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Jay Leno: Not ready for prime time (AP)

NBC is finally admitting failure on the attempt to turn late-night comedian Jay Leno into a prime-time star.

Confirming rumors that have circulated for weeks, the peacock network confirmed over the weekend that it is pulling Leno from his 10 p.m. time slot five nights a week and shifting him back to light night in a 30-minute slot ahead of his old gig, The Tonight Show.

That move is subject to successful negotiations with both Leno and current Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien who is reportedly not happy with the shuffle and could be considering a jump to another network (Fox is mentioned most often).

NBC launched Leno’s show last fall with lots of hoopla but the shows produced flat ratings and lots of complaints from NBC affiliates who said the show’s dismal performance hurt the local newscasts that followed. Some threatened to yank the show on their own and replace it with syndicated programming or repeats of NBC network dramas like Law & Order.

That prompted the network to move quickly. Leno’s prime-time show will end next month when the network begins its wall-to-wall coverage of the Winter Olympics in Canada and will bring back hour-long dramas when that coverage ends.