Weinsteins Want Miramax Name Back 
'Saw 3D' vs 'Paranormal Activity 2' Battle … 
TV TUG OF WAR: It's Ellen vs Simon, And … 
Robert De Niro Returns To CAA From WME; Jane … 
Fox Wins Studio War For Robert Rodriguez' … 
Weinstein Co Gets "New Lease On Life"? 
Nicole Kidman Hires Angelina's Manager 
So What Are The Hot Films At Sundance? 
Huge $70M Settlement In TV Writers Age … 
TOLDJA! Momoa Chosen 'Conan' Barbarian 
Oscar Campaign Badmouthing Has Begun! 
Yeah, this was a GREAT idea, Jeff Zucker. Once again, just like last season, NBC ranked fourth in primetime Monday, dead last among all the broadcast networks, with a weak 2-hour Heroes premiere that fell 46% from last year's opener. At 10 PM, The Jay Leno Show attracted only 5.7 million viewers, but most importantly fell to 1.8 (for 3rd position, since Fox doesn't program at 10 PM). It had recorded a low of only 2.0 last week during its debut. Nor can NBC save face by boasting about Jay's demographics since he skews older. As I noted at the time, it was ridiculous for NBC to be crowing about Leno's "highest-rated" numbers last week when it was only up against repeats. Facing competition this week, the show folded like a house of cards. Which sums up Zucker's running of the broadcast network, doesn't it? I can't imagine why any advertiser would choose Leno over CSI: Miami at 10 PM. The experiment failed. (I'll have more later.)
Comments (168)
Post a Comment
Comments On Deadline Hollywood are monitored. So don't go off topic, don't impersonate anyone, don't get your facts wrong, and don't bore me.
Breaking News
Marketplace
-
‘Lost’ Cast Talks Final Season
News/Opinion Poll
Loading ...By The Numbers
Title Studio Gross 1 Dear John Sony $30.5 M 2 Avatar Fox $22.9 M 3 From Paris With Love Lionsgate $8.2 M 4 Edge Of Darkness Warner $6.9 M 5 Tooth Fairy Fox $6.6 M 6 When In Rome Disney $5.5 M 7 The Book Of Eli Warner $4.7 M 8 Crazy Heart Fox $3.6 M 9 Legion Sony $3.5 M 10 Sherlock Holmes Warner $2.5 M 11 The Blind Side Warner $2.5 M 12 Up In The Air Paramount $2.3 M 13 The Lovely Bones Paramount $2.3 M 14 Alvin And The Chipmu Fox $2.1 M 15 It's Complicated Universal $2.1 M 16 The Spy Next Door Lionsgate $0.9 M 17 An Education SPC $0.8 M 18 A Single Man Weinstein $0.6 M 19 Extraordinary Measur CBS $0.5 M 20 Precious Lionsgate $0.5M SOURCE: HOLLYWOOD.COMBox Office Poll
Loading ...Twitter @nikkifinke
- It's A Bird! It's A Plane! It's Chris Nolan! He'll Mentor Superman 3.0 And Prep 3rd Batman http://bit.ly/9k5jpG 1 hr ago
- More updates...
RSS Feeds
Still a helluva lot cheaper than My Own Worst Enemy or Lipstick Jungle, but since this site never takes the pro NBC side, I am not surprised.
NBC’s lowest rated 10pm shows (My Own Worst Enemy, Lipstick Jungle, Life) did those #’s or better AND they commanded a much higher ad rate AND NBC had potentially exploitable assets in those shows.
It is so much better for NBC to at least TRY to program scripted shows across the 10 pm hour.
American Idol at least is a revenue generator for Fox (even without the traditional scripted drama after market). It does HUGE ratings and has a HUGE additional revenue stream with the voting process.
American Idol was forward-thinking in how it reinvented the model to generate profit.
Leno is BACKWARDS thinking that doesn’t bode well for anybody. Not NBC. Not Leno (Jay, why didn’t you go to ABC???). Not the writing community. Not actors. Not directors. ETC ETC ETC.
Week 3 shows a continuing Leno ratings slide. He’s down Monday to Monday and Tuesday to Tuesday.
A little quick on the fail trigger, after only six shows.
I don’t have an opinion here other than it’s gonna take a while longer to really see what’s gonna happen.
