Whoa! Here's some breaking news from the late-night TV world: TV Week is reporting [1] that Jay Leno's going to get a new show at 10 p.m. every weeknight starting in the Fall of 2009, leading into Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show and Jimmy Fallon's Late Night.

That's certainly a new twist in NBC's late-night plans, which we were just talking about earlier today [2]. According to this story, the plan will be formally announced Tuesday and Leno will "be given a significant pay raise, since his new show will be in prime time."

Just today, NBC's president was talking about cutting back the hours of primetime programming [3] NBC produced, and this looks like a way to do it — Leno's shown he can deliver an audience, and NBC won't have to worry about launching a new drama or comedy in those slots. (On the other hand, that cuts down on the number of scripted shows on broadcast networks — but it's not like NBC's been doing such a great job there lately anyway.)

Obviously, this story's still developing, so I'll keep an eye out for more details. But for now, what are your first reactions? Is it a smart move to keep Leno, even at the expense of the traditional 10 p.m. drama hour? Or is it totally crazy?

Photo courtesy of NBC [4]