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/

Edited January 8, 201015 yr by JaneAusten

Big Jaw should go f*ck himself.

And he started the reignition with the infidelity jokes by saying, "I didn't sleep with my staff for nothin'."

And it wasn't just one cheap shot. There were several.

You know how everyone slows down on the freeway to look at a car wreck? The equivalent happened for Conan O'Brien's last appearance as host of "The Tonight Show." After weeks of controversy over NBC's efforts to return Jay Leno to the late-night schedule and O'Brien's decision to leave rather than get pushed back to a post-midnight starting time, 10.3 million people turned out last Friday to watch his final broadcast, according to figures released today by the Nielsen Co.

That was his largest audience since moving into the "Tonight Show" job last June 1. His premiere telecast had drawn 9.2 million viewers.

For the week, "The Tonight Show" averaged 5.3 million viewers, leaving David Letterman and his "Late Show" far behind with 3.9 million. That was O'Brien's best showing since his first week on the air, when he averaged 6.1 million.

Letterman still leads in the season-to-date figures, however, averaging 4.2 million viewers to O'Brien's 2.8 million. Leno was averaging more than 5 million viewers when he hosted "The Tonight Show."

Leno alluded to that differential in the interview with Oprah Winfrey that was broadcast today. "If you look at what the ratings were, it was already destructive to the franchise," he said of O'Brien's showing. "...This was the first time in the 60-year history of 'The Tonight Show' that 'The Tonight Show' would have lost money and that's what it comes down to. It's really just a matter of dollars and cents. If the numbers had been there, they wouldn't have asked me."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2010/01/conan-gets-his-biggest-ratings-with-finale.html

Leno alluded to that differential in the interview with Oprah Winfrey that was broadcast today. "If you look at what the ratings were, it was already destructive to the franchise," he said of O'Brien's showing. "...This was the first time in the 60-year history of 'The Tonight Show' that 'The Tonight Show' would have lost money and that's what it comes down to. It's really just a matter of dollars and cents. If the numbers had been there, they wouldn't have asked me."

But they didn't ask him to take over The Tonight Show. They were going to give him a 30 min show until Conan decided to leave. If they were really that unhappy with Conan's rating why didn't they just fire him and move Jay back to the tonight show initially. I understand Conan had a contract but NBC could have initiated the buy out, but they didn't.

Ken Tucker isn't exactly a Leno fan, so take it with a grain of salt, but I thought this was a good writeup about that Oprah appearance.

http://watching-tv.ew.com/2010/01/28/jay-leno-oprah-winfrey/

Late night fans got the surprise of a lifetime during the second quarter of the Super Bowl tonight when they saw Jay Leno sitting side-by-side with David Letterman in a promo for CBS’ Late Show. Appearing with Oprah Winfrey, Letterman laments about how bad the party is, and Leno retorts “he’s just saying that because I’m here.” Minutes after the spot (embedded below), CBS sent out word that the two late night stars taped the spot last Tuesday at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City. The spot was a revisit, of sorts, to a 2007 Super Bowl spot that featured Letterman and Winfrey. A Late Show spokesman said the spot was Letterman’s idea, and Leno and Winfrey were willing participants.

The promo was all the more surprising given the beating that Leno took last month by his fellow late night competitors over Conan O’Brien’s departure from NBC. Letterman was particularly critical, though he’d just as quickly turn the negative spotlight on himself by reminding everyone that NBC still didn’t want him for the Tonight Show. NBC, in the meantime, now has an uphill battle on its hands in having to promote the new Tonight Show with its old host Leno, though one insider commented that today’s promo certainly makes it a little easier. “It does a lot for all three in the commercial,” said the source.

And it certainly fits nicely with NBC Chairman Jeff Gaspin’s strategy of marketing Leno’s return with “some humor and a wink, not a sledgehammer.” “We will certainly be more subtle,” he told EW last month. “Fortunately the positive side of this public battle is that everybody knows what is going on, so you don’t have to create awareness. All we have to do is gently remind people when it starts. We’ll have the Olympics as a platform to let people know that Jay will be back on The Tonight Show starting March 1.”

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/02/07/jay-leno-appears-with-david-letterman-in-super-bowl-ad/

Best damn ad all game. Certainly took me and my friend by surprise.

Thanks for posting that article.

Apparently… According to LA Times… Craig Ferguson is the most interesting person on late-night TV canvas:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-ferguson14-2010feb14,0,334675.story

Plus, Leno's farewells:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-last-guest9-2010feb09,0,5693730.story

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-leno10-2010feb10,0,2301891.story

'The Tonight Show' still has to worry about tomorrow

That article is generally very kind to NBC -- they don't point out just how useless and boring Jimmy Fallon is (he has been foisted on the public for over 10 years now and the public have consistently rejected him), or that one of the problems with Leno's show wasn't that people don't want to see comedy at 10 PM, but that the show was dull and tired.

Here's another article, which also sort of has a puff piece attitude towards Jay. They don't point out that he was already losing viewers even in his last year on the air.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35595855/ns/entertainment-television/

He has very low expectations to meet. If he gets back a good percentage of his viewers, which I assume he will, expect a lot of press fawning about how America loves him and NBC won and all the rest.

NEW YORK -- "Saturday Night Live" creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels predicted Tuesday night that Conan O'Brien would prevail after his recent departure from "The Tonight Show" and NBC.

He also said he is not in a hurry to retire, because he is very engaged in the show and enjoys it. "There will be a time for that," Michaels quipped. "It will be very difficult for me to stop."

He also said he feels it is important to keep an old-school variety show on the air as networks nowadays wouldn't launch a new one. "This will be the last of it," he said.

Michaels, who used to executive produce "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," said he originally picked the comedian because he was "very smart," "just brilliant" and had an "amazing character." After early struggles, he prevailed, he added. "And I'm sure he will again," Michaels added.

He made his comments at "Live From New York," a discussion led by the New Yorker's Ken Auletta with Michaels and "SNL" head writer Seth Meyers.

Michaels danced around the question about the reason for the O'Brien-Jay Leno disaster. "There was a lot of worry and concern" that Leno could go to another network when the transition to O'Brien as "Tonight Show" host neared, he said, which is why Leno was given the 10 p.m. slot. But this meant that O'Brien did "not necessarily" have a good lead-in.

Meyers suggested the original promise to make O'Brien Leno's replacement years before the actual handover was problematic, too. "You can't tell someone that you want to stay married for five years" and then get a divorce, he said.

Various questions Tuesday night surrounded SNL's celebration of its 35th anniversary this year and its longevity.

Execution is more important than the comedic idea, Meyers and Michaels said. The former mentioned the popular "Dick in a Box" skit with Justin Timberlake as one example of an idea that might not have sounded as funny before it was written and performed to perfection.

Michaels said skits must play during the dress rehearsal, with the best sketches seeing performer and writing in perfect harmony. "It's almost never the idea," he said. "It's all about how you do it."

Auletta also asked Meyers about a comment by Tina Fey that "30 Rock" character Jack Donaghy was modeled after Michaels. "There are definitely a lot of seeds of Lorne in Alec Baldwin's character," he said.

The event was organized by the New Yorker and the S.I. Newhouse School.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3ibe85493aa8b41330d32b436ad9f97cf9