NBC: Leno in prime-time to end

[February 04, 2010]  PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- NBC confirmed that the Jay Leno prime-time experiment is over.

NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin said Sundays that Leno's nightly prime-time show will end with the beginning of the Winter Olympics on Feb. 12.

Gaspin says NBC wants Leno to do an 11:35 p.m. show each night, a return to his old time slot. He wants Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon's shows to shift back a half hour. Gaspin says that's not a done deal, but he hopes to have NBC's late-night lineup cleared up by the beginning of the Olympics.

Gaspin said Leno's show performed well enough in the ratings for the networks, but it did not meet the needs of NBC's affiliates.

[Associated Press]

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