Sunday, January 10, 2010

NBC Officially Pulls Plug On Leno At 10 PM; Late Night Lineup Still Undecided

LOS ANGELES -- NBC is ending the Jay Leno Show experiment it launched September 14th at 10 p.m. the network announced Sunday.

NBCU Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin tells TV critics in Los Angeles that the low-rated primetime hour will end the night before NBC's telecast of the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.

Primetime Leno "did not meet affiliates' needs," he says.

Replacing Leno after the Olympics will be a mix of original shows, repeats, extended Dateline and shows pulled from cable nets Bravo and USA, he says.

The network says it is still in negotiation with Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon to keep all three in late night.

However, nothing has been finalized.