Jay Leno may regain 'Tonight Show' perch (Updated)

Could Jay Leno get his old job back?

According to sources familiar with the situation, the network is in discussions about putting the comedian back on at his original 11:30 p.m. perch, either as a lead-in to "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien or replacing him altogether.

NBC officials declined to comment on that specific scenario, the latest of a flurry of rumors to leak out of the peacock network today.

The television industry website FTVLive kicked off a series of reports today about Leno’s future in a post that said NBC had decided to cancel the show. Such a move would amount to a major retreat by the network, which has insisted that stripping Leno’s comedy show across the week has been a success financially, even if the ratings have been lackluster.

Leno's late-night replacement, Conan O'Brien, has not performed well either, and now apparently the network wants to put Leno back at 11:30 and slide O'Brien to midnight, according to people close to the situation. The news that NBC was considering bumping O'Brien out of his time slot was first reported by TMZ.

[Updated 4:50 p.m.: NBC just released a statement regarding O'Brien's future. "We have the best comedy team in the business. We remain committed to keeping Conan O’Brien on NBC. He is a valued part of our late-night line-up, as he has been for more than 16 years and is one of the most respected entertainers on television."]
 
NBC has felt tremendous pressure from its affiliates over Leno's performance and have been pushing the network to return to scripted programming. This season NBC has averaged 5.34 million viewers at 10 p.m., a 29% drop from the same period last season.

[Updated at 5:20 p.m.: Leno addressed the rumors head-on during his monologue tonight, joking that NBC stands for "Never Believe Your Contract." Read more details on our Showtracker blog.]

-- Joe Flint and Matea Gold

Comments

[D]

i guess a half hour of Jay at 11:30, an hour of Conan at 12:00 and then Falon is the best compromise.

What NBC should have done from the beginning was make Leno a one or two time a week show at 10:00, so that it wasnt over saturating the market and they should have tied Leno and Conan in together so that they could work off each others talents.

[Mo Zeb]

Oooooohhhhhh............this is gonna get expensive!!!!!

[L.A. Max]

I recommend that that the current LATE NIGHT host, Jimmy Fallon, be replaced by Arsenio Hall.

As for Jay Leno, he needs to return to the road and stay on the road during standup comedy.

As for the Tonight Show, give Conan O'Brien another two seasons. When Leno tok the reigns from Johnny Carson, it took Leno two or three seasons to reach his plateau.

[Observant]

I love the "Jay Leno Show", the whole family watches his show, my teenage daugther and her friends enjoy Jay also. I would love to see Jay go back to his old slot, but am okay with the cyrrent 9:00 show. Just don't take him off.

P.S. Conan sucks!!! And is lame, we never watch his show

[delta6]

Conan was never funny - He's a dweeb who can't interview and has no timing. He should have been kicked off of his old show a long time ago and replaced by Jimmy Fallon who does have talent. I hope Jay gets his old job back for the full hour and send Conan packing.

[delta6]

Conan was never funny - He's a dweeb who can't interview and has no timing. He should have been kicked off of his old show a long time ago and replaced by Jimmy Fallon who does have talent. I hope Jay gets his old job back for the full hour and send Conan packing.

[bayou boy savage]

please go back to original deal,this new line up has been making me sick

[Peter]

Jay Leno is the most overrated talk show host EVER.

[JZ]

Replacing Leno with Conan was not a good decision in the first place ... that is unless you want to appeal entirely to adolescents. I, for one , like Leno earlier, perhaps that's so I can still relax watching, the get things done around the house, and get to bed earlier than 1:00 AM, (without always watching him on the DVR.) If Leno was going to be replaced, Jimmy Fallon would have been a better choice to continue the Carson lineage. He's underspoken, good humored, able to bring out the best in the guests, and is down to earth enough to keep it real. What ever the decision, getting rid of Conan would be a good start.

[LA Times Reader]

Just get rid of him already! Clearly, the people have spoken and are not interested. Make way for the next generation and pay them handsomely with 1/10 of what Leno makes.

[woofwoofy]

The guy must have more money than God, certainly more cars, why not just retire and have one less pointless voice on the airwaves?

[Jake]

Jay just isn't funny. He never has been. It is amazing that he has been on this long. Perhaps this was NBC's way of getting rid of him - put him in a time slot where the wide awake crowd won't watch him.

[nc]

It's a shame they canceled so many good shows to accommodate Leno. The DIY channel is more entertaining.

[Aaron]

Only allowing Leno a half an hour show won't work. After his monologue, and a short skit, the half an hour will be up. These idiots at NBC should have never booted Jay out of the Tonight Show seat to begin with. Conan O'Brien has been a disaster, whose rating are horrible. It's no surprise the executives at NBC come out looking like the true morons they are.

[Takeshi]

This is exactly why viewers are leaving NBC. NBC is bringing back Leno even though everyone knows he does a low quality show. Conan does a high quality show and NBC will punish him for it.
In the past, NBC stuck with quality (Seinfeld, Cheers, etc.) and over time, it paid off tremendously. Now NBC abandons quality and the viewers over time will abandon NBC.

[Bryan]

Leno had his generation. I guess he has issues letting go. Conan speaks to my generation. He wrote one of the greatest Simpsons episodes!! The man has witty comedic timing. If anything, axe Falon. All he does is laugh akwardly at his own bad jokes. Jimmy is not funny. He's uncomfortable to watch.

[Andy1619]

I had predicted that Conan would fail if he did not change his ways, and I had given Conan DETAILED ADVICE and analysis about how he could avoid failure. That advice was posted (by Andy1619) over about THIRTY PAGES beginning over eight months ago at the Tonight Show website under the video An Important Message From Conan O'Brien which can be found among the earliest Behind the Scenes videos.

The link to those comments is:
http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/clips/an-important-message-from-conan-obrien/1094769/

Conan chose to ignore my advice, and he must now bear the consequences.

[delta6]

Conan was never funny - He's an awkward dweeb who can't interview anyone and has no timing. He should have been replaced by Jimmy Fallon along time ago and removed from TV altogether. I hope Jay gets his old show back from the full hour and send Conan packing.

[jerry]

This is the best compromise. Personally, I think the retirement from the show was too soon which is why they're in this mess in the first place.

[David]

What they shoulda done was get rid of Jay and not give him another show to screw up.................

That guy is sooooo NOT funny!!!!

[SV]

That would be SWEET!!! Conan is so not funny anyway. NBC was stupid to let him muscle his way into that spot in the first place.

[gdobbs]

Conan pretty much sucks. The only hosts that make it work are the former stand-up guys and gals like Leno and Ellen. Dump him altogether or I'll keep watching Dave.

[Artur]

What they should have done was to give Jay Leno a desk. That would help a lot.

[julie Runco]

Just cancel him ... he's not worth it.

[legalchick]

Don't screw with Conan! He rocks!