The future of NBC now rests on Jay Leno’s 58-year-old shoulders.
NBC yesterday made it official: The network is giving Leno five hours of primetime (weeknights from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.) next fall. It’s the first time any TV star has been handed the responsibility for this many primetime hours on consecutive evenings.
True to form, America’s favorite late-night comedian made light of the whole thing at a news conference in Burbank.
“Originally, I wasn’t going to stay with NBC, but I remembered something my parents told me as a kid,” said Leno, who was seated on a stage between Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, co-chairmen of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. “They said, ‘Whatever you do in life, always try to come in fourth’!”
Leno said the new show, tentatively titled “The Jay Leno Show,” will incorporate some of the more popular elements from “The Tonight Show,” including his nightly monologues and signature bits such as “Headlines” and “Jay Walking.”
Leno’s promotion from late-night to primetime means Conan O’Brien, 45, will not immediately become NBC’s top comedy star, despite his elevation to host of the storied “Tonight Show.” “This is a happy ending. It’s very nice,” O’Brien said in his “Late Night” monologue last night.