Former "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno is in the final stages of talks to return to television, according to
The Hollywood Reporter.
His new TV gig will keep him in the NBCUniversal family, as the primetime show would air on CNBC, the Hollywood Reporter cites sources close to the talks as saying.
The new show would not be comedy-based, but instead focus on cars, a longtime passion of Leno's. He currently hosts a web series on NBC.com titled
"Jay's Garage."
Leno has been looking for another place on television
since he left "The Tonight Show" in February. That departure marked the second time NBC had released the longtime host from the show. He was replaced by Conan O'Brien for less nine months in 2009-10. The show currently is hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
CNBC would not confirm the negotiations, but NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt has said in the past he had hoped to keep Leno under the NBC umbrellas as a sort of elder statesman for the network.
"Nothing would make us happier than for him, a la Bob Hope, to still be a presence on the network," Greenblatt said in July 2013.
Leno, 64, has remained busy since leaving "The Tonight Show." He has toured the country doing stand-up and was part of a USO show in Afghanistan.
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