Leno: New show looking OK
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. television personality Jay Leno says his new prime time talk show is "looking OK," but he probably would go back to late night if NBC offered it to him.
"The Jay Leno Show" started airing weeknights at 10 p.m. in September after Leno, host of "The Tonight Show" for 17 years, was booted by NBC to make room for current "Tonight" host Conan O'Brien.
"I think we're looking OK," Leno told Broadcasting & Cable in an exclusive interview. "We don't get a lot of complaints on content. The first week, people kind of went after us because it looked like the old show. Well, yeah. We seem to be doing OK, obviously, going after the toughest competition in television; 10 o'clock shows are all steamrollers, and the idea is this is a show we do on a budget and we're trying to make money."
Leno said that after taking over "Tonight" from the retiring Johnny Carson nearly two decades ago, he is used to criticism and cries of, "You stink, you suck, we hate you."
"Then you go along and you're great; from last January to May, I was a genius," Leno said. "I really don't take anything too personally. I find there's a lot of anger at NBC. But it's like I say to the people who write the dramas: If I weren't doing this, it would be 'Dateline' five nights a week or reality shows. We've kept work in California, we have 22 WGA writers, but there's always going to be anger and resentment."
Asked if he regrets NBC's decision to move him to an earlier time slot, Leno replied: "Would I have preferred to stay at 11:30? Yeah, sure. I would have preferred that. I think it's too soon to say whether I regret anything or not… . My thing is, I did 'The Tonight Show' for 17 years, that's what I did. It's like the America's Cup; you won it, they can't take it away from you. So now you try this and you see what happens. Do I enjoy the battle? Yes, I get a certain amount of satisfaction from pounding my head against the wall."
Pressed to speculate about what he might do if a new NBC owner asked him to move back to his old time slot, Leno said: "If it were offered to me, would I take it? If that's what they wanted to do, sure. That would be fine if they wanted to."
Rihanna: I learned from Brown incidentLOS ANGELES, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Barbados-born recording artist Rihanna says she's learned a lot from her high-profile domestic violence incident involving her former beau, singer Chris Brown.
Brown, 20, was ordered to go for counseling and do community service work after he pleaded guilty to assaulting Rihanna, 21, last February.
Rihanna has been keeping a low profile since the incident, but Usmagazine.com said Tuesday she has spoken publicly for the first time about it with Glamour magazine.
"It has taught me so much," Rihanna told Glamour. "I went to sleep as Rihanna and woke up as Britney Spears. That was the level of media chaos that happened the next day. It was like: 'What? There are helicopters circling my house? There are 100 people in my cul-de-sac? What do you mean, I can't go back home?'"
The singer went on to say she was mortified when a photo of her battered face made the rounds on the Internet shortly after the incident.
"That is not a photo you would show to anybody," she said. "I felt completely taken advantage of ... like people were making it into a fun topic ... and it's my life. I was disappointed, especially when I found out the photo was (allegedly leaked by) two women."
Rihanna said she hopes other people will be able to learn from her personal experience.
"Domestic violence is a big secret," she noted. "My story was broadcast all over the world for people to see, and they have followed every step of my recovery. The positive thing that has come out of my situation is that people can learn from that."
Tennant to star in U.S. television pilotLOS ANGELES, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Scottish actor David Tennant has been cast in a U.S. television legal dramedy pilot, sources told The Hollywood Reporter.
The project will mark the American TV debut for Tennant, who is best known for playing the title character on the British science fiction series "Doctor Who."
The entertainment industry trade newspaper said Tennant is to star in "Rex is Not Your Lawyer," NBC's hour-long pilot about an anxiety-stricken Chicago attorney who starts coaching clients to represent themselves in court.
Masterson gives birth to a sonNEW YORK, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Mary Stuart Masterson's publicist says the U.S. actress has given birth to her first child, a son.
The 43-year-old star of "Some Kind of Wonderful," "Fried Green Tomatoes" and "Bed of Roses" delivered the baby Oct. 11, her representative confirmed to People.com.
The child is the first for Masterson and actor Jeremy Davidson, her husband of three years.
The People.com report did not mention the baby's name and weight, or the location of his birth.
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