Jay Leno may not be the hippest host in late-night TV, but he is the most popular. And that's fine by him.

"I'm not saying I'm the greatest comic, but this is like good food at sensible prices," Leno said of his "Tonight Show" comedy legacy. "It wasn't that great, but, boy, the portions were enormous."

Leno will host his last episode of NBC's "The Tonight Show" at 11:35 tonight on WPXI before re-emerging in the fall as host of "The Jay Leno Show," which will air at 10 p.m. Monday through Friday on NBC. Leno's final guest tonight will be Conan O'Brien, the new host of "The Tonight Show," who takes over next week.

Leno began hosting "The Tonight Show" on May 25, 1992, after NBC passed over David Letterman, then host of NBC's "Late Night," as the successor to "Tonight Show" mainstay Johnny Carson.

Letterman jumped to CBS and initially his "Late Show" beat "The Tonight Show" in the ratings. But Leno staged a turnaround that he said was cemented by a 1995 appearance by an embarrassed, apologetic Hugh Grant after the actor was caught with a prostitute.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Leno asked Grant, echoing the thoughts of viewers.

" 'The Tonight Show' is sort of like the America's Cup of television," Leno said in a teleconference earlier this month. "You don't want to be the guy to screw it up. And I'm thrilled that we've been able to remain No. 1 -- with the exception of the first year or so we went up against Dave."

Leno said he has most enjoyed the monologue on "The Tonight Show," which he noted has more than doubled in length since he began.

"Before I had the show, the fun thing to do was when something would happen in the news, I'd run down to the Improv or The Comedy Store or one of the clubs and get on stage and tell that topical joke to the audience and it would get a laugh," Leno said. "The fun thing about 'The Tonight Show' is something happens, you write the joke and you run on stage. It's like fresh-squeezed orange juice. There's the vine, here's the juicer, and then you get it right in the same day."

Another signature segment, Jay Walking, always prompts queries from viewers who can't believe anyone is as dumb as the people interviewed appear to be.

"My favorite are always people that go, 'Oh, I love those Jay Walking segments. I love how stupid those people are,' " Leno said. "And I go, can I ask you a question? Who's the first president of the United States. 'Abraham Lincoln.' OK, thank you.

"It's not a hidden camera. ... There's no false pretenses involved. So those segments are the most fun for me."

Many of Leno's signature bits will migrate with him to his new showcase, many landing in the second half-hour to provide a lead-in to 11 p.m. newscasts.

"That's really where our local affiliates make their money," Leno said. An NBC executive told Newsday this week that each night of the week will feature a different signature comedy element. (A closing monologue was considered but has been discarded.)

No one expects Leno to beat his drama show competitors on rival networks -- CBS and ABC executives have been salivating at the prospect of eliminating NBC as a scripted series competitor in the time slot -- at least not right away.

"We're just going to offer an alternative," Leno said. "Do I expect to beat them the first week we're up against each other? This original programming in September? Probably not."

But he noted that his show will air new episodes more than 40 weeks a year, while scripted shows routinely produce just 22 weeks of new episodes of any one program.

"This is an economic decision as well. We can do five ['Jay Leno Shows'] for less money than you can shoot [one episode of] any one of these 10 o'clock dramas," Leno said. "We're looking to be successful. And if we win, well, that would be gravy, but if we can hold our own and do well and especially in the summer and in repeat periods over the Christmas holidays, that's when we will make up ground and hopefully win."

Some viewers wonder why Leno is leaving "The Tonight Show." NBC likes orderly transitions and set these changes in motion in 2004. Leno said he's at peace with the decisions that have been made.

"NBC's attitude about these kind of things is that you should always leave these shows while they're No. 1," Leno said. "Five years ago, Conan was set to go to ABC, and they said, 'We don't want to lose Conan.' And I said, 'What do you guys want to do? Whatever you want to do, guys.' "

What they did was to announce O'Brien would take over "The Tonight Show" in 2009.

One thing Leno's learned in his years doing "The Tonight Show": It's about the jokes. Not much else matters. It's likely he'll take that lesson with him to his successor series.

"When I first got 'The Tonight Show,' a guy came up to me on the street once and said, 'You know, I don't like you but I do like some of your jokes,' " Leno recalled. "And I realized, OK, you don't like the manufacturer, but you enjoy the product."

Actress Julia Ormond, who plays the head of surgery in the Pittsburgh-set CBS pilot "Three Rivers," is no longer with the series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

No word on whether the role will be recast.

It's not unusual at this time of year for networks to tinker with the casts of their new series before proceeding to make more episodes.

British import "Dr. Who," which has been airing on Sci Fi Channel, will shift to BBC America with the final five installments starring David Tennant, which begin airing June 27 and will premiere throughout 2009 into early 2010. Spinoff series "Torchwood" returns to BBCA with new episodes in July.

Although TV stations in some major markets -- Chicago, Washington and Atlanta -- have announced they'll pool their resources and share some video for coverage of routine stories, executives at Pittsburgh TV outlets say there are no plans for stations to do that here.

Veteran local broadcaster Eleanor Schano will receive the Board of Governors' Award from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for her lifetime achievements. The Emmy ceremony will be held on Sept. 26 in Philadelphia.

Past recipients include Fred Rogers, Joe DeNardo and Myron Cope.

The Federal Communication Commission has awarded Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania a contract to operate two digital TV transition walk-in help centers. The locations will be open through June 19, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 12-8 p.m. on Sunday.

The centers will be at 1601 Brighton Road, North Side, and 2600 E. Carson St., South Side.

I inadvertently left "Reaper" off the list of canceled CW shows last week, and it won't return to that network, but there has been some chatter about it going into first-run syndication. ... "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," starring Neil Patrick Harris and previously available only by ordering online, will be sold on DVD ($14.95) in stores beginning Tuesday. ... E! Online reports T.R. Knight, whose George was hit by a bus in the "Grey's Anatomy" season finale, will not return to the show next season.

Get a preview of the fantastic season finale of "Breaking Bad" in Tuned In Journal. TV Q&A responds to questions about "My Name Is Earl," "Without a Trace" and "The Mentalist." Find online TV content at post-gazette.com/tv.

This week's Tuned In podcast includes conversation about the networks' fall schedule. Listen or subscribe at post-gazette.com/podcast.