Longtime producer on Leno's move to 10 PM: "It is very depressing"

Famed producer Peter Lassally, who worked with Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" before moving on to "Late Show with David Letterman" and then "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," told Broadcasting & Cable that NBC's decision to put Jay Leno on at 10 PM every weeknight "doesn't feel good to me at all."

“If I were Conan O'Brien, I would be very upset,” he told B&C.

Despite his personal disappointment, Lassally does understand why NBC is launching The Jay Leno Show weeknights at 10, thus keeping late night's top dog from jumping to a rival network.

"NBC was desperate to keep Jay Leno,” Lassally says. “But the mistake they made was five years ago when they decided he wasn't the man for the job. Now they just had to find a way to keep him. It's a very adventurous decision. It can change things for NBC in either direction.”