On The Jay Leno Show Monday, the late night veteran turned serious about the Conan vs. Jay chaos shaking up NBC, telling viewers that he’d been doubtful about launching a primetime show but was prevented by NBC from going to another network instead.
Leno said NBC guaranteed him two years on the air, insisting that his show would excel against summer reruns. The program never made it that far. Earlier this month, the network pulled the plug on the poorly-rated Jay Leno Show after just four months on the air. Leno — who referred to Conan O’Brien as a “great guy” — said that he may be headed back to the 11:35 PM timeslot and that the details could be ironed out by Tuesday. NBC reportedly plans to put Leno back on The Tonight Show at 11:35 p.m. if Conan keeps up his refusal to move his show to 12:05 AM.