Jay Leno Set To Take Back “The Tonight Show,” Says Report
While NBC has not issued a public confirmation of the story, all indication at press time were that a deal was being finalized to restore “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” at 11:35PM on NBC.
If the deal goes through as was first rumored in a TMZ report, Conan O’Brien’s show would be removed from the air to make way for “Leno.” “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” would stay put at 12:35AM, leading into “Last Call with Carson Daly” at 1:35.
NBC had initially offered a public denial of the report, but the latest word from THR and NBC insiders is that while the deal has not been finalized, it is most likely going to happen.
Upon pulling “The Jay Leno Show” from primetime, NBC pushed to bring Leno back to 11:35PM with a nightly half-hour installment of his show. Conan O’Brien would then host “The Tonight Show” at 12:05AM; “Fallon” would air at 1:05AM.
In a lengthy statement, O’Brien made it clear that he would not participate in a scheduling move that pushed the legendary “Tonight Show” franchise out of its timeslot; with O’Brien not willing to accept NBC’s proposal, it appears the network will begin scheduling late night without him.
The date going around for O’Brien’s final broadcast is January 22, but that has not been confirmed.
This is bullshit! Conan deserves the spot and should keep it at his usual time. Leno is just having a sad cause his show is crap and he cant get over it. A show that he promised to quit 5 years ago!
I am thrilled Jay will be back in his rightful spot as leader of the late night talk shows!!
Obviously, he is more popular than Conan O`Brien, or his show would never have remained in the NUMBER ONE spot for 17 years!!
It was NBC`s crazy idea to move Jay..and it flopped terribly! So much for the YOUNGER generation being better…IF it Ain`t Broke, Don`t Fix It, as the saying goes..Hope NBC finally learned its lesson!
Conan can pack his bags and move on…