Jay had a weak start in late night end evolved into a leader. It’s just a tad early to bury this experiment.
I don’t think Leno at 10 was ever about winning the night, but about getting out of the red for a time slot NBC systematically lost. If by the end of the season Leno with a 1.5 demo rating is profitable it might have killed all its scripted competition, without ever winning a night. Irony.
Nikki, Amen!!
Not sure why but I felt totally uncomfortable watching Leno so early. I’d rather watch a mystery drama or X-Files reruns during that time slot.
Watching Leno at 10:00 feels like visiting the OBGYN at the same time.
Can somebody, anybody talk about how big a failure Zucker has been at his job?
Zucker is just another useless, clueless good-old-boys who got promoted with the hype he peddled to the other useless NBC Executives…
How stupid to take Leno out of a winning slot and move Conan. Now both shows are failing.
Yup Jeff, keep up the good work buddy. You are already career toast.
I have been an avid fan of Leno for years and absolutely cannot understand why he was taken of his late time slot. There is absolutely no reason for it. I will not watch Letterman or Conan O’Brien, so this is lost space for NBC as far as I’m concerned. How about putting Conan on at 9:00 midwestern time, and leaving Leno at 10:30? With the restrictions and changes to Leno’s format, it leaves a lot to be desired. Can’t imagine anyone doing this to Leno or NBC.
Thank God. We’re another step closer to being rid of Jay Leno from TV forever.
Now that is not very nice. I really enjoy Jay Leno. Then if you don’t like him don’t watch his show and let others enjoy it. Dah!
I like this place. Unlike print tv columnists who just rewrite press releases, this is a no-spin zone. You get the numbers, compare them, and there’s the story. I wonder if the local Fox 10p news gets better ratings than the NBC station in the big cities [NY, LA, Chi,Philly, especially Boston]
Though Conan is certainly likable and yes, funny, I have always preferred Letterman at 11:30p ET.
I always thought Letterman sucked but now I think he really sucks, so full of himself. He is such an unlikeable guy.
Now that is not very nice. I really enjoy David Letterman. Then if you don’t like him don’t watch his show and let others enjoy it. Dah!
I watched the show and its like watching The Tonight Show, except now it starts earlier, and how was the Leno show going to change TV? A variety show is not a new concept. I just don’t see what all the hype is about.
There’s already an oversaturation of talk shows. There just wasn’t demand for another one. Leno should have replaced Kimmel.
The public was fine with Jay on NBC. People who didn’t like Jay had other options. The public was fine with scripted television on NBC weeknights at 10pm. Zucker is giving the public something they don’t want and expected it to succeed. Late night talk shows are great for people who’ve just come home from a night out and need to unwind before going to bed.
My preference in late night talk shows is Craig Ferguson. I know he has writers just like any other host, but seems to deliver his monologue as if it was off the cuff. Which is actually a compliment to the writers. I also think that he does the best interviews.
Jay really needs to have more than one celebrity guest per show. The single guest format works when you only have 30 minutes to fill, but not for something an hour long. Viewers still perceive this as a talk show, so many will base their decision to watch on which guests are appearing.
The “10 at 10″ segment isn’t enough to make up for this problem. Yes, it’s a clever way to get a big name celebrity (often, one bigger than the “sit down” guest), but that’s about it. The questions are lame and the awkward time delay in between answers kills the rapport between Jay and the guest.
It feels like they’re trying to distance themselves from the familiar “Tonight Show formula”, but that’s essentially all they have going for them.
But, but, but Americans wanted comedy at 10pm!! How could this happen?!
NBC will still claim victory since it only costs them $183 to produce The Jay Leno Show.
I think we all saw this coming. I’ve been predicting it would go from 5 nights to 3 nights within the first three months and then either get cancelled or drop to two sorry nights.
Though being a TV writer I’m not offended like others that Zucker made the decision not to use scripted programming at 10:00 PM. NBC is a company and a company has a right to make money. But I never thought this would make money. So…
I love Jay Leno — but as an out of work drama writer, it’d be nice to see at least a few of those NBC nights @ 10 get a drama back.
It’s a shame for Jay, no one wants to go out a failure. The might have worked as a weekly “event” with top line guests, bands, and comedians, sort of like Ed Sullivan, but a 5 prime-time nights a week deal just too much to do with too little.
