Jay Leno hits the prime time

The show will go on for Jay Leno.

NBC officially confirmed Tuesday what the entertainment press had been reporting all weekend: Beginning next fall, Jay Leno will have a comedy show that will air five nights a week at 10. Five years ago, NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker arranged for Leno to hand off "The Tonight Show" next May to Conan O'Brien. But that didn't mean NBC didn't want to be in business with Leno, said NBC Entertainment co-Chairman Marc Graboff during a press conference on Tuesday.  Graboff added that Zucker has been wooing Leno for a long time.

Leno, who attended the conference, said he does not want to stop working and, although there has been a lot of interest from rival networks to land him, he'd rather stay on familiar ground.

"I'm still in my first life," Leno said. "I'm comfortable with all of the people I work with. And it just makes it easier."

Leno said his new show will begin with a monologue and will include sit-down chats with guests but will spend more time on the street.

"We would not have done this with anybody but Jay Leno," Graboff said.

-- Maria Elena Fernandez

(Photo courtesy NBC)

Comments

[nat turner]

Great more McCain is old , Bush is dumb , Kim Kardasian is loose in the caboose , Americans are fat , and now there is something so deliciously funny about Ann Coulter breaking her jaw . No class . Allen , Paar , Carson had it , Leno and Letterman , not a drop .

[JSP]

Leno rules. His automotive site is great. The tonight show is great. I wish him continued success in his new show.

[TJB]

I don't really see the point in all this! First he's quitting the Tonight Show. Conan is taking over. Great! Personally I can't sit through more than 1minute of Jay's Tonight Show anyway. So now that he's quitting, there's going to be a nearly identical Tonight Show style show on at 10 PM, an hour and a half before Conan's Tonight Show starts? What the?? None of it makes sense. Why did Leno even bother stepping down from the Tonight Show, if he's actually still doing the show, but in an earlier time slot? Whatever...
Letterman is the reigning King of Late Night after Johnny Carson stepped down. Always as been. Even Johnny Carson himself said so. Enough said.

[Liz]

This is wonderful news. It goes to show that sometimes Nice Guys do finish ahead. From what I've heard (from people who've bumped into Jay around town), he really is one of the nicest guys out there.

All the best to you, Jay!

[charles krup]

I wonder how they are going to script the new show. I had a friend on the leno show, and you know that a lot of what jay says is scripted, he looks at a teleprompter. I jay's a bit too low brow for me, but the masses seem to like him, and intellectuals are a dying breed in the U.S.

[Jeff]

Good move. I never cared for Conan and Letterman is about as funny as a heart attack. Jay's ratings are much higher than Letterman's for a reason. He's better.

[JB]

All this so NBC can save on scripted shows like The Mentalist. I won't watch Jay. I won't contribute to the decline of evening television more than it already has.