14 DAY TRIAL // Jay Leno's last appearance on the Tonight Show has finally aired and the ratings blew the competition out of the water. Reports are coming in that the final episode starring Jay Leno managed an astounding 14.6 million viewers, which is the highest number for the show's ratings in 15 years.
The episode contained a special segment orchestrated by Hollywood comedic actor Billy Crystal and featured a series of currently hot celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Jack Black, Sheryl Crow, Jim Parsons, and Oprah Winfrey, who performed an original version of the “So Long Farewell” song from “The Sound of Music.”
This episode is surpassed in the number of viewers by only 3 others: the post “Cheers” finale with 22.4 million viewers in 1993, Leno's debut episode with 16.1 million viewers in 1992, and the post “Seinfeld” finale with 15 million viewers in 1998.
For Leno, who made a teary-eyed departure from the show, this is a bitter-sweet swan song, because he made it clear he didn't want to be replaced, when he described the network's decision to bring in Jimmy Fallon as being “blindsided.”