Jay Leno in prime time...and TV's other great disasters

By Ramie Becker, Emily Christianson, Patrick Kevin Day, Todd Martens and Denise Martin, Times Staff Writers

Of all of NBC's bad decisions, outranking flops like "Coupling," "Joey" and the hiring of Ben Silverman, putting Jay Leno in prime time might just be the network's worst. As many predicted, once ratings for "The Jay Leno Show" at 10 cooled to an unacceptable level, local news stations across the country teamed up to complain about their little-seen lead-in. Now, NBC may be sending Leno back to "The Tonight Show" in late-night -- and it could cost them Conan O'Brien, who's rumored to be heading to Fox as a result.

We look back at TV's other disastrous calls, from the "Seinfeld" finale to the cancellation of "My So-Called Life."