NBC brass are not just buying Jay Leno a watch, sending him off to retirement. “We have been having conversations, talking about various ideas” for Leno to stay on NBC after he ends his run on The Tonight Show in February,” NBC topper Bob Greenblatt said today. “Nothing would make us happier for Jay ala Bob Hope to have presence at the network, we’re really hoping to do that post February.” Greenblatt disclosed that the discussions about the late-night transition had started when he joined NBC at the beginning of 2011 and the timing after the 2014 Winter Olympics was decided “to give Jimmy Fallon the best chance of succeeding. We really believe in Jimmy Fallon.” As for Leno’s continuous late-night ratings dominance, Greenblatt dismissed any second thoughts about making the change at the helm of The Tonight Show. “We predicted that we would see a boost when we announced this would be Jay’s final year,” Greenblatt said, adding, “The same happened with Johnny Carson and Jay’s previous final year” to laughs from the audience.
Related: Jay Leno To “Pass The Baton” To Jimmy Fallon During Winter Olympics
As for NBC’s other late-night show in transition, Saturday Night Live, which is undergoing a major cast overhaul, Greenblatt said he was not worried. Jason Sudeikis, Fred Armisen and Bill Hader have departed, to be joined by Seth Meyers who will segue to Late Night in midseason. The show’s female star Kristen Wiig left last year.”Would I have preferred to keep them longer? Of course,” Greenblatt said but he noted that most of the departing cast members had been on the show for about a decade and had career and family reasons to move on. “SNL goes through those upheavals every year, and larger ones every few years. There is no one better than Lorne Michaels in combing the country finding the next great comedy stars. We’re confident he is going to do this again.”
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Fox: heerrrrrreeeee’sssssssss Jaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy.
Yeah…nearly 70 year old Leno will work really well with the network that broadcasts youth shows like American Idol, Family Guy and Glee.
Yep. He’s better than anybody else out there.
It’s Conan all over again. Bizarre.
This is seriously like the Twilight Zone. What dirty pictures does Jay Leno have on the execs at NBC anyways??
Toldja! They know that Fallon is going to bomb and it will be deja vu all over again when they put Leno back at 11:35 after a year of Jimmy. Jay should go to FOX or he should just move to Las Vegas he would be paid a fortune to do a nightly show at any of the big hotels on the strip there. But he won’t he’s so obsessed with staying at NBC he’ll never leave. They are too cowardly to let him go they are deathly afraid he really will go to FOX and they want to keep him for when Fallon goes down the tubes. It will be fun to watch this happen all over again.
It will be interesting to say the least. The truth is (and nobody wants to admit this) SNL hasn’t been funny in years. Outside of Weekend Update (very clever writing) the show has absolutely stunk.
Yawn. People have been saying “SNL isn’t funny anymore” for about 35 years!
Get a new act.
Well said.
“We really believe in Jimmy Fallon” Is this guy serious? Well,I believe The Tonight Show with this guy will be a complete dud. I foresee a ratings falloff of epic proportions.The Fallon hosted Tonight show will not last long.Look,I don’t even like Leno,but,even I know this is a terrible business decision.How do you get rid of a guy who continously wins his time-slot•••makes no sense. As a network Nbc is a mess.This is a network which basically canceled every program(with a few exceptions) at the end of this past season.What makes them think they are in any position to eliminate one of the few programs which continously does well? Oh,and trust me-we’ll be seeing Leno somewhere post Nbc-you can count on that!
Wow, what total corporate BS, from a major tool. Personally, I hope Leno tells them to go pound sand and leaves. As far as SNL–please, put it (and every viewer still watching)out of it’s misery, this past year was so void of humor it was pathetic.
I can TOTALLY see Leno being trotted out, year after year, for various events, long past the point that his sense of timing has been completely obliterated, to recite tired jokes off a TelePrompTer. Great idea, NBC.
Maybe you should just put him back on at 10 pm, 5 nights a week.
