Jay Leno goes to Primetime?!

Jay Leno is coming to primetime TV. NBC is expected to announce at a news conference on Tuesday that the Tonight Show host, who will be succeeded by Conan O'Brien next May, has been given a new contract that will keep him at the network. Though Leno and NBC weren't commenting tonight, two separate news reports say the 58-year-old comedian will front a series not unlike the one he currently headlines, and that it will film in the same Burbank complex that has long housed the Tonight Show. (O'Brien and his cohorts will beam from the new NBC/Universal lot in Universal City.) Leno's new show is expected to air five times weekly sometime before next fall.

The move comes just after Jeff Zucker told a luncheon in New York City on Monday that the network-which announced staff cuts and a total reorganization of its structure in recent days-could eventually have to program fewer hours in its weekly schedule. It also saves NBC the cost of producing hour-long dramas for the 10 p.m. slot., a problem its faced in recent months with now-canceled series like My Own Worst Enemy and Lipstick Jungle. Most important for NBC, though, it keeps Leno, a proven ratings earner, in its stable at a time when it needs him; there was heavy speculation that Leno would be courted by ABC (potentially replacing Nightline and setting up a three-way battle with O'Brien and David Letterman). It also gives NBC a shot at airing that 21st-century variety format that Rosie O'Donnell tried--and failed--to bring back last month.