Report: NBC has no plans to end Jay Leno’s run early for Jimmy Fallon

While most of the internet and the television community may be talking about the possibility of a Jimmy Fallon-hosted version of “The Tonight Show” happening, the latest reports suggest to us one thing: even if a move happens, it’s definitely not going to be in the next year.

According to a new report from TMZ, Jay Leno will likely continue to man the ship on “The Tonight Show” until his contract expires in September of 2014, with the primary reason for it being that he simple has an enormous buyout in his contract with NBC. While they have showed before a certain willingness to pay out a lot of money for late-night hosts to leave (see Conan O’Brien), the source claims that the buyout for Leno is so large that it would even put Conan’s to shame.

While the reports may say this now, we’re still skeptical about whether or not NBC will really be willing to wait this long, especially if Leno is so insistent on continuing to bash NBC in his monologues. He has already referred to the network’s executives as “snakes,” blasted the show’s ratings, and also said that “The Biggest Loser” is now practically the network’s motto. Fallon is more of the good soldier for the network; not only has been with them since his days on “Saturday Night Live,” but he has kept the potshots to a minimum while also doing a number of other programs. Plus, he even hosted the Emmys.

Do you think that Leno will really end up staying until the fall of next year? If you want to see what Fallon had to say about some of the rumors recently, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: NBC