Michael Fiorile, NBC’s affiliate board chair, referred to the network’s decision to pull “The Jay Leno Show” from primetime as a “great move.”
“This is a great move for the affiliates, the network and, most importantly, the viewers,” said Fiorile of NBC’s proposal to move “Leno” to 11:35PM, where it would serve as a lead-in for “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. “Speaking on behalf of the board I thank the network for keeping the lines of communication so open, and for being so responsive to the needs of the affiliates.”
News broke this weekend that effective February 12, NBC will remove “The Jay Leno Show” from its current 10PM timeslot. Because moving “Leno” to 11:35PM would mean pushing “Conan” to 12:05AM and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” to 1:05AM, more talks are required before NBC can finalize its new late-night lineup.
Fiorile’s full statement to the press: “This is a great move for the affiliates, the network and, most importantly, the viewers. Speaking on behalf of the board I thank the network for keeping the lines of communication so open, and for being so responsive to the needs of the affiliates. We admire their willingness to innovate, and their willingness to change course when it didn’t work for us. We were delighted to collaborate on the launch of the 10:00 PM show, and we look forward to continuing to work with Jeff Zucker and the entire network leadership team as we set a new direction, build on our long history together, and contribute to the impressive legacy of NBC.”