I’m uncertain how what you’re describing is any different from what we see now.
Leno will not go to Fox. NBC has been Jay’s home for twenty-plus years. Looking forward to what his next chapter brings.
You’re all wrong. This is simple. NBC has been offering specials to Jay for many years. He’s never been interested because he has always wanted to be telling jokes on national television every week night. They’re simply hoping that this time Jay WON’T want to start up a new show somewhere else and the specials idea will be appealing. That’s it. Plus, the move to FOX isn’t simple because the network doesn’t currently control the late night time period.
hence jay would be perfect for fox to break into late night. it will also give jay the chance to give the finger to nbc like stern did to nbc radio. after claiming the #1 spot on the morning show they also wanted him to stay but he gave them the finger and moved to abc radio and well the rest is history like nbc will be when they do it again!
THe difference is Howard is talented and young enough at the time for a fresh start. Jay is tired, tired, tired, and not that good in the first place.
Lol
Howard and Jay are less than 4 years apart!
You moron. Mic was talking about when Howard first went to Serius which would have made him almost 10 years younger than Leno now.
Fallon might only last six months. He could start in February with the Winter Olympics and be off the air by September. Jay could get the last laugh once again and he’s savvy enough to realize this. He’s smiling from ear to ear right now he knows NBC still wants to keep him.
If I were Fallon I’d be very angry about this it’s exactly what they did to Conan. “We love you we have faith in you and you’re our new host but we’re going to keep Jay under contract anyway.”
The Bob Hope model means they want Jay to do specials once a month or maybe a regular once a week show he could have his own variety show on Saturday or Sunday and it would be very profitable.
Jimmy won’t last he will take the Tonight Show from 1st place to 3rd place and after six months of that NBC will bring Jay back for another run and he will get an enormous amount of money to return to 11:30.
Leno’s almost 70. IF Fallon doesn’t work (I think he’ll actually do okay) they’ll be looking at another young host to take over.
He’s 63. Get it straight.
He’ll be a few weeks shy of 65 when his gig is up in February. Too old to start anew.
Mick Jagger is seventy… How terribly strange.
Jay’s 63.
i don’t think this has anything to do with his age. what it is, he has been making jokes about obama and they told him to tone it down yet he kept at it. if you will notice he is doing it every night now as a parting shot. you do not get rid of the no 1 show unless the person wants to quit or you want someone you can control. they tried that with stern at nbc radio we all know what happened when he became #1! they wnated him to stay but in a stern moment he gave them the finger and moved to abc radio and the rest is history while there nbc was never higher then 3 in the morning slot.
Wow, Anonymous is generous: Fallon might last six months.
I’m betting he won’t last six weeks. The ratings are going to drop, precipitiously, within a week of his start. I guarantee it. He doesn’t have the charm, interview skills, intellect or personality that it takes to maintain the attention of an audience greater than 10 people. So, how’s he going to garner an audience of millions, night after night?
Answer: He can’t. He won’t. He’s DOA.
Fallon’s much cheaper to produce than Leno. He could get half the ratings and make twice the dough.
I like Jay Leno and although NBC treated him disrespectfully in the past, I agree that perhaps its time to pass the torch to a new host. Jay is on top and can go out holding his iconic chin high. I doubt he will make the move to another network. I view “Tghe Tonight Show” regularly and sometimes it appears that his energy isn’t up to the task of hosting a show five nights a week. The late-night landscape is more crowded than ever and failure would be a bitter pill at this stage of his career. The idea of having him host a number of Bob Hope styled specials would be a smart move for both Jay and the network. Long running shows like “American Idol,” “The Voice,” “America’s Got Talent,” and “Dancing with the Stars” prove that there is hunger for something else on television. Perhaps it’s time to return to some form of variety program for established acts. If so, Jay could serve as the new Ed Sullivan and would be a new direction in his career without having to compete with his own past. An event style or weekly show would be a good transition from the daily grind.
