CHICAGO — NBC has unveiled its post-Winter
Olympics lineup, officially canceling “The Jay Leno Show,” but the
network offered no comment on reports that Conan O’Brien will leave
the network as Leno reassumes his role as host of “The Tonight Show.”
Late Thursday, the network, owned by General Electric,
said the 10 p.m. slot currently occupied by the failed Leno program
will include, beginning in early March, the 20th season of “Law &
Order” on Monday nights, a new drama called “Parenthood,” based
on the 1989 film of the same name on Tuesdays, and “Law & Order:
Special Victims Unit” on Wednesday evenings.
On Thursday nights at 10, the network will offer a new panel
comedy show called “The Marriage Ref,” produced by Jerry
Seinfeld. “DatelineNBC” will air at 10 on Fridays.
NBC representatives declined comment on reports that
embattled “Tonight” host Conan O’Brien, who has refused a move
to 12:05 to accommodate an 11:35 “Jay Leno Show,” may leave the
network as soon as next week.
There has been widespread speculation that O’Brien could
jump to Fox, which is owned by News Corp., though some Fox affiliates have
been cool to the idea.
(News Corp. also owns MarketWatch, the publisher of
this report.)
NBC clearly took into account O’Brien’s possible
defection when it signaled Leno’s return to his old time period.
“Even at 10, he obviously had a built-in audience that
will presumably follow him to 11:35,” said Bill Carroll, vice
president and director of programming at the media buying firm Katz
Television Group. “So if Conan leaves, Leno goes back to hosting ‘The Tonight
Show.'”
After NBC moved Leno out of his “Tonight
Show” slot to a 10 p.m. program five nights a week last fall,
affiliates found that the show provided a poor lead-in to their local-news
programs.
The affiliates pressured NBC to move Leno back to
11:35. At first, the network would say merely that it sought to
“improve” the comedy hour at 10 o’clock. But local stations wouldn’t
let up, and NBC decided that Leno will return to the later slot after
the Winter Olympics conclude next month.
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