I am – Hercules!!


In maybe the biggest primetime shakeup in network history, Jay Leno will host a Monday-through-Friday series for NBC at 10 p.m. ET/PT, likely starting this fall.

NBC hopes to save a ton by programming five fewer hourlong dramas per week.

Conan O'Brien takes over "The Tonight Show" from Leno June 1.

Jimmy Fallon is rumored to take over "Late Night" from O'Brien March 4.

Details of Leno's deal should tell a tale. If the show performs poorly against the hourlongs on CBS and ABC at that hour, how long would NBC be obliged to keep the show on five days a week?

Is this not the first time a broadcast network has given over five hours of primetime a week to a single show? (I think the closest precedent is CBS' "Big Brother," which gets three primetime hours weekly each summer.)

Interestingly, a different NBC regime considered giving David Letterman a weekday 10 p.m. timeslot back in 1991, when Leno was announced as the new host for "The Tonight Show."

The move will likely precipitate many sighs of relief at "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live." It was widely expected that those shows would be delayed or cancelled if Leno signed for the 11:30 p.m. slot at ABC.

Read All of Broadcasting & Cable’s story on the matter here!