NBC executive Jeff Zucker’s decision to hand Jay Leno an hour each weekday of their schedule means that they will need to cancel between 3 to 5 of their existing dramas and/or reality shows.  Each year it is standard for shows to be cancelled to make way for new blood, but this season will be very brutal.  Since NBC has handed 23% of primetime to Jeno, it means they will not have enough slots to fill their schedule with programming fans love.

We’ve taken a long look at the ratings, and the four lowest rated shows in the 18-49 demo are (in this order): “Life”, “Knightrider”, “Law and Order” and “Kath & Kim”.  It is also possible “Chuck” may face the axe, if NBC chooses not to cancel “Law and Order” and/or “Life”.  L&O is a heavy hitter for the network, but tends to suffer if moved to a different slot.

Zucker’s move will save at least $10m a week in production costs.  However, we question Zuckers assertion in the media this week that broadcast TV is broken.  He also gave an interview yesterday justifying the move, in which he says “All of the Technologies — the computer, internet — did not exist five years ago”.  End Of Show hates to break it to Zucker, but the Internet did exist 5 years ago, and even had movie and TV downloads.  Computers were invented a bit further back in time.