Hot Trailer: ‘The Great Gatsby’ 
How Did Women Pilot Writers Fare For 2012? 
Disney Quits Snow White Film ‘Order Of The … 
Cannes Planning Surprise Screening Of Non-Fest Films; … 
ReelzChannel Acquires U.S. Rights To ‘Pillars’ … 
Investors Unfriend Facebook As SEC Investigates IPO … 
Cash Windfalls For WME Agents, Assistants 
A&E IndieFilms Sets ‘Happy Valley,’ … 
Hot Cannes Property: Natalie Portman, Lynne Ramsay Team On … 
Brad Pitt Hits Cannes With ‘Killing Them … 
CNN Hits 20-Year Weekday Primetime Low 
Longtime TV Exec Rod Perth Named NATPE President & CEO 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘House’ Ends Run On High-Ish … 
Does Cable News Clarify Or Confuse The Public’s … 
Mark Burnett’s Company Launches Scripted Unit, Taps … 
‘Mary Mother Of Christ’ In Lionsgate Deal 
Icon UK Group Joins ‘The Butler’; Forest … 
HBO Developing Comedy Series Starring Catherine Keener And … 
Legendary’s Thomas Tull Among Just 3 Contenders … 
Harvey Weinstein Unveils ‘The Master’, … 
Cable Execs Warn That Dish Network’s Ad-Zapping DVR … 
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.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
You want to talk numbers, here’s a stat: 60% of viewers for Leno’s opening program were over 50. 60 percent! No show has skewed this old since Lawrence Welk and Gunsmoke.
The show was plain bad. Did Zucker say he was programming for margins or for morons?
It really surprised me the show had so much time to plan and was so heavily promoted and then they didn’t even try to do anything new. If you told me I was watching a Tonight Show rerun from last year, I would have believed you.
The numbers have been revised. Leno pulled 18.4 million viewers, not 17.7.
If the show drops by 50% over the next few months its still better than some of NBC’s scripted shows on at 10pm. The huge numbers won’t hold up NBC knows this that’s why they were not hyping the numbers that much, they are in it for 46 weeks not one day.
If Leno does hold up anywhere these numbers, guess what, monkey see monkey do, that’s Hollywood.
It dropped either 34% or 40% on Night 2, depending on which meter you believe. It won’t come close to holding 50% of the first night’s episode going forward. In order to do that, the show would need to be entertaining. It’s not.
Welcome Back Jay.
Jay Leno will always have his core base to sustain him for the long run of it. His brand is very much alive and well.
Babyboomers are living longer and healthier lives so his base is fully intact, for sure.
I think he will do just fine, despite whatever criticism comes his way. When he took over for Johnny Carson, his critics and ratings took a pretty severe beating and he rose above all of the fray and thus, took The Tonight Show to the Number One rated late night talkshow for years and years and years.
He proved everyone wrong and he will be successful and prevail in the greater scheme of things.
You go Jay.
Who’s more obvious: the union guys who bash Leno in the comments of every story about him, or the NBC employees who praise him (“Either way, Jay wins!”)?
Regardless, people with even a pretense of taste have always found Leno to be the embodiment of lame. Team snob!
This time it’s not just union guys. If you visit populist web sites like EW.com there’s tremndous condemnation of this new show. It’s just not well done, well written or entertaining.
“If it had tanked in the numbers, that would mean something. The fact that it did NOT tank in the numbers therefore means something.”
Well put.
We all know Jay won’t be getting numbers anything like this next month, or maybe even next week, but you can’t say it’s meaningless that Jay was a huge hit on opening night. Tons of highly-touted TV projects crash and burn the very first episode. Leno soared. That counts for something.
Chuck, I am not sure that Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow will be getting the shaft soon. It is Keith Olbermann that is in trouble despite the big contract. He has been attacking FOX News again, he spews hate and virile, and lies about his own ratings to the point that he is dragging down the entire cable network.
Countdown was supposed to be news show with some analysis thrown into the mix. The show used to feature the three biggest stories on the day counted down from five to three with a Oddball segment after number 4. Story number two usually was a story of minor importance followed by a keeping tabs segment which featured celebrity and entertainment news. This lead to the number one story of the day which was a lighthearted story in which Keith would call important or the big entertainment story of the day.
Now Countdown is news analysis show with the slightest hint of Oddball. Simply put, he does the same as Bill O’Reilly except that he includes his commentary in certain points of the broadcst including the day’s newsmakers in best persons, and Worst Person in the World segment. The Number One story is usually Keith giving us a piece of his mind through some kind of commentary. Clearly he has a grudge against his audience and must be fired now.
As for Jay Leno, I agree with Nikki because Monday night’s ratings mean nothing except that America’s Got Talent is a hit show by NBC standards. Jay hasn’t proven anything to anybody.
I think you meant “spewing vitriol.” He probably wasn’t spewing virile unless he was on Viagra. “Viagra” – a reference you seldom hear anymore, except in one of Leno’s dated monologues.
Tuesday night ratings showed a huge drop from Monday. It’s called “sampling.” You give people a lousy product on night one, they don’t wanna come back. That first night, with 17.7 million viewers, was the night to wow ‘em, and the show had nary a laff. It’s over.
Leno lost about 5 million viewers from his America’s Got Talent lead in Wednesday night. This was the season finale for “Talent.”
Night four ratings: 8.5 million viewers, down over 50% from the premiere. This show is sinking like a rock.
It’s always fun to come here and find Hollywood waiters who think they are funnier and wiser than the execs and talent.