Jay Leno Officially Gets Tonight Show

TMZ is now reporting that NBC has officially made the deal with Jay Leno that will take him back to hosting The Tonight Show at 11:35. This completely seals the fate of Conan O’Brien who had refused to move out of that time slot and follow a half hour Leno. After the Olympics Leno will be back in late night with the full hour that he had wanted and as such there will be no changes to Jimmy Fallon or Carson Daly’s shows.

There are a few rumors out there now regarding how quickly Conan will be gone from The Tonight Show. Next week may be his last with attempts being made to score big guests and send the show out with a bang. Also unsubstantiated is that NBC has been contacting talent to guest host the show in the gap between when Conan leaves and the Winter Olympics.

Conan has been hilarious in the last few shows taking shots at NBC and now offering up “classic moments” from the show’s seven month run. Ratings have soared as support has been strongly in his corner. The ironic thing about all this is how it may have turned out to be the “Hugh Grant” moment for Conan. Leno was struggling in ratings for two years before he had the Hugh Grant interview soon after his arrest with a prostitute.