• by Wayne Friedman , January 10, 2010

PASADENA, Calif. -- Looking down the barrel at a barrage of critics' questions, NBC Universal's Jeff Gaspin admitted that its critically scrutinized late-night plan didn't work. And for the time being, the network is going back to traditional TV business ways.

Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment, confirmed NBC's plan to rejigger its schedule during the Television Critics Association meeting here -- shifting "The Jay Leno Show" into a half-hour starting at 11:35 p.m., followed by "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" at 12:05 and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" at 1:05 p.m.

This tentative plan would start Feb. 12, after its two-week Vancouver Winter Olympics event concludes.

The major personalities involved were mulling this new plan over the weekend, says Gaspin. Rumors abound that Fox was interested in O'Brien -- or perhaps even Leno -- depending on what is decided around NBC.

In addition, Gaspin says NBC would go back to a traditional upfront presentation in May.

It will share the first day of upfront week, May 17 -- with NBC presenting in the morning, and Fox going in the afternoon. He said its recent "infront" presentations, which occurred earlier in the spring, did not give advertisers a clearer picture because its development process was still in flux.

in regard to "Leno," Gaspin say the change was largely the result of stronger complaints from network affiliates. "Starting in November, the affiliates called and said: 'Our local news is being impacted much more than we expected,'" says Gaspin.

"In some cases, [stations said], we had the No. 1 news; now we are No. 3." The drumbeat was louder and louder. In the middle of December, stations said they were going to be more vocal in their displeasure."

From a network viewpoint, Gaspin says, "advertising was never an issue" with late-night programming. "Right now, the advertising marketplace is incredibly healthy. We don't have enough supply to meet demand."

He notes that the marketplace continues to be strong for both shows with little or no inventory to be sold -- all at higher rates than the upfront.

"When this change leaked, I got emails from our ad sales guys saying our advertisers are very supportive of Conan, very supportive of Jay," he said.

In particular, Gaspin says, Ford Motor executives called -- the car company has a significant media-buying and product integration deal with "The Jay Leno Show." But going forward, executives say, Ford may need to alter its deal, should "Leno" move out of prime time.

Leno's show delivered 30% fewer ratings at 10 p.m., but Gaspin says the time period was profitable. However, competitors didn't exactly profit fully. "We lost nine-tenths of a rating point; [but] CBS was down a tenth of a point. ABC was also down a tenth. They didn't get to take it all."

What will replace "Leno" at 10 p.m.? Gaspin projects that at least two scripted dramas, one "Dateline" and one reality show will slot into the Monday to Friday 10 p.m. time periods. After the Olympics, NBC will be launching new shows, including the drama "Parenthood," new reality show "The Marriage Ref," and "Celebrity Apprentice."

Critics wondered why NBC could not stick with the "Leno" plan for the longer term -- at least 52 weeks. When Leno took over for Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" in the early 1990s, Gaspin says it took him 18 months to become really comfortable.

But in this new, more immediate TV market, he says, this wasn't possible: "I wish we could give them more time to get comfortable in their new environments. But we weren't able to. If we had a 52-week opportunity, we would have had a much better sample to know whether this was right or wrong. For the network, it was not yet a wrong decision."