Saying the experiment failed this early is just as bad as NBC prematurely proclaiming Conan as the King of Late Night. If Leno’s numbers hold like this on Monday’s the show will then be doing significantly better in the time-slot then last years My Own Worst Enemy and that’s at a fraction of the price.
This week is also bound to have lower ratings with all the ‘razzle dazzle’ of season and series premiers. What will be interesting is to see if Leno can grab viewers from the new shows as viewers start to lose interest or if they’ll go to cable and local programming.
As usual, you’re right on. Having done Jay’s show (the other good one) a few times, I was very impressed with him, but sadly, this show seems like a last gasp to stay on the air. Sometimes going out gracefully can be more memorable (even though the network had to push him out) much like his predecessor.
Pretty sure Law & Order will have to come back in and save NBC again. Maybe they should consider actually PROMOTING that show, then the numbers would reflect it. No one even knows when it’s on anymore, but it has been fantastic the last couple of years and the cast is the best it’s had in a long time. The show has 10 million viewers with no advertising. I’m not impartial though. I live in NY and it keeps NY actors working, which I also love.
They will buy it because it will be at a late night cost per point and not prime. Buy 10p for late night rates is a good deal if the audience lines up with the product. Plus they will package Jay with other more desirable spots (what little is left on NBC). No the network can’t lose with Jay. It’s the affiliates that will determine whether Jay is a winner or a loser. If they revolt en masse then NBC loses the hour to local news!
Amusing how quickly you can pronounce judgement on it from one day of real competition. I agree last nights ratings are not encouraging think you need to give time to see if it stays at that level or sinks more. I am not an NBC apologist since I don’t think there is one show on there I watch regularly, but think need to give leno a little more time.
Leno is 5 nights a week…46 weeks a year. Judge its success or failure then Nikke.
But the point is that Zucker and GE don’t buy into the old system. They don’t care. No matter what anyone says. They only care about making a profit – not being 1st, not being anything other than just programming for margins. This is what happens when a 100% corporate entity that only sees entertainment as a washer or dryer gets involved in Hollywood.
Oh, just thinking how NBC will spin this to appear super positive sends chills. Let’s just wait and see by Thursday, this outta be impressive.
Might this mean a quick return to hour long, scripted shows with actors that employee more union talent?
Scathing Ms. Finke. And so very correct.
Nikki, good call but not too surprising considering how late night numbers stack up against prime time numbers. Doesn’t NBC have a research department? Frankly, I can’t get past the rank incompetence of yanking a show that’s #1 or tied for #1 in its time slot. Can someone explain that to me again? Oh, that’s right. Too expensive considering Zucker’s emphasis on “the margins” over “the ratings.” I certainly understand the theory behind that strategy, but someone should tell Zucker that that’s the very same strategy that sank the US print newspaper business, which coincidentally reached the height of corporate ownership and peak circulation in the very same year, 1992. When US newspapers focused on squeezing out profit margin over expanding circulation, guess what happened? They started losing circulation! When NBC focuses on profit margin by pushing cheap programming or hiring 2nd tier talent, guess what? They lose audience share! And eventually, you’ll lose enough audience where turning out the lights and locking the door makes the most business sense of all. Which brings us back to the question of which genius at NBC looked at Jay Leno’s late night numbers and predicted he’d be a hit in prime time? Because if they do have a research department, I can guarantee you it wasn’t them.
God I hope they quit this quick – I have to say I’m an NBC viewer by default (young and educated), but Leno at 10 is like McCain picking Palin – It’s cynical and panders to the basest of audiences. More colorful indeed.
As long as Jeff IMELTGESTOCKPRICE Immelt is head of GE, Zucker will remain as head of NBCUNIVERSAL. Zucker could air a pile of manure, complete with staem rising, and Immelt will think it is clever programming. THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES!!!!!!
“The experiment failed”
You conclude this after ONE EPISODE?
How about give it a year?
Not only has Zucker ruined NBC in primetime, he’s screwing over the 11 o’clock news and destroying the franchise that was the Tonight Show. That’s some major destruction!
Why would anyone want to watch this boring ass shit when they can switch to a real show on another network?
Facing competition this week, the show folded like a house of cards.”
