tested said:Even better, Fox has been agressively adding late newscasts on its owned and operated stations. This means that Leno would start at 11:30 eastern/10:30 central. Many people will argue that this isn't likely because Fox has tried and failed to do late night talk shows before.
I don't think it's a matter of because FOX failed before, I think it's a matter of getting the FOX affiliates to carry the show. My understanding is that is a very good time for local stations to make money. If they carry a FOX show they only get a tiny part of the compensation. If they rerun "Seinfeld," or "The Simpsons" they keep all the money.
So if FOX tries and too many of their affiliates won't air the show or will push it back to 11pm (midnight EST) that'll hurt the show and it won't work.