Jay Leno Gets Prime Gig at NBC

Jay Leno is staying at NBC, and he'll be taking over a huge chunk of the network's prime-time schedule starting next fall.

Leno, who's stepping down from "The Tonight Show" in May to make way for Conan O'Brien, will be handed the reins of the 10 p.m. timeslot five nights a week, according to multiple news reports. A formal announcement from NBC is expected on Tuesday.

Handing such a significant chunk of primetime over to Leno does a couple of things for NBC. First and foremost, it keeps the undisputed late-night ratings leader from becoming a competitor; rumors had been rampant that Leno would jump to ABC or FOX once his "Tonight" tenure ended. It would also give the network original programming in the 10 p.m. hour nearly year-round (the workaholic Leno would likely take only a handful of weeks off) at a significantly lower cost than would come with scripted shows.

Even though Leno will command a huge salary -- he currently makes in the neighborhood of $27 million a year -- putting his show on five nights a week will still cost less than the same amount of scripted programming.

NBC isn't commenting, but reports say that Leno will basically be doing the same show in primetime. He'll reportedly remain in his Burbank studio digs -- the network is constructing a new "Tonight Show" set for O'Brien on the Universal lot -- and keep popular segments like "Headlines" and "Jaywalking."

What that means for O'Brien, who was tapped as Leno's successor way back in 2004, and "The Tonight Show's" ability to book guests, remains to be seen. O'Brien is expected to leave his current job at "Late Night" in February or early March, with former "Saturday Night Live" regular Jimmy Fallon taking over for him soon thereafter.

"The Tonight Show" is drawing about 5 million viewers a night this season. Lots more people watch television at 10 p.m. than at 11:35 p.m., so NBC is banking that prime-time Leno will bring in a significantly larger audience.

A Leno show at 10 p.m. every weeknight will also shrink the available real estate for comedies, dramas and other fare on NBC. Shows like "Law & Order: SVU" would likely move back an hour to 9 p.m., while competition for the remaining time periods becomes even more fierce.