Heading into this season, NBC made the decision to throw away 1/3 of its primetime schedule in a short-sighted effort to try to keep both Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien happy. It was obvious from the beginning this move was a mistake, and the affiliates would only put up with weak lead-ins for their news shows for so long.
Fast forward four months. Although no deals have been signed yet, the plan is to move Leno to 11:35 for half an hour each night and have the Tonight Show on at 12:05.
Of course, what this means come fall is a big gaping hole in NBC’s lineup. Not that they had a lot to pick from in the first place.
I’m writing Jay another letter. Here’s a link to the last one:
http://dwdiamond.com/177-weapon91119.html
Letters 141, 159, 161, 162, 163, 165, 166, 174 also suggested ways we could have made it work, but they may not have even made it to his desk….