Jay Leno moving back to the Tonight Show?

[JaneAusten]

That's the rumor and according to this and TMZ, it's happening right after the Olympics.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2010/01/is_nbc_moving_jay_leno_back_to.html

TMZ Drop

http://www.tmz.com/2010/01/07/jay-leno-nbc-conan-obrien-tonight-show/

[Toups]

I think it's going to happen.

I feel bad for Conan and Jimmy Fallon. Jeff Zucker really botched this whole 10pm thing.

[JaneAusten]

And Comcast keeps Zucker. Go figure.

[Toups]

I think Zucker will eventually be out in a couple of years and he's there to deal with the merger.

Hopefully this will be the last of Zucker's ideas. And I hope Gaspin and Bromstad will choose good shows (well, shows that I want to watch LOL) for the fall.

[JaneAusten]

They had Southland which had potential but I hope they use this chance to do some decent programming and not just a bunch of retreads and ripoffs. Honestly I read about them remaking The Rockford Files and just about puked. Much of the reason that show succeeded was James Garner. You can't replace him. And USA owned by NBC Universal actually has some interesting original programming. I hope they take their lead. Zucker, I wish he was gone yesterday but I get his reason for being there. I just wonder how NBC is going to plug the holes in the schedule Leno's move to 11:30 will leave.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I've never seen a network waste a ton of money on stupid ideas and creative strategies like NBC has done over the past several years.

Jeff Zucker is poison, I don't even think Comcast needed to keep him for the transition, I mean, LOOK at the way he's conducted business at NBC over the past couple of years. They should have cut their losses and started fresh.

[JaneAusten]

I worked at 2 fairly good sized corporations that went through takeovers,working in marketing and I can tell you in the long run keeping the old for transitionary purposes turned out to be poison.

But really what else has NBC spent money on the past few years. Not much. A few shows. They've continued to live off the last breath of their early decade and 90's successes and not investing anything. If anything, Zucker and his meddling has killed the successful shows they did have. Moving Law and Order all over the schedule has been catastrophic. They dinked around with Heros also.

We all know the Leno story. Actually Leno, who never wanted to leave 11:30, is probably laughing his *ss off. Yeah his show was a flop, but Conan as been as big or a bigger one.

[EricMontreal22]

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/update-nbc-plans-leno-at-1130-conan-at-12/?hp

[Toups]

Some of Jay's monologue for tonight's show.

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/nbc-indicates-changes-coming-to-jay-leno-show-due-to-affiliate-issues/

[DRW50]

NBC should have interfered in Heroes years ago -- by firing Tim Kring.

If Leno never wanted to move out of his timeslot then they were definitely stupid to move him.

I wonder if viewers will flock back to him after all the changes. I wouldn't be surprised if they do, as there is no real competition anyway. Letterman is an acquired taste.

[JaneAusten]

Hey I quite liked Providence, maybe one of the few. Was never a Heroes fan but it was clearly a winner and NBC just kept dinking around with it.

As far as Leno, hasn't NBC been bragging about the fact that Conan's been beating Letterman the past few months in the 18-49 demo? If so what's the beef. I do think moving Leno was a mistake but I kind of wonder if moving him back is really capable of fixing the damage in late night. And NBC still has to figure out what to do with the 10:00 PM slot.

Letterman and O'Brien are to me very much alike in terms of being an acquired taste. I always felt Letterman was too "edgy"(I hate that word) at the time Carson retired and why Leno was awarded the gig. But that seems to be what NBC wants now.

There is an annual meeting NBC is having with the affiliates in a couple of weeks and the speculation is that his is what drove them to this decision(whatever it is).

[DRW50]

I think NBC generally supported Heroes once the show became a hit. It got tons of promotion and I didn't hear a lot about network interference. I think it was the poor pacing and stories in the second season which started the rot, and I think they should have looked at the top.

Sometimes I think the networks use 18-49 as a defense mechanism. The least Conan should be doing is beating Letterman in 18-49, since he is a generation younger than Letterman and his show was, for a while, considered somewhat hip.

I think if NBC is moving Leno than their biggest worry may be stopping the bleeding in the 10 PM slot, and then, to avoid complete humiliation, they're going to put him back where he came from and Conan can go back to his old slot. Jimmy Fallon, he hasn't been popular since somewhere around 2001, so who cares about him.

[JaneAusten]

Maybe it was just my perception because NBC seems to change the timeslots for some of it's shows frequently. Law and Order which I know some find stale now, is still one of my favorite shows(I actually have enjoyed most of the casting changes over the years also - not all - Dennis Franz was a big bust), it has brand recognition, is a hit in syndication, yet they seemed to struggle finding a home for it. They've even done that with the now more successful SVU version.

The thing about Leno was that did he really want to retire or was it NBC PR spinning this because of Conan's contract and their fear of losing him like they did Letterman years back. I am not a late night TV watcher. Personally I don't care what they do with who but Fallon - who's brainstorm was that Zucker? But perhaps you're correct. If they move Leno back and keep Conan, they can save themselves from looking like complete morons, well at least in their eyes.

[Sylph]

Does anyone have Heroes last ratings? 18–49 and HHs?

[JaneAusten]

No idea but I know The Bachelor based on ABC's press release killed them the other night.

And NBC should pay attention to morning TV also. I have a feeling ABC is going to start gaining with George Stephanopolis joining their show plus the fact that Matt Lauer is an arrogant windbag. Well so is George.