A Jay Leno CNBC deal is said to be near, giving the former host of NBC’s The Tonight Show, an opportunity to return to TV after leaving in February 2014.
Jay Leno and CNBC are reportedly negotiating a contract that if concluded will bring back the legendary comedian to television screens in America. Leno’s new show will focus on his passion for cars.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news Wednesday, but no one at the network is willing to confirm publicly, until a deal is reached. It is not yet known if the new program will air on a daily basis. Other questions remain unanswered, like, when is the premiere date? What time slot will it get in primetime?
Over the Labor Day weekend, CNBC aired a special of Jay’s Garage and the network has recently started to broaden its viewership with reality shows in primetime. Jay’s Garage is also a web series that is hosted by NBC.com.
After his exit from The Tonight Show, Leno was courted by networks like CNN, Fox and A&E, but he wanted to remain loyal to the NBCUniversal brand that supported him throughout his career. A known workaholic, Mr. Leno never stopped working after his departure.
The New York native took his stand-up act across the country, hosted an awards show in Israel and appeared in several web series as a guest. Leno’s successor on The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon is a big hit with young viewers, something that the network is very happy about.
Leno was able to build a very solid fan base over the years, it will be interesting to see how many of them will follow him in this new venture. There is a real opening in the car show niche since most of them are on smaller networks and viewers often complain about them being overly scripted.