Jay Leno Talks About His Plans For The New Prime-Time Show

Tom Rose
Fancast.com

In an interview with The NY Times, late night comedy king Jay Leno tells Bill Carter about plans for his make-or-break new prime time show, debuting next September, and why this is the right time to try something completely different, both for himself and the TV universe itself.

Admitting “it’s either a great idea or ‘Oh my God, what was that?” Leno lays out the future vision for the 10 p.m. weeknight prime-time slot and hints that he and NBC executives are banking on the hope they may be on to something never seen on TV before.

“The first rule of comedy is: Don’t create anything bigger than yourself. The trick is to keep the water just below a rolling boil so it stays in the pot a little bit longer.”

How will he do that?

According to Carter, Jay is “already thinking about how to reshape his show. ‘The second half is the tricky part,’ he said. ‘We want to provide as strong a lead-in as we can.’ He was referring to one big gamble NBC is taking: that with all its 10 p.m. dramas gone, Mr. Leno’s show will be strong enough to deliver good audiences to local newscasts at 11, as well as to NBC’s economically essential late-night lineup.”

Apparently, NBC honcho Jeff Zucker is willing to let Jay find out if there’s an untapped pot of comedy gold at the end of the rainbow in the normally drama-driven time slot. But it hasn’t been an easy decision.

Zucker first offered a half-hour show at 8 p.m. “That seemed way wrong,” said Leno. Next was a weekly hour, Sundays at 10. Uh-uh said Jay. “Once a week is death.” How about competing against younger rival, Conan O’Brien with a nightly show at 11 on sister cable station USA? “That sort of seemed like living in the basement of your own house. I’m still old enough to think network is the place.”

Settling on the untried format is a bold move for the network and the more popular than ever Tonight Show host. Jay is bending way over these days to do the right thing for the other players in the late night talk show game. He hasn’t always been so accommodating.

Back in the day when former host Johnny Carson was about to hang up the gloves, Leno threw some sucker punches to give him an edge as the heir apparent to the Tonight Show crown, even listening in on high level conference calls from his dressing room bathroom that tipped him off to NBC nervousness over his suitability for the job.

Those days are long gone and Leno can afford to be magnanimous. He’s built the show to even higher levels of viewership than any of his late night predecessors, and he hands the crown down to a funny guy who is first in line in viewer’s minds when they ponder the future of the show.

What do you think? Can Jay can pull it off?

Let us know. We’ll be watching on Fancast.