Nikki, it’s only Tuesday. I agree the show doesn’t look very promising. But shouldn’t you wait till the body is dead before shoveling in the dirt?
I think you have to look at what happens for the whole week of premiers, not just one night. Tonight will be easier ABC has sure to fail The Forgotten and tomorrow night the sure to fail Eastwick. In addition he only needs a 1.5 to be profitable last night against stronger competition he did a 1.8. Profit is what counts. Five hours of Jay Leno costs less than just one hour of high priced scripted dramas like Castle and a CSI clone. Remember 46 weeks not 1 not 2 but 46 weeks.
For those saying You can’t base this on one episode, Leno actually got even fewer viewers, 4.9 million on Thursday. A couple other nights have been in the 4 millions. So it’s doing shtity.
The show is an epic failure. 10@10 is laughable with the talent reading cue cards. I hope to god it’s cancelled soon along with the Heroes debacle.
It’s nothing against Jay…many people including myself refuse to watch NBC programming.
Anyone with a working brain could have predicted Jay Leno would flop. Apparently, those in charge at NBC don’t have working brains. I can’t wait to see NBC’s “spin” on coming in dead last last night.
And who is the genius who booked Michael Moore as a guest on Night 2 of the show? If they are going for the older, middle America audience, nothing will make them turn the channel faster than sitting through that blowhard Moore – and the people who like Michael Moore probably switched off the show as soon as he started singing. What an all around mess.
Out of respect (for Jay), I wanted to give him another week to get into it and see if the show improved. It was as droll as ever.
His entrance with his ‘fans’ coming up to kiss his ring is just… CHEESY! And his monologue – he was obviously feeling awkward. The whole thing fell flat on [his] face.
And Barney Frank? BARNEY FRANK?! When he’s sober he sounds like Nathan Lane in “Birdcage”. But he’s trying to be, uh, funny? Yuk-yuk, alright. Jay can’t do Bill Maher on NBC @ ten o’clock.
Gotta admit, Jennifer Garner knocked my socks off as a guest last night But even she couldn’t save this ship which has sailed…
As an out of work TV writer, I could not be more thrilled. Between the strike and the current economy, NBC was simply heartless in putting about 1500 people a week out of work with this ridiculous move. Lets see Zucker try and blame this on Ben Silverman.
You can’t really blame Zucker for this, Nikki. You can only blame Leno and his staff. The shows have been bad. The writing is terribly bland and awful, and the set sucks. And what’s with Jay? It seems like in the 3 months he was off he aged about 10 years.
Heroes was so-so last night. The cast is appealing and the script was OK. I’d like to see ‘em get back to taking more chances.
…But it’s cheap.
Nikki,
I’m not surprised at anything that putz little rat-weasel Jeff Zucker is doing to this once-proud network. You mark my words when I tell you right here and know this network is in danger of finishing in 5th place come the season’s end. Exclude the Olympics and SNF from this equation, if you will. This (Leno) was a risk to begin with and it is failing miserably, like everything else at Nothing But Crap. They canceled Vegas this way a year ago when it was saving Fridays for them and a few other shows that never deserved this to happen and Zucker has been butt-licking so many corps at GE it’s not even funny.
He’s a horrible human being and he, along with Miss Bromstad and Jeff Plestis and Marc Graboff and a few other people there in management seriously need to be shown the damn door right here and now before it really becomes a chaotic situation there. Leno should have jumped to ABC when he had the chance to. For Heroes, this show, along with a few others that twerp Silverman renewed while he was there should have never come to fruition and Bromstad hasn’t got a clue whatsoever in creating new shows for this struggling network. Dateline can only fill so many holes.
I wouldn’t mind an actual attempt to put a funny variety show on the air, but this program was clearly birthed as an act of desperation motivated by:
1. The brilliant strategy of “Hey, let’s stop developing and just produce hits, like KNIGHT RIDER, or MY OWN WORST ENEMY!” leaving NBC without enough material to fill its time slots, and…
2. The desire to avoid the humiliation of letting Jay Leno go, watch him jump to ABC, where he proceeds to trounce Conan. (Hey, I love Conan, but face it, Jay’s got broader appeal.)
Ah well, at least ABC won’t want Jay now.
The question is, how are they defining success?
I think the plan was always to have lower ratings, but the show is supposedly so cheap to make they don’t need as many viewers as a typical network show.
