Jay Leno goes prime time on NBC 2

Turn on NBC at ten o’clock each night and it’s usually cops, doctors and other TV dramas.

Come this fall, it’ll be Jay Leno instead.

The late night ratings champ is moving into primetime for NBC with a new nightly show at ten o’clock.

“Having Jay Leno and a show like his on at 10 in that time slot is just really revolutionary, we’ve never seen anything like it before,” said Ken Baker, Executive News Editor for E! Entertainment Television.

NBC’s primetime ratings fortunes have taken a tumble in recent years and Leno’s move offers the network a cheaper programming alternative.

“Here’s a very cost effective way to strip across the night and keep your biggest star, and in a way, Jay Leno is now the king of NBC in the fall.  It’s just crazy, and everyone thought that he was going to get away,“ said TV Guide’s Matt Roush.

The stage for Jay Leno’s exit from late night was set four years ago when the network announced Conan O’Brien would take over the Tonight Show in 2009.
Since that day, there’s been speculation about Leno’s next job and whether the late night ratings champ might jump to another network.
Now, Leno stays, Conan O’Brien takes over the Tonight Show in May, and Jimmy Fallon becomes the new host of O’Brien’s old show, Late Night, in March.

Leno will almost certainly have a larger audience in primetime. 

On average, about 50 percent more people are watching TV at 10 pm than are watching at 11:30 pm.