Jay Leno's Primetime Show Canceled
Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
The primetime Jay Leno Show has been canceled, NBC execs confirmed at a Television Critics Association panel Sunday morning.
"Starting Feb. 12, The Jay Leno Show will no longer air at 10 p.m.," network chairman Jeff Gaspin said. "While it was performing at acceptable levels for the network, it did not meet our affiliates' needs, and we realized we had to make a change. My goal right now is to keep Jay, Conan [O'Brien] and Jimmy [Fallon] as part of our late-night lineup."
Leno's primetime show has struggled in the ratings since its September debut.
"I think you have to take chances. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't," Gaspin admitted.
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Gaspin said he proposed "that The Jay Leno Show move to 11:35, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien move to 12:05 and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon would then start at 1:05."
But the deal is not yet sealed.
"The talks are still ongoing," Gaspin said. Leno joked last week about moving to Fox and The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that O'Brien -- who relocated to L.A. last year to take over the Tonight Show -- may also be considering a jump to a rival network.
Still, Gaspin said Leno, O'Brien and Fallon "were incredibly gracious and professional" when told about the schedule switch.
Last Call with Carson Daly, which airs at 1:35 a.m. could be in jeopardy, but Daly will "be part of NBC regardless of what happens," Gaspin said. "We're fans of Carson. There could be some rejiggering."
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27the only thing i like from jay is headlines and jay walking and the only thing i like from fallon is when he goes on a commercial break hahaha
Best thing to ever happen to TV. Jay stopped being funny a long time ago. Get rid of his @ss completely. The best NBC can do.
What Conan should do to screw NBC: I read on TMZ that Conan is owed $80M ($20M per year) less whatever he gets from another job. He should go to Fox with a 5 year contract. The first four years at $30k and the last year for $99,880,000. Make NBC pay the $19,700,000 difference for those first 4 years and then have Fox pay him in year 5. Conan would get $80M from NBC and $100M from FOX. Not bad for 5 years of work.
Never saw the point of replacing the number one show in late night. What bone heads the execs at NBC are. Conan never really caught on at the tonight show either.
Actually your both right! One is the American English (1 L) and the other is British Canadian English. Which also has the difference in spelling words like flavour (flavor) or doughnuts (donuts) so there :P
actually, it only has one....idiot.
CANCELLED HAS 2 Ls idiots!!!!!
Who cares? David Letterman is funnier than Jay and Conan put together!
People, just watch Letterman, he is the best at comedy, always has been, always will be. You don't have to approve of his personal life. He may not like yours either.
David Letterman's show should've been canceled. The dirty old man.
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Do u know what will happen if you put "black " "white " "finder"and ".""com" together? then you will get the URL, It's a nice and free place for Black Women and Black Men , or White Women and- White Men to interact with each other. Maybe you wanna check out or tell your friends.FREE TO JOIN.C'MON NOW!!!
Yaaay! So glad to see him out of this time slot! His primetime show was taking away shows that are actually entertaining like Dateline. Jay's primetime show was boring and almost never funny. I hope Jay's not gone for good, though. I hope they ditch Conan and give Jay his old time slot back bc Conan's show now and always has been awful!!!
I'm sad to hear this, but I hope his next time slot draws more viewers. Either way, thanks for the years and years of laughs, Jay! XOXO
Yes! Jay is not funny at all. Some of his sketches are mildly amusing, but that has everything to do with the writers and guests and nothing to do with Jay. Maybe this means the return of quality shows to the timeslot. Bring back Southland!
Ha!! We all told you not to put Kanye on the show or we wouldn't watch the show. Guess everyone followed through. Yes! Bye Bye!!
Yeah, I agree, Jon. I was wandering about Carson. If Jimmy's show gets pushed back later, too, what will happen to Carson's show?
I don't find Jay Leno funny at all. I prefer Conan.
the real anon....spoken like an ageist idiot who can't see past the end of his nose, and wouldn't know real comedy if it bit you in the @rse. Jay is way funnier, knows how to focus on his guests, and can manage to get a laugh without resorting to crudeness. Yeah, Conan's a riot...anyone remember the "self-pleasuring" bear? Really funny....*note sarcasm*. Anyone can get a cheap laugh with dirty humor...it takes a real comedian to get one without it. BRING JAY BACK TO THE Tonight SHOW!!!!
He left the Tonight Show just to do another show that was virtually identical to the first. Why leave in the first place?