NBC announced today that it was pulling "The Jay Leno Show" from the 9 p.m. hour, but there was no decision yet on where he'll go, and how that'll affect Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon.
Leno's prime-time hour had been hurting the ratings for the late newscasts that followed on NBC affiliates.
The buzz has centered on NBC's hopes to put Leno back on at 10:35 p.m. for a half-hour show focusing on his nightly monologue, with O'Brien following at 11:05 and Fallon at 12:05 a.m.
But tinkering with O'Brien could give him tens of millions of dollars if he decides not to go along with the deal.
So far, only Fox has expressed interest in O'Brien. ABC says it's happy with "Nightline" and Jimmy Kimmel, while CBS is talking about locking up David Letterman and Craig Ferguson into 2012.
Update: NBC notified its affiliates this afternoon by e-mail of the end of the prime-time Leno show:
"NBC, in remarks made just minutes ago this morning by Jeff Gaspin, has announced that as of February 12, 2010, The Jay Leno Show will no longer air at 10pm ET/9pm CT."
The e-mail included a transcript of the remarks to reporters by Gaspin, chairman of NBC Universal:
"I can confirm what many of you have been reporting -- starting February 12, we will no longer air The Tonight Show at 10:00. While it was performing at acceptable levels for the network, it did not meet the needs of our affiliates -- and we realized we had to make a change.
"My goal is to keep Jay, Conan and Jimmy as part of our late night line-up. I've spoken to all three of them and proposed that "The Jay Leno Show" move to 11:35, "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" move to 12:05 and "Late night with Jimmy Fallon" at 1:05.
"The talks are ongoing."
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
