How Jay Leno's Primetime Gig Could Change Television Forever

It was announced today that comedian Jay Leno, vacating host of The Tonight Show, will receive his own program that will air Monday through Friday, at 10 pm.

The primetime slot, which is usually reserved for television dramas such as E.R. and Law and Order, is being given to Leno after he leaves his current job on The Tonight Show. Conan O'Brien, host of Late Night..., will take his place, and SNL star Jimmy Fallon will take Conan's place.

The new deal comes after NBC president Jeff Zucker revealed his plans to cut the channel's broadcasting schedule due to budgetary issues. It appears that the Leno deal is the first phase of his mission. Talk show formats like Leno's are much cheaper to produce than scripted television. Replacing a talk show with a primetime drama would cut 5 hours a week out of NBC's scripted television schedule. With 52 weeks in a year, a maximum of 256 hours of scripted television would be cut from NBC screens. More importantly, at least to NBC executives, 256 hours of scripted television would be cut from the tightening budget.

According to Yahoo! News, which recently did an article discussing the costs of scripted television compared to reality television, the average costs for dramas like ABC's Grey's Anatomy are $1-2 million an episode. That means, at most, NBC is trimming half a billion dollars from its budget. When you add the low production costs of the proposed show, as well as Leno's expectedly enormous paycheck, NBC is still looking at some healthy numbers.

The show will likely be a success. Jay Leno has always been a ratings grabber, and with an extra 10 million viewers available compared to his current slot, people will probably flock to see Leno chat with the latest celebrities. The show's success could see other networks follow the same pattern, as they usually do. What would happen next?

Less and less scripted television, more and more talk shows and reality programs.

Only time will tell the true ramifications Jay Leno's new television program will have, but its pretty safe to say that the Writers Guild of America is quietly kicking themselves over the strike they instigated. You know what they say; karma's a bitch, and his name is Jeff Zucker.