This was one of the rumored scenarios when Letterman was leaving NBC. They would have given him the 10pm nightly time slot, keeping him in case Leno tanked on the Tonight show.

:up: to Leno. I don't think he's anywhere near the talent of Letterman or Conan in the talk show arena, but I like him and he's done well for himself.

As for NBC, they are just trying to cut their losses in the 10pm slot, this won't last. They have to come up with something fresh soon, or they are going to be in bigger trouble.

Is Regis exclusive with CBS at all now? Millionaire was on ABC, I think. If they are going to go for that slot they need someone with the 'Regis' type of hype.

From what I've read that's true, but "stand up money" doesn't mean $20 set fees at the local Chuckle Hut. He still does local club work but the real money is the Vegas shows he does every other weekend and really ridiculous money comes from private corporate gigs.

Agreed, I just warched the first five episodes from my Tivo of the new season and I have to say this is easily the best its been since Jerry Orbach left the series back in 2004.

SVU isn't going anywhere either since its really the only "prestige" drama on NBC (Meloni and Hargitay are popular with awards and critics) and its also the highest rated on a consistent basis. CI could show alot of promise during its summer run with Jeff Goldblum joining the show.

I liked Sisto with Jesse Martin; Anthony Anderson is ok, better than I expected.

Could this mean Conan stays in NY?

so this will air at 9pm here in Az. interesting.

No, the Times article states he will be moving into a new CA studio in May.

I think the only thing that could have held the time slot back would have been ER. Convenient timing that this is the last year. Thursday at 10pm for 15 years. It's going to be weird with a different show in that time slot.

What a slap in the face to Conan. Yeah the guy really wanted The Tonight Show, but I think he thought that meant not coming on after Jay as much as it meant the 11:30 slot.

He is again stuck in Jay's shadow. And NBC got off easy because now they get to keep Jay and not pay Conan any money of he doesnt get The Tonight Show.

I agree with you and what JimmyJames said earlier. I don't think Leno will do well in that time slot. It seems like "easy pickins" for the other networks,too. I think with at least 30 years of conditioning, a lot of people aren't going to watch a talk show in that slot. Personally, I'd rather watch a fiction show at 9PM Central time. There are also not really enough guests to go around. It's already tedious to see the same celebrities tell the same stories on all the NY shows in the same 2-3 day span, then repeat it on all the LA shows. This will probably split the NBC audience and might end up killing off both shows. Also, I'm surprised Leno would go for this, given his very public naming of his successor Conan 5 years ago to avoid the sneakiness and backstabbing that happened when he got Carson's job.

It's an interesting idea... and a very high profile experiment. It this fails, it's going to be a tough switch back. I wonder how flexible they are going to be when it comes to bumping the show for extended episodes and special premieres. If NBC were smart they would utilize this show for live episodes in the same way ABC does with Kimmel (using it to immediately follow up on Dancing with the Stars, Super Bowl, etc.) Although I suppose NBC doesn't even have any buzzy reality shows left.

Wonder what it'll be called.

Well Conan can join Letterman now in the "Screwed by Jay Leno" club.

FOX has been operating for years with nothing in the 10PM slot, so I don't (necessarily) think this is a bad move on NBC's part.

Is this going to be a live show? I'm assuming it is, but one never knows. I'm interested to see how different this will be than The Tonight Show, if at all. I'm guessing it will pretty much stick to the current formula (monologue, a skit or two, several guests, musical act).

er?

Fox's national prime time feed is only from 8-10. The affiliates then either run local news or syndicated shows in the 10 o'clock hour.

So, how many 10pm scripted NBC shows might need to move because of this?

Right now there is:

Law and Order (if it gets renewed)
Law and Order: SVU
Medium (if it gets renewed)

That was my immediate thought when I heard about this.

And Kings (if it gets picked up for a second season).

wasnt NBC plan to move The Apprentice to the e.r. time slot? after e.r. end

NBC, what have you become? This won't work.

I think this is pretty smart, given all the new data that find people are no longer watching 10pm shows due to watching the earlier shows on their DVRs then.

I think it makes sense for networks to use that hour for fluffier programming, or things like reality or news specials. I think a lot of people have a hard time watching serial dramas until 11 pm every night. It would probably work to put your scripted series in the first two hours of prime time.

This truly is a Hal Gurnee Network Time Killer.

What's the point if it's just going to be The Tonight Show Prime Time? I realize NBC wants to keep both Jay and Conan, but this has disaster written all over it. We all know how quickly prime time viewers burn out on shows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Deal or No Deal that run multiple nights of the week. Giving that much real estate to one person/show just means your going to have a lot of time to fill all at once when it fails. And it will.

Maybe Helen Kushnick is still working for Jay...