Leno’s Prime-Time Show Ends Next Month
Posted January 10, 2010 3:09 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Disgruntled affiliates have prompted NBC to cancel Jay Leno’s prime-time show, an experiment that has resulted in lower ratings and advertising revenue.
The network is hoping Leno will agree to return to his late-night time slot of 11:35pm once the Winter Olympics broadcast begins on February 12.
That would mean Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon’s shows would both have to shift back a half-hour.
NBC said it was making money off Leno’s 10pm show. But its affiliates complained the program was leading fewer viewers into their late night news programs and threatened to go public or pull it off the air.
“We are disappointed that The Jay Leno Show has been cancelled”, Malcolm Dunlop, Executive Vice President, Programming, Rogers Media Television, said in a statement. “Our audience numbers were meeting our projections and Jay Leno at 10pm fit well into Citytv‘s desire to be innovative and proved our willingness to take some risks. We will announce our revised 10pm schedule very shortly”.
The Jay Leno Show has run on weeknights on Citytv since September.
