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NBC Universal would be bigger idiots than they already are if boss Jeff Zucker declares Jay Leno the “king of the 10 PM Hour” (like he declared Conan O’Brien the “king of late night” prematurely. That’s because the Jay Leno Show scored strong overnight ratings against weak 10 PM competition: a repeat of CSI: Miami on CBS and on ABC the 2006 motion picture Dreamgirls which had already played all over cable. Leno’s primetime debut was seen by 17.7 million viewers and pulled a 5.1 preliminary adults 18-49 rating. That’s 34% stronger in the adult demo than the final national household rating for Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show debut last June (9.2 million viewers and a 3.8 adults 18-49 rating) and 50% higher than Leno’s final Tonight Show last May (11.9 million viewers and a 3.4 rating). So what does this mean? Nothing. That’s right, nothing. In fact, the show should do well all week because there’s nothing but repeats or news on the networks. Speaking at the annual Goldman Sachs “Communacopia” Conference, Zucker said he was “very pleased” with the “incredibly strong audience” ratings for the show. “Obviously Jay got off to a very nice start last night” he said but cautioned “there’s a very long way to go from here. We’ll judge this on 52 weeks, not one night.” Right now, Leno’s primetime show can’t command the same ad rates as 10 PM scripted shows. Then again Jay’s show is cheaper, all part of Zucker’s managing for margins, not ratings, strategy for the last place network.
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Lower ad rates and no ancillaries like syndycation/DVD money.
NBC is racing towards the bottom and diminished returns faster than we expected.
Your scoops are the best, Nikki, but you know what your commentary means?
Nothing.
Jay Leno is a joke. The whole show is a joke. NBC= Nothing But Crap
I’m willing to bet a lot of these viewers were there out of curiosity.
I’ve already spoken with family in middle America. They never watched Leno but they tuned in last night to see what the deal was with the “new show”. After watching for part of it they realized that nothing was new and it was the same boring schtick and changed the channel.
Congratulations to Jay Leno! The show was funny, Kevin Eubanks and the band were back and there was even a “Hugh Grant” moment. But where was John Melendez? Last night’s announcer sounded almost catatonic.
The monologue could be longer and Jay needs to stand closer to the band for that frequent banter with Kevin. Other than that, keep the status quo. Remember Jay, if things don’t work out, ABC or Fox will welcome you with open arms.
Either way, Jay wins!
Not to forget the bump Jay may have received from Kanye West’s contrite sit-down with Jay, which was promoted before the show aired.
Good numbers but the Show sucked. Monologue was horribly misplaced, overpolitical and outdated.
I’m more interested in how this impacts the Dave/Conan race, as you might find people more interested in flipping over after they have Jay. Might especially hurt 12:30 on NBC… 3 hours of talk in a row…
Jay’s new show wins the time slot with high numbers and you say it means “nothing?” Not very thoughtful analysis, Nikki.
If it had tanked in the numbers, that would mean something. The fact that it did NOT tank in the numbers therefore means something. Don’t know what your beef is with Jay, but the show didn’t tank. Deal with it.
On the same subject, Jay’s first show was genuinely underwhelming and, for me, a disappointment. Start to finish.
But a variety show, with an emphasis on comedy, every night at 10PM is in theory a decent idea. They’ll need to bring their A game if they want to succeed.
To be fair, at least NBC got some eyeballs to a show debut. They’ve had countless shows never get out of the gate because of low debut numbers. Of course, running a 30 second promo for Leno would take 2:30 to cover five different shows.
Personally i did not find him all that funny. Jerry Seinfeld was better. The whole car wash thing sucked along with his monologue. Kanye having to answer what his mom thought about the crap he pulled at the VMA’s was great. Overall though I was waiting for the show to be over.
Stasi of the NY Post gave it 3 1/2 stars?
Wow..I give it 2 stars. I am starting to believe that there is no more real “magic” left in TV. If there is, I didn’t see it at 10pm on NBC.
First, why did they use the “ugly” pictures of Jay in the opening? Even he admitted his face would scare kids back then.
That singing car wash bit???? Come on! That was about as funny as a high school play (sorry to insult high schoolers). You would think on the first night…..you’d bring out Seinfeld EARLIER…..and that would automatically hold the audience. There was not enough brotherhood with Kevin and the band. The Kanye stuff was pretty well handled. And if those are the best ‘headlines’ he has after 3-months..maybe he should dump the bit.
I like Jay…I hope he kicks butt…..but last night, it was a bit tentative. Don’t program the show for lame TV execs…….program it for “the people.” That’s who Jay plays-to, anyway.
