Jay Leno: Launches U.S. prime-time television experiment

Jay Leno: Launches U.S. prime-time television experiment

On Monday Jay Leno launched his NBC prime-time TV talk show. It was a venture whose success or failure is being closely watched by the industry with familiar offerings including a topical monologue and chats with fellow comedian Jerry Seinfeld and a repentant Kanye West.

Details about Jay Leno have been inferred from various sources. Leno, who ended his seventeen year late-night run on "The Tonight Show" in the month of May, started his new NBC channel’s show by greeting a few audience members on stage. He also shook their hands and exchanged a few words against a background of sectioned, brightly lit columns.

His show will be aired from Monday to Friday at 10 p.m. It is the first prime-time talk show on U.S. television in decades.

Leno's move from his comfortable 11:30 p.m. late-night home to the nightly prime-time slot traditionally occupied by expensive scripted drama on leading U.S. networks is being scrutinized by the television industry. General Electric Co's NBC network has been struggling to retain audiences and cut costs in the face of declining advertising revenue and increased competition from videogames and social networking.

Leno began, by saying,"This IS the actual show," "I apologize for my face being all over the place." He hinted at the reference of extensive publicity about the new show.

After a monologue that included jokes about President Barack Obama and healthcare reform and the controversy about West and singer Taylor Swift from Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards, Leno presented a filmed sketch featuring Dan Finnerty of "The Hangover" entertaining car-wash patrons.

Monday's show also featured an appearance by Kanye West, who before performing "Run This Town" with Jay-Z and Rihanna, again apologized for hijacking 19-year-old country music star Swift's moment in the spotlight at the Video Music Awards. West had grabbed the microphone from Swift after she won best female pop video for "You Belong With Me."

After that Kanye West declared that the award should have gone to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video.

He continued, "I immediately knew in the situation that it was wrong," West told Leno. "And it was very -- it was just -- it was rude, period. ... I'd like to be able to apologize to her in person”. West further said, "I need to, after this, take some time off and just analyze how I'm going to make it through the rest of this life, how I'm going to improve."