CNBC has canceled “Jay Leno’s Garage.” The series focused on Leno showing off his enormous car collection. All while he interviews guests like President Joe Biden and Elon Musk, who show off their cars as well. The series has been a staple of their primetime line-up since 2015.
This cancellation comes as a part of a much larger shift in their overall schedule. The belief is the network wants to focus more on reality show reruns of “Shark Tank” and “Undercover Boss,” alongside original business documentaries. While Leno did suffer from 3rd-degree burns due to an accident at his garage late last year, that does not seem to be the reason for this decision. While recovering from serious burns is a slow and painful process, Leno says he feels fine. He even did his first interview after the accident with NBC’s “Today” show. So there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood with NBCUniversal.
But this cancelation does end his 30-year run with the company. Since Leno took over “The Tonight Show” from Johnny Carson in 1992, he has had some kind of project going for the network. Leno originally left “The Tonight Show” in 2009 amid a wave of controversy. Since he gave the show over to fellow late-night host Conan O’Brien, but later changed his mind. He was given “The Jay Leno Show” in the network’s 10 p.m. time slot.
After some rating trouble, NBC attempted to move Leno back to the 11:30 p.m. slot. While they planned to shift “The Tonight Show” to midnight. O’Brien very loudly fought this decision and the whole situation ended with him leaving the network altogether. Leno took back “The Tonight Show” before officially leaving again in February of 2014, handing over hosting duties to Jimmy Fallon.
A few months later CNBC ordered “Jay Leno’s Garage,” which was originally a web series for NBC.com. But after a special episode in the summer of 2014, CNBC picked it up for their primetime programming. The show aired its seventh and, now confirmed, final season in the fall of 2022.
So unless Leno has another project secretly in the works, his time with NBCUniversal has come to a close. We wish him luck on any new venture he pursues.
