Leno embraces "underdog" challenge

Tell jokes, get checks, says Leno.

NEW YORK CITY--As a comedian, late-night king Jay Leno has always steered steadfastly toward the middle of the road. And yet, his move to prime time next fall with a nightly topical talk/variety hour at 10 p.m. weeknights on NBC is revolutionary.

Here's why:

1) Never before has one entertainer shouldered so much responsibility – five prime-time hours a week (out of a total of 22)--for the success or failure of a single network.
2) No one knows how this experiment will turn out, despite the mountain of research NBC undoubtedly conducted in developing The Jay Leno Show.
3) The Leno show is a network scheduling "game changer," CBS and ABC execs are saying this week as those networks--the two that compete with NBC at 10 p.m.--announce their fall lineups this week in New York.

CBS President Les Moonves said so just this morning, telling reporters at CBS headquarters: "The 10 o'clock change is huge, it's a huge change. ... It's just a real sea change, guys."

With NBC out of the 10 p.m. scripted-show game, CBS and ABC say the Leno show presents them with an opportunity to draw more viewers for their 10 o'clock dramas. NBC feels differently. NBC Universal President Jeff Zucker points out that Leno will have 46 weeks worth of new shows--that's 230 original episodes--in his first year, including summer.

With the regular dramas on ABC and CBS producing only 22 episodes for their seasons, Zucker, who spoke to a handful of reporters along with Leno in a Manhattan hotel suite Tuesday evening, feels Leno can clobber the other networks in all those weeks when they're airing reruns, replacement shows or specials at 10 p.m. Zucker also vowed that NBC will absolutely keep the new Leno show on the air for its initial 46-week run no matter what it does in the ratings--an unprecedented commitment.

And what about Leno? As usual, he's the coolest cat in the room. Reporters gathered around a table (with Leno seated at one end of it) tried their hardest to get him to admit he's nervous about his move from the security of late-night, where he has been number one for about 14 years, to prime time, where ratings expectations are higher and where he is totally untested. But he wouldn't budge from insisting that he's not nervous at all, as long as he works hard and tells funny jokes.

"You know, I like to concentrate on the comedy. I like to just concentrate on the jokes--do the comedy, tell joke, get check," he said, voicing a philosophy he has long lived by. One thing he's learned, he said, "If you're any good, if you make money for the other people, you'll do fine. That's always been my thing."

"There's a certain underdog appeal [about starting a new show in a time period where victory is uncertain] that makes you want to work a little harder," he said without a hint of anxiety. "It's just the tortoise and the hare."

Do you think NBC's Leno experiment will work?