Leno tapes last episode of prime-time show

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- The last episode of NBC's prime-time chat series "The Jay Leno Show" was taped Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

NBC booted Leno as host of "The Tonight Show" at the end of last season and gave the position to Conan O'Brien to keep O'Brien from moving to another network. NBC then gave Leno a nightly, hourlong, 10 p.m. series. When the prime-time "Jay Leno Show" failed to be a strong lead-in for local news broadcasts, however, NBC announced it would push Leno's show to 11:35 p.m., shorten it to 30 minutes and air "Tonight" at 12:05 a.m.

However, O'Brien said he would not remain on "Tonight" if it was bumped to 12:05 a.m. NBC then announced O'Brien would leave the network and Leno would return to "Tonight" March 1 in its regular 11:35 p.m. time slot.

"It seems like just yesterday I was telling NBC this was not going to work. This show was supposed to be on for two years but we got five months for good behavior," USA Today quoted Leno as saying in his final "Jay Leno Show" monologue.

"The Apprentice" star Donald Trump also appeared on the show via satellite from New York to tell Leno, "You're fired," the newspaper said.