Shake-Up: NBC To Move 'Leno' Back To Late Night

NBC has a plan to put Jay Leno back where he found success: in late night. Under pressure from affiliates, NBC may move Leno to a new time -- 11:35 p.m. weeknights, -- per a New York Times story. One caveat: NBC executives said Leno would move to a half-hour format, pushing Conan O'Brien to a 12:05 a.m. start time.

There have been various reports about the Leno move. An industry Web site called FTV said Leno's show would be canceled once the Winter Olympics begin in February. The TMZ Web site, citing undisclosed sources, said Leno's show would go on hiatus Feb.1.

Officially, NBC said no final decision has been made.

The network said in a statement Thursday evening: "We remain committed to keeping Conan O'Brien on NBC. He is a valued part of our late-night lineup, as he has been for more than 16 years and is one of the most respected entertainers on television."

The Leno move would also impact Jimmy Fallon, who would begin his show at 1:05 a.m, wrote the NYT, citing network executives, who said the new lineup would kick off after the Olympics Feb. 28.

NBC will pre-empt prime-time and late-night shows during the Winter Games.

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1 comment about "Shake-Up: NBC To Move 'Leno' Back To Late Night".
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  1. Jonathan Mirow from BroadbandVideo, Inc., January 8, 2010 at 1:57 p.m.

    Let's face it, most people who don't live in New York watch the local evening news and then watched Leno, simply because they were reading in bed or too lazy to hit "off" on the remote. He hasn't updated his schtick in years - the first time we all saw "Found on eBay", it was funny, five years later - who cares? The remote interviews with "stars" were either boring or embarassing and we know people found on the street of LA (or NYC for that matter) are idiots. So where's the attraction? Conan is awkward and annoying, the new "half hour" Leno will last exactly that long - too bad, he's been tuned out. Buh-bye.

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