HOLLYWOOD — Jay Leno knows how to cope with pressure, which is good because this week he will face a public test the likes of which few media personalities have had to endure.
When “The Jay Leno Show” premieres today in its 9 p.m. MDT weeknight slot, many industry insiders — and not just rival executives — will be rooting for it to flop. That’s mostly because, as part of NBC’s controversial experiment to overturn 60 years of prime-time TV traditions with relatively cheap programming, Leno’s new show is perceived as a potential job-wrecker.
Even a modest audience could deliver a huge payoff for fourth- ranked NBC because the Leno show’s expenses will amount to roughly one-third of the $300 million or so each network spends every year to air originals and repeats of top scripted dramas during the 9 p.m. hour.
Now 59 and seemingly reinvigorated by the challenge, the ever-amiable Leno, despite endless joking, seems to sense that the stakes could not be higher.
Although he said he remains “hopefully optimistic” about his chances, he admits that the business is changing so rapidly, with audiences scattering in all directions, “I don’t know what TV is anymore.”