I think the real news is the sad, sad numbers from Heroes. I hear they were terrible. SO the real news to me is not about leno, but about how NBC killed what was for one brief moment a really cool and popular show.
You know this is premature. Granted, no one really thinks the Leno show was a great idea, but I don’t think you can say that definitively until about a year from now. No one expected it to do well again new content, let alone premieres. If you believe the NBC line, the idea is that it will make up for this by providing new content when other networks are in re runs. All things considered, is this a good idea? is this what’s going to happen? probably not, and probably not. but we really can’t say that yet.
I agree that Jeff Zucker should have been dumped a long time ago, but I wouldn’t write off Jay just yet, though the numbers are really bad. Remember that Jay is not going up against any FOX programming, since they don’t broadcast at 10:00 pm, and he wasn’t expected to beat the CBS 10:00 pm lineup anyway, since they already have an established presence with the two CSI shows, The Mentalist, and Numb3rs. It’s debatable how The Good Wife will stand up, but more importantly, how will ABC’s 10:00 pm lineup hold up? The season premiere of Castle debuted to some decent numbers, but will it stay that way? Plus ABC is debuting two new shows at 10:00 pm, The Forgotten, and Eastwick. For all the talk about NBC’s troubles at 10:00 pm, ABC hasn’t exactly done well themselves. If Jay rebounds a bit from this week and ABC’s numbers are dismal, it won’t be been as such a failure.
And why is there so much focus on the ad demos? You realize even during this recession that older viewers actually have money to spend while the 18-34 demo can’t get jobs, and even those who have them are spending as much time on YouTube and Facebook as they do on TV.
My goodness!
Do Hollywood people ever root FOR anyone?
Or is everyone so cravenly jealous of everyone else that they wish for everyone to fail?
What is it with you folks out there?
Here, in the “rest of America” we don’t live like that.
Venom is corrosive. And is usually found in snakes.
Where’s Ernie Kovacs when we REALLY need him?
Hey Bob. Go f*** yourself.
Venom isn’t corrosive, it’s poisonous.
Like bad metaphors and conservative talk-radio.
Wishing failure on Jay’s show isn’t personal – it’s business. Jay’s already had plenty of success – but his show cheapens TV and single-handedly cuts out jobs for hundreds of people (5 prime-time scripted shows, each with casts, crews and writing staffs).
So, please, stay in Rhode Island, enjoy Walmart and have fun playing arm-chair critic to communities and industries that you have zero personal experience with.
Uh, what? Since when do TV shows exist only to provide jobs for people who work in TV? The idea that it’s good to root against Leno because you think we need more Assistant Grips is insanity. And please, drop your elitist nonsense about Wal-Mart. You deride a man you know nothing about (though R.I. isn’t exactly Red State America, bub) for commenting on something you think he knows nothing about. We have a word for that; it’s “hypocritical.”
Thanks for the insight, Bob. I’d post on the “Deadline North Smithfield, Rhode Island Daily” website, but there isn’t one. What is it with you North Smithfield people being so judgmental?
Let me explain a couple of things, Bob. First, I can assure you – and I say this without having ever met her – that Nikke Finke is not jealous of Jay Leno. I think we can just.. presume that.
Second, and to respond more directly to your query, “Hollywood people” root for others all the time. However, a lot of rubbish goes on when heads of studios like Zucker should know better. You may have heard of this, so I’m sure you won’t be shocked to know that most times this town is run on ego and not what’s best for the talent, production or even corporation. And in this case certainly not what’s best for the network.
I think “there” in the “rest of America,” things like that happen all the time as well. The difference (sometimes) is that in other industries if a CEO or a manager in a company keeps fucking up royally, no one expects them to keep their job. Unfortunately, in Hollywood most higher-ups fail up, and they would gladly watch the company go down with them rather than face the reality that 1) they may not actually know what they’re doing in a certain climate, or 2) that they fucked up. It’s not venom to call someone out on the bullshit, and what Zucker is doing to NBC is bullshit.
Don’t you get it, Bob? We, the people who go to the movies and watch tv, are supposed to shut up and not voice our opinions. They know what is best for us. They definitely don’t want to hear from us, they just want our MONEY. I think they are upset because no one is watching/buying their crap anymore.
i currently live in “the rest of america,” and yeah, you DO live like that.