Jay should start a real AUTOMOTIVE show. Give inside stuff on everything automotive. A few jokes/comedy and offbeat true facts about the automotive world cover everything and any thing of interest. And all of this on NBC??????
Why don’t they make everyone ecstatic by buying the US rights to Top Gear and putting it in prime time with Jay Leno hosting?
They had the US broadcast rights a few years ago and went as far as to produce a pilot. For whatever reason, it never made it to air. A couple of years passed, and it was reborn with different hosts and a new network in History.
It doesn’t work and in fact, it’s dreadful to the point of unwatchable. Whereas the British show is clever and edgy and its hosts articulate and erudite, the US show is presented by three guys with the collective vocabulary of a 4th-grader and the wit of a rotting corpse. It’s too bad because the British show is one of the best on TV.
I agree that Jimmy Fallon, as talented as he is, is no Johnny Carson (as they are hoping for). At this point, NBC can’t back track after the last fiasco – but my money is not on Fallon. In my demographic, Letterman owns the night with Conan, Fallon and Kimmel (who seems mean spirited) coming up way behind. I have never been a Leno fan, basically because although I recognize good delivery, Jay has never had the natural wit of Letterman. Of course, not everyone cares about wit.
After all these years Leno is still all about the first fifteen minutes of stand-up. It’s a slide from there and always has been. The interviews are still as cringe-worthy as ever. If he’s proven one thing it’s that America prefers blandness.
Come February it looks like I will have a new hour to watch programs I have recored. I do hope Jay goes to FOX. By now he must know he cannot trust NBC.
“A Bob Hope Role” = ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
Fire him or don’t fire him — just make up your fucking minds already.
Give Jay a 90min time-slot on Sundays (preferably prime time), in which he can still do a weekly monologue as well as some of his skits. It’ll do well on Sundays, without risking the viewership of the Tonight Show. Jay’s too old to keep going 5 nights a week.
Plus you remove the possibility of him running off to FOX, or some other network.
They want to keep Jay… again? Didn’t we just go through this a few years ago?
This business keeps getting sadder and sadder because people don’t learn.
Jimmy Fallon looks like that stupid kid Whitey on Leave It to Beaver. He’s just about as sophisticated, too. Jay should tell NBC to go Nielsen themselves.
The “Whitey” reference indicates you’re probably in your late sixties or seventies; the median age for a Leno viewer, which is the whole problem.
“Leave It To Beaver” has never left syndication since it first went off the air. Your remark shows that you’re a snarkym know-it-all punk who doesn’t understand the industry and is casually ageist (an acceptable form of hate).
He looks nothing like Whitey.
And Leno still skews older, the act is tired, the interviews suck and it’s time to build the show around someone who can relate to a younger audience.
I am 24 and absolutely love Jay Leno. Am I part of that age group?
How old am I if I make a reference to The Wizard of Oz, a 1939 movie?
You don’t have to have been around when something was in first-run to know about it!
I hope Jay has learned from his last go round with this crap. He should just quit NBC. They screw him over every few years then when their plans don’t work out he saves their asses, and each time he suffers terrible P.R. for it. Who needs that hassle? Just go elsewhere and own your own success and let the suits suffer the ignominy of their own failure.
I’m not even a fan of the guy’s comedy, to be honest. It just amazes me how consistently badly NBC has treated him despite the fact that he has been basically their most reliable performer for over 20+ years. Its completely crazy but like an abused wife he keeps putting up with it and pretending everything is fine.
Mistake after mistake regarding the disrespectful handling of Jay Leno. Now back peddling to save face it seems is what Bob Greenblatt is really doing. So many strikes adding up against Mr Greenblatt. Fallon is a great guy but his replacing Jay will unfortunately fail. Bad move Bob. Your smarter than that.
Bernard – It’s “You’re” smarter than that, not “Your.” Sort of ironic when you say someone is “smarter than that” and then display a complete ignorance of grammar school punctuation.
