Jay Leno: Move him to 8 PM?

Now that Comcast has acquired NBC Universal from the Sheinhardt Wig Company -- uh, I mean General Electric -- TV writers are pondering what it could mean for the suffering Peacock Network. Of course, the deal could take 18 months to finalize thanks to regulatory hurdles, but why not speculate?

Last month, I suggested that a slimmed-down "Jay Leno Show" could work at 11 PM. Now, Josef Adalian of TV MoJoe comes up with another idea: put Jay on at 8 and move "serious, groundbreaking drama" back to the 10 o'clock hour. Apparently, NBC initially suggested this to Leno, who vetoed the plan, but Adalian says, "If Leno objects, NBC should simply break up with him." Jay's sagging ratings at 10 "are clearly hurting local newscasts and, worse, deny [Conan] O'Brien any chance at success (CBS' 10 p.m. shows give David Letterman three times as many viewers as a lead-in and promotional base)."

Of course, it's not like NBC has any "groundbreaking" dramas in its pipeline, so it would take a while to get that plan up and running.

Monday night's overnight ratings brought more bad news for Jay: a new broadcast came in third, after reruns of "Castle" and "CSI: Miami," with an anemic 1.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic.