“I see we have a full house,” said NBC Universal TV chairman Jeff Gaspin, as he walked onto the stage and stood before a ballroom filled with TV critics, many of whom were poised to pounce. “I heard there were some scalpers outside.”

The levity quickly went by the wayside, however, as Gaspin went into the recitation of what one can only presume was a well-tweaked statement, confirming that, starting February 12th, “The Jay Leno Show” will no longer air at 10 PM. He admitted that, although the series performed at acceptable levels for the network, it did not meet the needs of the network’s affiliates, hence the change in programming strategy. He also stated that NBC’s goal was to keep all three of its hosts as part of the late-night landscape – “The Jay Leno Show” at 11:35 PM, “The Tonight Show starring Conan O’Brien” at 12:05 AM, and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” at 1:05 AM – while acknowledging that this plan was in no way a done deal and that talks are still ongoing.

“It’s a fluid situation,” said Gaspin. “Everybody has the weekend to think about it, and we’ll see what happens when we start the new week tomorrow.”

While he would not confirm the hosts’ specific reactions to the new plan, Gaspin said that all three gentlemen were “incredibly gracious and professional” and that they acknowledged that they knew it was a difficult situation. As for anything else that went down during the discussions, he merely described it as a “private conversation,” adding, “When it’s all settled, you can go and ask them what their feelings were.”

Gaspin expects that the new late-night line-up will be in place by the time NBC’s coverage of the Olympics begins in February.

Unsurprisingly, the critics’ claws were soon out, with one wanting to know exactly what happened with the network’s assurances during the summer TCA tour that the success or failure of “The Jay Leno Show” would not be determined fully until the series had run for a full 52-week cycle. Gaspin maintained that the 52-week plan still would’ve been his preference but again cited the affiliates’ concerns as being the driving force behind the comparatively-quick removal of the series from its prime-time berth.

“Starting in November, the affiliates started calling, saying that local news was being affected more than expected,” said Gaspin. By the end of the month, the stations which utilized people meters for their ratings continued their complaints, now citing statistics where, in some cases, #1 local news broadcasts had dropped to #3. Gaspin continued his constant dialogue with the affiliates, requesting that they wait and see how the show would do against repeats…and, indeed, “The Jay Leno Show” did do better, but only by about a tenth of a rating point, still coming in second to either CBS or ABC on a regular basis. When the smaller affiliates without people meters got their November book numbers, “the drum beat started getting louder,” Gaspin said, and as it became progressively more clear that they were only going to be getting more vocal about their displeasure, throwing around comments about possible preemption, “we realized things were not going to go well if it was kept in place.”

Gaspin continued to clarify, however, that despite the feelings of the affiliates, NBC did not feel that “The Jay Leno Show” was a disappointment on a network level. “It was working at acceptable levels financially, making money at 10 PM,” he said. “For the network, it was not a wrong decision.”

He also underlined that, insofar as he was concerned, the reason behind the limited viewership had nothing to do with the show or its level of quality. “There’s a lot of choice at 10 PM,” he said. “We thought it could be everybody’s second choice, but there were just so many other choices that people thought were better.” In the end, Gaspin conceded that “The Jay Leno Show,” while being easy entertainment, simply wasn’t the first or even second choice of enough viewers.

So now that the 10 PM slot is going to be vacated by our man Jay, what can we expect to see in its place? That’s still under consideration, with details still yet to be worked out, but Gaspin’s guess is that “it will net at least two more hours of scripted, another reality hour, and a combination of expanded ‘Dateline’ episodes or repeats.”

Angela Bromstad, the network’s president of prime time entertainment, revealed what’s on the slate for the future, and there’s some stuff that sounds pretty good:

* “Undercovers,” wherein a domesticated husband and wife return from years in retirement and are re-activated as CIA agents. As they work together for the first time on new cases, they discover new aspects from their past, even as they re-ignite their passion for each other. (Oh, God, can you tell that came straight from the press release?) J.J. Abrams (“Lost,” the 2009 feature film “Star Trek”), Bryan Burk (“Lost,” “Star Trek”) and Josh Reims (“Dirty Sexy Money”) are the executive producers, Abrams and Reims are the writers, and it was announced today that Abrams will be directing the pilot, his first since “Lost.”

* “Prime Suspect,” based on the award-winning BBC series, centering on a courageous female detective who investigates complex mysteries in a politically explosive big city. Hank Steinberg (“Without a Trace”) and Erwin Stoff (“The Blind Side”) are the executive producers.

* “Chase,” a new action-procedural drama from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer, based on a real-life group and set in the American Southwest, follows a crucial fugitive apprehension team comprised of U.S. Marshals that tracks down the nation’s most notorious criminals. Joining Bruckheimer as executive producers are Jennifer Johnson (“Cold Case”) and Jonathan Littman (“CSI,” “Cold Case”).

* “Kindreds,” created by Emmy Award winner David E. Kelley (“Boston Legal,” “The Practice,” “L.A. Law”), follows a curmudgeonly ex-patent lawyer and his group of misfit associates as their lives come together to form an unconventional kind of law practice. Kelley is the writer and executive producer.

* “The Event,” a thriller with a unique storytelling device that features multiple points of view concerning a decent, regular fellow who battles against mysterious circumstances that envelope a larger conspiracy. Steve Stark (“Medium”) is the executive producer, and Nick Wauters (“The 4400”) is the co-executive producer/writer.

* “Love Bites” is an hour-long romantic comedy from writer Cindy Chupack (“Sex in the City,” “Everybody Loves Raymond”) and Timothy Bevan & Eric Fellner (“Love Actually,” “Bridget Jones’ Diary”).

* “The Rockford Files.” Your worst fears are being realized, Seth Gordon: the iconic drama from the 1970s is being re-imagined by executive producers David Shore (“House”) and Steve Carell. Yes, the one from “The Office.”

* And, lastly (for now), there’s the Adam Carolla comedy project, featuring Jimmy Kimmel’s former “Man Show” co-host as a contractor who sets out to re-build his life following a divorce. The executive producers are Carolla, Kevin Hench (The Hammer”), Jon Pollack (NBC’s “30 Rock”), Jimmy Kimmel (“The Jimmy Kimmel Show”), Gail Berman (NBC’s “Mercy”), Lloyd Braun (NBC’s “Mercy”), Daniel Kellison (“The Jimmy Kimmel Show,” “The Man Show”) and James Dixon (“Ace in the Hole”).

There’s also still some interest from the network about having Dick Wolf pull together a “Law & Order: Los Angeles” (which Wolf has apparently taken to calling “LOLA”), but it’s still strictly in the talking stages at the moment.

A couple of random tidbits were also offered up about a few other shows which are currently part of the NBC line-up:

* “Heroes” is still under consideration for a fifth season, with Bromstad planning to meet with creator Tim Kring sometime in the next few weeks to feel out what his plans would be for the series.

* David Hasselhoff is leaving “America’s Got Talent,” and his probable replacement looks to be Howie Mandel.

Oh, hey, we just remembered: what’s NBC planning to do with Carson Daly? (See, even we hadn’t thought about where the Leno / O’Brien / Fallon brouhaha was going to leave him.) Well, according to Gaspin, “Carson is going to be part of NBC, regardless of what happens,” though he admitted that leaving him in the post-Fallon timeslot would involve some “rejiggering.” The problem at hand is that 2:05 AM, which would ostensibly be the new start-time for Daly’s show, is when the affiliates are free to air whatever the hell they want…and, really, if you had a choice, would you watch Carson Daly?

* Best-received interview of the year:

Tom Smothers. I’m used to hearing from my friends when I do an interview that they enjoy, but I heard from several complete strangers that really loved the conversation Tom and I had about everything from the censorship of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” to the night John Lennon and Harry Nilsson were thrown out of the Brothers’ show at the Troubadour.

“Harry comes in with John Lennon. Well, he told John Lennon, ‘Tom likes hecklers. It helps him. It gets him through his show.’ And every time there was a silence, they were hollering out things like, ‘God fucks pigs!’ I mean, it was really filthy! Blows were thrown, and it just got wild. The next day, I got flowers and all kinds of apologies from Lennon and from Harry Nilsson.”

* Most politically-incorrect interview of the year:

Tony Clifton, the former alter ego of Andy Kaufman that’s now being performed by Bob Zmuda. To say that Clifton works a little blue is the understatement of the century, but it’s more than just dirty jokes; his whole act is one where he unabashedly says things that he knows will piss people off…and if you don’t know it’s an act, then it’s really gonna piss you off.

“Some people say that, with the repertoire I’ve got and with the rapport between the band and me, a few people have quoted it as being like Buddy Rich. I call ‘em like I see ‘em, just like Buddy. But Buddy was coked up most of the time, and I don’t do that. I prefer the Jack Daniel’s. I’m fucked up most of the time during the show. I have fun with the band. I call ‘em niggers. And I got a few Japs in there, I call ‘em Nips. I got everything mixed up in that band, like I say. I call ‘em the way I see ‘em. Listen, lemme tell ya this: you know why I get away with it? ‘Cause I got black people in my family. Yeah. And I’ve got the rope to prove it. Look, the blackies are good. They’re good for the sports and for the music. See, the Jews are good at making the money…or at taking the money from you.”

* The interview with an actor that most impressed my wife:

Matthew McConaughey.

“Well, I definitely was playing some bongos. It was late, and it was hot, and there was…there wasn’t much clothing going on with the bongos.”

* The interview with a singer (and, okay, he acts a little, too) that most impressed my wife:

Rick Springfield.

“I think the script (for ‘Hard to Hold’) wasn’t a really good script, and I was kind of at the point where I thought, “I can make anything work!” You know? I think what it was was a very, very extensive video. A song video, basically, is all it was. I know a lot of people who’ve said, ‘I love that movie,’ but I think that’s because it’s part of their life. We did our best in it; I think there are some funny and endearing scenes. I haven’t seen it in so long that I actually don’t have an opinion anymore. I think the last time I saw it was before the first rough cut, and that was the only time I’ve ever seen it.”

* The person who seemed most impressed that I’d seen and enjoyed his movie:

Adam Carolla, though I don’t know why he was so surprised. “The Hammer” is really good.

“I wanted to make something that was a little less theatrical in the boxing department because boxing matches…it’s, like, Mr. T doesn’t punch Sylvester Stallone in the face 10 times in a row and then Stallone yells, ‘Come on!’ You hit the ground.”

* The person who seemed the least interested in being on the phone with me:

Mike Epps (“Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins”), whose answers were so consistently brief and uninspired that I ran through all of my questions in about two minutes flat. I felt like quoting Chandler Bing: “Dear God, this parachute is a knapsack!”

Bullz-Eye: How many family reunions have you been to in your time?
Mike Epps: I’ve been to quite a few. You know, my family usually gets together.
BE: Like an annual thing?
ME: Yeah, an annual thing.
BE: Do you have sporting events at yours as well?
ME: Not really.
BE: Mostly just get-togethers and food?
ME: Yep.

* Best reason for getting into acting:

Rufus Sewell, star of “Eleventh Hour.”

“At first, it was sort of an attention grabbing exercise, but eventually it developed into a way of getting free sandwiches…like it is now.”

* The best anecdote I heard in 2008:

Eric Roberts‘ story about working with Sterling Hayden on “King of the Gypsies.”

“I’d been working about two or three weeks, and when we went into our night shoot, I had my first scene with him, in the back of a car. I show up early like I always do, and he shows up late, like he always did, and I’m waiting for him to get ready. The assistant director comes and knocks on the door and says, ‘Mr. Hayden would like to speak with you.’ And I’m, like, ‘Cool, man, great!’ So I go over there, and I knock on the door. ‘Come in, come in!’ So I open up this door, and it reeks of hash! And he says to me, ‘Have a seat, son! So, what are we doing tonight?’ I say, ‘We’re doing scene 85.’ ‘I know the number! What the fuck happens?’ I say, ‘Well, it’s a night scene, and you want to bring me back into the fold because you don’t think your son is too capable but you think your grandson is,’ I being the grandson. He goes, ‘Okay! How’re your improvisations?’ I said, ‘I’m pretty good.’ He says, ‘Well, that’s what we’re doing tonight: we’re gonna improv the whole thing. Now that I know what we’re doing, we’re just gonna shoot from the hip, okay?’ I said, ‘Great!’ He said, ‘Y’wanna get high with me?’ I said, ‘No, if I get high, I can’t talk.’ And he says, ‘Well, I can only talk when I’m high!’

* The quote that got me the most online mileage in 2008:

Barry Bostwick‘s comments about MTV’s remake of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“That’s a waste of money. That would be like saying…and understand that I’m not making this as a total comparison, but it would be like saying, ‘Hey, let’s go remake ‘Casablanca’! How are you going to remake it? Every time it was done on stage, I thought it showed the flaws of the piece. I think it’s a one-off; I don’t think you can repeat that. I mean, look at the sequel. What was that called? ‘Shock Treatment’? I never saw that, but it was a miserable failure…even more of one than ‘Rocky Horror’ was when it first came out! That one wasn’t even re-discovered and turned into a cult hit. I mean, I don’t know. You should just leave those things alone. I think films like (‘Rocky Horror’) are stand-alones, and they’re brilliant for what they were at the time they were done. I mean, you would have to do it as a period piece. It’s not like you’re going to update ‘Oklahoma.’ It’s of its time.”

* Proof that wishes do come true if you keep wishing long enough:

After many years of trying, I was finally able to interview two of my all-time favorite musicians, Lindsey Buckingham and Billy Bragg.

“When (Fleetwood Mac) got off the road after the Say You Will tour in 2004, I said to the band, ‘Don’t bother me for three or four years, because I really want to put out two albums in relatively short order for me and tour behind both of them.” – Lindsey Buckingham

“There is the opportunity to reach a younger audience, and that’s almost all done now through peer-to-peer recommendation. In some ways, what other people think of as pirates are actually my promo force, so I’m rather loath to clamp them in irons and fine them for being enthusiastic about my music!” – Billy Bragg

* The best two-for-one special for a straight-to-video project:

Clint Howard and Larry Miller, who were both promoting “Senior Skip Day”

“I figure I just keep working and let the chips fall where they may, and if that means I end up having an eclectic career, so be it. For me to try to manipulate things or for me to try to tell people or the system how it should be…I’m just a kind of a more go-with-the-flow guy when it comes to my acting career.” – Clint Howard

“Even the movies or TV shows that haven’t been that good, there hasn’t been a day on that set that I haven’t loved. Even when people say, ‘This caterer is no good, this guy with the food isn’t as good as the other guy,’ I’m there with a giant pile of free food, thinking, ‘Gee, it tastes pretty good to me!’” – Larry Miller

* The most easy-going interviews of the year:

Bill Lawrence, creator of “Scrubs,” and Pauley Perrette, who plays Abby on “NCIS,” mostly because they both remembered me from in-person encounters during past TCA Press Tours.

“It’s tough to write the same show for eight years, man. I made some mistakes. I let (‘Scrubs’) get too broad and goofy in the middle, and, y’know, we got a little lazy sometimes and were a little bit of a caricature of ourselves.” – Bill Lawrence

“Every Halloween since Season One, I see so many people walking around dressed as Abby! Because it’s such a fun costume — and it’s easy! Ponytails, fake tattoo on your neck, lab coat, big boots, choker collar, wrist bands, done!” – Pauley Perrette

The question I was most proud to have gotten answered:

I didn’t know how Denis Leary would react when I asked him about the longstanding claims that he plagiarized a lot of Bill Hicks’ act, so I waited until the end to pose the question, but there was no tension in his voice when he provided me with a lengthy answer. In fact, it’s so long that I’d feel guilty posting it all here, so here’s the link to the whole interview, and you can just skip to the end if you don’t want to read it all…though, of course, you really should read it all. It’s only polite.