“You’re” and “your” is a common mistake. It doesn’t say anything about who’s “smart” or not. Get a grip.
If you are really a writer-producer I’m going out on a tiny limb and guess your (not you’re) net worth is $3.67.
Fox has made it clear it has no interest in Leno. NBC is talking about a “Bob Hope presence” for Jay – an occasional walk-on, maybe a special once a year or every two years. You guys have to start doing your homework and reading a little more carefully before commenting. A “Bob Hope presence” means an occasional special, which will bomb just like everything Jay has done the past 20 years that didn’t have The Tonight Show brand attached. (THe Jay Leno Show, White House Correspondents Dinner, etc.)
This NBC regime is much more intelligent than the Zucker one. No way would they ever replace Fallon with the old Jay two-three years in. If Fallon fails, they’ll go to Jon Stewart or someone else. They’re just trying to placate Leno. And since he reportedly has no other solid offers, he’ll probably stick around. But will he ever get Tonight back or a sit com or anything like that? Absolutely not.
I think Jay should tell NBC to blank off! Jay Leno might end up at CBS after David Letterman retires! However I would love it if he ended up on TBS and threw Conan off the Air
A Leave it To Beaver reference? Wow. How…current.
It’s still on the air. And it’s better than 99 percent of the sitcoms on the air now. Wow…how stupid your post is.
“And it’s better than 99 percent of the sitcoms on the air now.”
Yeah, “The Beav” is a real knee slapper. Sheesh.
“A knee slapper?” What are you, a crusty old prospector from 1849?
Where is it written references have to be current to be valid?
To those who suggest Jay go to Fox – have you watched The Tonight Show lately? By the third or fourth night of the week Jay is dragging. He’s weary, lacks energy and enthusiasm. He’s starting to get “old man” voice, and he looks 70. He’s forgetful. In short, he’s doing what we all do someday – aging, and not all that well. Do you really think Fox with its emphasis on young viewers is going to sign this guy up? If so, you’re a clueless idiot.
NBC is gracefully offering to keep him in the fold, with some token retainer probably, and let him do an occasional special. He will never get back on Tonight, whether Fallon succeeds or fails.
well, he must be doing something right, he beats all the competition constantly. I think you’re confusing him with David.
Funny how nobody mentions Conan anymore, now there’s a failure.
He beats competition because he’s a fit for The Tonight Show. When it’s “The Jay Leno Show” nobody wants him. That’s been proven. America will watch Leno at 11:35 (10 35 Central) Monday-Friday. Any other time, or name, and they’re not interested.
I agree with you – but it’s going to be the same for Fallon. People love him where he’s at- they’re not going to love him as Johnny Carson’s next replacement.
RE: Conan. He gets roughly 10% (300,000) of the viewers that Jay Leno gets for The Tonight Show (3,000,000). Conan does poorly even against other cable shows – the Daily Show gets typically 700,000 viewers, and the Colbert Report 500,000. These numbers are +/-, but regardless Conan is underwhelming.
Like every other one of these shake-ups in recent memory, Fallon going to the Tonight Show is going to be a complete fiasco. Seth Meyers will wind up with fewer than 500,000 viewers at 12:30 AM – Fallon currently averages around 2,000,000 nightly (DARNED good considering the timeslot).
Jay isn’t that old – he’s 63 and he still has a sizable following. I do NOT believe Jimmy Fallon’s audience will follow him to the Tonight Show. I think what you’ll see is an overall decline in viewership, period. Kimmel/Letterman will keep their audiences (2.5M+/-) and Tonight Show coming in a distant third with 1.5M viewers. Seth will top out at 700,000 and settle in at Conan numbers – under half a mil.
What these TV execs still don’t get is that it won’t take much to drive more people to Hulu and Netflix. Live viewer ratings dont’ mean much today and they’re gonna mean even less. But why give fate a chance. Leave things as they are – Leno was fine, Fallon was fine. Leave it alone. My .02.