On the factor last night and Fox Business they were talking about Zucker’s gamble with the new Leno Show. If Leno doesn’t succeed it could be Zucker’s head on the guilliotine becouse NBC is in financial trouble.
On a related note MSNBC may be cancelling the Ed Schultz Show and Rachel Maddow becouse of some real sorry ratings and the fact shows have lost viewers.
Zucker’s head should have been on the guilliotine after he gave The Tonight Show to Conan O’Brien when Jay Leno had been number one in late night t.v. for 17 years.
Nikki, why are you OBSESSED with Leno and NBC? They did great, give them some credit. No one’s expecting him to rake in 17M viewers every day forever but that’s a damn good number, competition or not. I thought even you would be able to recognize it.
I really liked Jays new show.I never cared for or watched The Tonight Show,but my husband of 32yrs loved Jay….The comedian was really funny,I’d never seen him before but I hope his is a reg.bit.And I can’t wait to see Michael Moore’s new movie…..I’m really surprised that I liked it so much…….He showed an old gal some new tricks…..
I liked the show, don’t get me wrong. However, besides the format I didn’t see any difference between this show and the tonight show. Everything about it reminds you of the tonight show. How is this going to change television? Is it because the timeslot it is on? Or a comedy skit show on a network channel? I don’t get it. The Chappelle show and Carlos Mencia already have shows that are pretty much the same concept. Not to mention Conan, Letterman, and whoever else there is. Personally, I think all the hype was much ado about nothing. And just like Sienfield said to Jay on his show last night, “I’m trying to figure out what’s going on here.”
I was disappointed, to be honest. I was looking forward to a very chill, entertaining show, but all I saw was scripted, awkward dialogue (the Seinfeld bit was horrible, not to mention the stupid car wash thing). Hopefully, though, it will get better with time as they tweak things and what not.
The first two weeks of this show are just for curiosity’s sake and nothing else. Zucker better not get used to this show pulling in those kind of numbers after a month on the air as it will begin to start tanking as the newness wears off. It happened to Conan and to Fallon so NBC better not get too relieved to see this guy’s ratings be at the point they will be for 14 days. This show will tank eventually like everything else at Nothing But Crap.
I watched about the first three minutes before flipping off. This is just the old Tonight Show, but on earlier. “Robot Man” walks out, spews jokes, does lame comedy bits, interviews a guest. This is the future of television? Nothing personal against Leno, but I just don’t see how this works.
The only guy doing fresh stuff on late night (network) TV is Craig Ferguson. The guy is amazing!
This show was unfunny, forced and unbearable. The worst thing I’ve seen on TV in a long time. And I liked Jay’s old show some of the time.
Jay Leno makes my skin crawl. I guess he’s been officially found innocent of scabbing, but he’ll always be a scab in my book.
So what are the consistent ratings going to be a month from now? He can’t keep these record ratings up?
The Jay Leno Show on NBC is actually genius, a comedy show that isn’t funny. It is so lame and unfunny their target audience must be coma patients.
Leno engages in some highly questionable behavior during the strike, and gets a pass from the WGA. Then he comes out and does a new TV show that is literally unwatchable, comparable to Chevy Chase’s old talk show, and pulls in 17 million viewers. When the hell does this guy’s luck run out? Is karma now extinct? Of course that’s what I used to think about OJ.
Nikki and every other TV executive in Hollywood is obsessed over Jay Leno because of how it may change the face of primetime television. I don’t expect Jay’s ratings to hold up like they did on his opening night, but if he averages about 7 million viewers a night, then this could change the whole programming schedule for all of the networks because it may not be profitable to sink five million dollars an episode for a primetime drama that may not draw as many viewers as a cheaply produced show like Jay Leno. This could be huge for NBC in primetime, but it may cannibalize their late night lineup of Conan, Jimmy Fallon, and Carson Daly. In fact, most of Jay’s viewers may decide to watch Letterman after their local news.
Jay needs to stand closer to the band for that frequent banter with Kevin.
I also thought the stage seemed a little too open…even Kevin was apart from the band. I’m guessing they want it to look more like a primetime gameshow, instead of having the intimacy of late night.
Ironically, the weakest part was the “young comic” segment, which I expected to be a highlight. Instead, the tired car wash bit went nowhere. (Jim Norton’s debut was a significant improvement in tonight’s show.)
Overall, the show really screws with your sense of time. By the time The Tonight Show comes on, you feel like you’ve already watched it. If Leno’s show catches on, it will be interesting to see how it affects ratings for Conan and- particularly- Jimmy Fallon. You really feel like it’s about 2am by the time Late Night finally arrives. (Not to mention, most of the day’s topical jokes have already been delivered- twice.)