Jay Leno to Reprise Role as Tonight Show Host on March 1st

After NBC decided that Jay Leno's 10pm show was a massive failure, they revealed that they would like to move him back to the 11:35pm time slot he used to have when he was the host of the "Tonight Show." Since Conan O'Brien took over the hosting duties more than a year ago, that meant that his show would get bumped and wouldn't start until after midnight. That obviously didn't go over well, and O'Brien negotiated a deal to remove himself from the network altogether. With O'Brien out of the picture, that left the "Tonight Show" without a host. Who better than to take it over than Leno himself.

Hollyscoop got ahold of a press release that NBC Universal Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin will be sending out later today. It said:

"NBC confirmed today that popular late-night host Jay Leno will return to host “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” from 11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. (ET) beginning March 1, 2010 and that “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” will continue to be broadcast from 12:35-1:35 a.m. (ET).

“We’re pleased that Jay is returning to host the franchise that he helmed brilliantly and successfully for many years. He is an enormous talent, a consummate professional and one of the hardest-working performers on television.”

Conan's last show will be this Friday. He's reached a hefty $45 million settlement, of which $7.5 million will go to his staff and his executive producer will get $4.5 million.

Jay takes over the reigns on the "Tonight Show", but one can't help but wonder if he will be able to win over O'Brien's audience.