Confirmed: “Leno Show” To Feature Green Car Racing
Filed under: cars-houses, film-tv, television — Michael d'Estries @ 9:37 am
August 24th 2009
Back in the beginning of August, it was rumored that Jay Leno was considering a “Green Car Racing” segment for his new The Jay Leno Show on NBC. Now, it’s been confirmed as something that will happen 2-3 times a week. There’s even a custom track being built next to the studio. It’s expected that celebrities will race around trying to beat each other’s times.
Now, even though it’s labeled as “Green Car Racing”, we don’t expect anything beyond the Ford Focus Hybrid to grace the track. The reason? The entire segment is sponsored by Ford. Visions of those terribly nauseating American Idol Ford product placements still haunt my memory. Will Leno’s segment be just as commercially cringing?
Racing challenge aside, Leno’s show may do it’s best marketing for the next-generation of eco-friendly cars with its studio design. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a large door allows Leno to drive a car directly onto the set, which is something he intends to do, albeit frequently. As we know, the former Tonight Show host is big into trying out and hyping up-and-coming vehicles with his online video series “Jay’s Garage” — might he do the same on primetime? Would be great to see him plug second-gen Smart Cars or a production Volt. Hell, why not just pull an Oprah and give everyone in the audience a new all-electric Nissan Leaf? I dream.
Check out Leno’s new show on September 14th at 10pm on NBC.
I am super excited about the Volt!