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

Bitch is dumb as hell!

She chooses to put a REALITY show in the post-Superbowl slot? Instead of one of her scripted series, like The Mentalist, which could use that kind of post-Super Bowl boost?

She better be confident she has another Survivor on her hands. Otherwise, it's gonna look so stupid.

Well, I for one will miss the broadcast nets for a while...but not so much. Their day certainly seems to be coming to a close.

Mark, the game changer here is local news and emergency information. I don't think the public would stand for nothing but cable channels with no local newscast, no local weathercast, and what about local emergency broadcasts?

Mark, the game changer here is local news and emergency information. I don't think the public would stand for nothing but cable channels with no local newscast, no local weathercast, and what about local emergency broadcasts?

Well you can get that to some extent on cable also. Here in the Chicago area we have CLTV which is cable and all local and all local news and stores for the most part. Not saying it's ideal or that a cable station like this could be sustained in smaller media markets.

From Variety:

Conan O'Brien was stung by NBC's decision to downgrade him to after midnight, insiders close to the host said over the weekend.While it's still unclear whether O'Brien will accept the NBC proposal, it's pretty clear the host – who only assumed the "Tonight Show" chair in June – is not happy about it.

"It's radically unfair what happened to him," one source said. "He turned down a massive offer six years ago with the promise of eventually getting the 'Tonight Show.' And then he never really got the 'Tonight Show.'"

It was Fox's overtures to O'Brien in 2004 – with a salary believed to be as much as three times what he was making at NBC – that led to the Peacock's unusual five-year "Tonight Show" succession plan.

Under that setup, O'Brien agreed to remain on "Late Night," but take over for Jay Leno on "Tonight" in 2009.

O'Brien did indeed receive the "Tonight Show" gig – but ultimately, he still wound up airing second on the night behind Leno's 10 p.m. primetime strip.

Industry players characterized the new plan – half-hour Leno at 11:35, "Tonight" at 12:05 and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" at 1:05 – as just the latest quick-fix solution employed by NBC.

"The 'Tonight Show' is not the 'Tonight Show' at 12:05," an insider said. "By definition, 12:05 is tomorrow."

NBC said talks with O'Brien's camp will resume on Monday, although nothing has been scheduled yet.

"I think Conan's motivation will become more clear as time goes on, but what was important to me is that I gave Conan something that was very important to him, which was 'The Tonight Show,'" said NBC Universal TV Entertainment chair Jeff Gaspin.

Also at the NBC portion of the TV Critics Assn. press tour, former NBC star Jerry Seinfeld –now exec producer of the Peacock's "The Marriage Ref" – got into the fray.

Seinfeld, who was Leno's first 10 p.m. guest, said he didn't think O'Brien had reason to be upset.

"I don't think anyone's preventing people from watching Conan," Seinfeld said. "I don't think anyone has done anything to Conan. There are no rules in show business."

Leno's 10 p.m. play may have just delayed what may now be an inevitable fact: That between Leno and O'Brien, there may be only room for one at NBC -- and Peacock execs have thrown their weight behind Leno.

"After 17 years of late night success they know what works, and now they're trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again," said one exec.

One sage pointed out that the Leno/O'Brien five-year plan was a very General Electric-style solution to the problem of trying to keep both hosts at the Peacock – but it's now coming back to haunt the net, right when Comcast is poised to acquire a controlling stake in the net from GE.

Much of O'Brien's decision will rely on his other options – and it's still unclear whether he'll be able to find a more attractive setup.

Cable would still mean a smaller audience, and no late-night talker has worked in syndication since Arsenio Hall (and even Hall's show was ultimately hurt by the fact that syndie shows can easily be downgraded to worse time slots).

The most obvious alternative to NBC remains Fox, which at the very least was looking on Friday to play the role of spoiler in NBC's attempts to keep Conan O'Brien.

As the Peacock and O'Brien continue to hammer out his future at the network, Fox is now sending not-so-subtle hints that it would be willing to launch a late-night franchise around the carrot-topped comedian.

"We've always been interested in late night and we're always looking to bring great new talent to Fox," a network source said. "While Conan would be a great fit for Fox, he's still under contract with NBC, so we'll just see how all of this plays out."

(ABC, meanwhile, seemed to close the door on O'Brien: "With all due respect to Conan, we like the late night hand we are currently playing," the Alphabet said in a statement.)

How serious Fox might be about luring O'Brien away remains to be seen. Some Fox insiders were earlier dismissing the idea, noting that Fox's owned and affiliated stations do quite well in late night with off-net sitcoms.

