acceptable level for the network, it did not meet our affiliates' needs, and we need to make a change," NBC Universal TV chief Jeff Gaspin told TV critics at their semiannual gathering.
Leno will return to his old perch at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT, and NBC has asked Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien to move to 12:05, with Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 1:05. But it has yet to hammer out a deal with O'Brien, who must agree to the change in his contract.
"I'd like to tell you we have a done deal, (but) that's not true," Gaspin said. "Talks are ongoing" with O'Brien, and "my goal and my hope is he will stay with the network." Fox has publicly expressed interest in having O'Brien move to a late-night show.
Gaspin expects to resolve the situation before the Olympics starts on Feb. 12, and said that Leno, O'Brien and Fallon "were incredibly gracious and professional" in meetings to discuss the issue last week.
The odd man out if O'Brien agrees is Carson Daly, who now hosts a late-late night show at 1:35 a.m. His show would be dropped, but, Gaspin said, "Carson will be part of the NBC family regardless of what happens."
So if Conan stays, Jay's new show is only half an hour long? And what if Conan goes to Fox? Does Jay get the Tonight Show back? The entire situation has been totally mishandled, and it's still not resolved. What a mess. Jay and Conan deserved better treatment than this.
