Jay Leno preempted by the Prez

For the first time since it began airing in September, "The Jay Leno Show" will be preempted tomorrow night, due to the President's speech on the war in Afghanistan. The speech will air at 8 PM Eastern time, while "The Biggest Loser," one of NBC's few genuine hits, will run from 9-11.

According to The Live Feed blog, Leno's ratings have stabilized. "For the past 11 episodes in a row, Leno's program has either maintained or improved its adult demo rating compared to the previous week," writes James Hibberd. "Often, 'Leno Show' has increased despite a declining lead-in as the holidays approach. And last week was Leno's most-watched since mid-October." Of course, that "doesn't change the fact that on any given evening, his shows is usually the lowest-rated program on a major broadcast network."

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Leno's biggest competition isn't other 10 PM shows like "CSI" and "The Mentalist": it's recorded programs. "With one-third of American TV households now equipped with DVRs like TiVo, the 10 p.m. hour is emerging as a popular time for people to catch up on what they missed earlier in the evening, or earlier in the week," says the AP's David Bauder.

Beginning in mid-January, people who long to see more drama at 10 PM without relying on their TiVos can simply switch over to the USA Network. In what looks an awful lot like an attempt to provide counterprogramming, USA (which is owned by NBC Universal) is putting some of its most popular programs on the air in the 10 o'clock hour: freshman series "White Collar" will air on Tuesdays, "Psych" returns for the second half of its fourth season on Wednesdays, and spy drama "Burn Notice" finishes up its third season on Thursdays.