Stations wouldn't make nearly as much money by giving up that local time to clear a network talker -- and the ratings declines experienced by "Tonight" under O'Brien (although much of that can be attributed to NBC's woes, not O'Brien) wouldn't help.

Fox has made rumblings through the years that it would like to get back into the late night game, having recently launched the Saturday night yakker "The Wanda Sykes Show."

But the net -- which first launched in late night, with 1986's "The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers" -- has been scared away from the daypart ever since 1993's "Chevy Chase Show," considered one of network TV's biggest debacles of all time. (Its other foray into the time slot, the news/comedy hybrid "Wilton North Report," was another disaster.)

Insiders confirm that under Fox's deal with affiliates, it has the right to clear a late night talker.

The net wouldn't do so without first consulting with stations, however. Fox may offer an attractive alternative to O'Brien, who would air at 11 p.m. on Fox -- a full hour earlier than his best-case scenario now at NBC. What's more, he'd be going from the last-place network to the first-place web among adults 18-49.

There's also the issue of O'Brien's contract with NBC, and how tough it might be to negotiate an exit.

Quipped O'Brien on Friday's "Tonight Show": "I do have to let you know that until this whole thing is sorted out NBC lawyers have asked me to refer to this program as 'The Sometime-at-Night Show With Some White Guy'."

Conan gets some jabs in finally, Leno a bit and now we have Letterman chiming in.

I happen to agree with Leno. This is the most PR NBC has gotten in months. It's own soap opera. It seems to have caused a bit of an upswing for Conan viewers. I'm actually surprised Leno's numbers haven't risen a tad also.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/01/12/video-conan-not-going-down-without-a-fight/38484

O'Brien issues a statement

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/01/12/conan-on-conan-at-1205a-do-not-want/38604

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I

want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second

feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I

love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky.

That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my

bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight

Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson

every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant

everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed

up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally

hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the

future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would

have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of

ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting

audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months,

with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their

terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their

long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight

Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years

the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I

sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to

accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider

to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight

Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move

I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David

Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot.

That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be

unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy

hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is

for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably

hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The

Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its

destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the

Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I

believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set

the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have

no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this

quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of,

for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair;

it’s always been that way.

He's right about the huge changes this move will bring. I think the Tonight Show brand needs a lot of repair work, moving the timeslot would be just one of many problems, but I can see why he feels the way he does. His comments are generally very classy, considering the circumstances.

I wonder if NBC might just let him leave and put Leno back on the Tonight Show.

He's right about the huge changes this move will bring. I think the Tonight Show brand needs a lot of repair work, moving the timeslot would be just one of many problems, but I can see why he feels the way he does. His comments are generally very classy, considering the circumstances.

I wonder if NBC might just let him leave and put Leno back on the Tonight Show.

I agree. I hope CO finds a soft landing place.

Wow. Conan ain't playin'!

Watch him leave! And I am glad ABC said they like their latenight schedule. I like it too. At least I like the first half hour of it.

BTW, I am down with another Law and Order, one set in LA.

I'd prefer if they tried to bring back Trial By Jury or at least make it a different show with the same concept.

I'm so over all legal and medical dramas. NBC should take their lead from cable and do something fresh. Obviously, they can't be as gritty as the cable shows, but they could come up with some fresh concepts. A good way to start is by setting the show in a city that isn't NY or LA.

Truth is, late night talk has become a bore, a revolving door of mostly male faces that are either long in the tooth (Leno and David Letterman), utterly uninteresting (the Jimmys, Fallon and Kimmel, and Carson Daly) or too quirky for the mainstream (Conan O'Brien and Craig Ferguson).

Like much old-school television programming, late night talk TV is dying, a slow painful death, the victim of a fickle customer who votes with the remote, who has the attention span of a hummingbird and who is only too happy to switch to a more compelling electronic amusement when the medium comes up short.

It's nice to know that once again, the viewer gets the blame for the failure or a TV format. They somehow put down most of the talk show hosts, but also put down viewers for not sticking with the hosts they disdain.

so the question i have is this... morning tv is dying. daytime is dying. evening is dying. primetime is dying. late night is dying? or, is it just network tv that is dying?

It's nice to know that once again, the viewer gets the blame for the failure or a TV format. They somehow put down most of the talk show hosts, but also put down viewers for not sticking with the hosts they disdain.

No, I don't think it's a condemnation at all.

It's a matter-of-fact: people just having a zillion choices and being not really all that interested in any of them.

I also didn't see them putting down viewers. If anything, their thiking follows a straight line: hosts are dull, thus people are switching channels.