Bob,
You’re right. I don’t care if Leno succeeds at 10 but I’m not rooting for his failure. It does seem that all the “insiders” here always root for failure, predicting it whenever someone takes a chance. When “Basterds” was coming out everyone was rooting for it to bomb, saying it would. Now, that “Basterds” is doing well – no one says anything. And if Leno comes around, they’ll stay mum too. They only crow when they can ridicule. Pathetic.
Jack, how is calling people “pathetic” not ridicule? It’s called the internet and it has nothing to do with hollywood specifically.
Now go get your shinebox.
If it settles into this range, sure it’s still cost effective for NBC, but don’t they care about their stations? I can’t imagine the bath the local affiliates’ late news could be taking come the start of sweeps.
Interesting. Thanks for the info. I was wondering how the numbers would pan out for Leno. I thought it was poor decision, too. Sorry, Jay.
Why Jay decided to stick with NBC instead of going to ABC is beyond me. This is a vicious business with only the strongest surviving. Jay isn’t strong. He’s weak. May his career RIP.
It’s all about profits.
Period.
Nikki, please don’t blame Jeff Gaspin, yet. This is all Jeff Zucker’s fault. Jeff Gaspin has actually created the few hits NBC Universal has Royal Pains, Burn Notice, The Biggest Loser and Project Runway. When he was at VH1 he created Behind The Music. Jay Leno was not his decision.
Where does she blame Gaspin? Dont worry so much, everyone knows it was Zucker. Thanks for his resume though.
I agree. Jeff Gaspin’s name is nowhere to be found in Nikki’s post. Regardless, I am sure that Jeff would be number one, for success, if he were to be working at NBC itself.
That’s a nice list of shows… that suck.
(except the 15 year old Behind the Music). So you’re saying their only hope is to churn out the dreck that’s on USA Net?
just like nbc shouldn’t crow about the first weeks numbers… you shouldn’t crow about this. let’s just wait and see how bad it gets… but don’t jump the gun. it’ll take a few months to see how it does regularly on different nights and if he gets newsworthy guests… personally i think 5 days a week is ridiculous and i don’t particularly like jay but i don’t dislike him either… and nbc seems like it’s turned into bravo… i wouldn’t be surprised if they started going all reality with scripted a few hours a week
Yep, NBC is in 4th place again. The difference – they’re not dumping millions down a rat hole putting dramas no one watches on at 10 p.m. Until they can get more reality shows and Datelines up and running, Leno isn’t going anywhere no matter how low his ratings are.
Well, I have no doubt that Leno will fail, however, this is what, his second week? Don’t talk shows take about a year or two to find an audience anyways? Not to say that this still won’t fail miserably (but not for Jeff “It’s Not About Money, It’s About Good Press Releases!” Zucker), but… it may be too soon to play the “TOLDJA!” card.
A year or two to find an audience? This show has been on the air for 17 years. It’s the same dreck, only worse. And Leno looks so old. What the hell happened when he was off? It looks like he hasn’t slept at all.
It might make sense to argue that Leno should be cut some slack for his new show …
… except that, of course, it ISN’T a new show. He shouldn’t have to find a “new audience” for the same old stuff.
Some things I would do to torque the format:
1. Dump the correspondents, hire a repertory company and add sketch — SNL-style, Carol Burnett-style, Steve Allen-style, everything. Do a couple per show, plus breakouts and drop-ins.
2. Have a different stand-up on every night.
3. In lieu of celebrities, book interesting real people that Jay can have fun with — even old Jerry Springer guests.
4. Improve the monologue.
5. Close every show with a smokin’ hot desk piece.
Now honestly, I would watch that show….
Writer Bob, you are on the right track, but the daily format needs to be dropped as well. Also, as far as number 3 is concerned, I would drop the Jerry Springer type guests and stick with the ones that Johnny Carson once had when he did the Tonight Show. For example, Johnny once booked a woman in her 70’s who had a potato chip collection that had heads shaped like celebrities. It is a well known segment because Johnny bit into a chip for laughs. I think that segment is somewhere on youtube.
For cryin’ out loud, how many of those numbers are the DVR owners recording Leno at 10 and playing him back at 11:35 so they have options other than Conan and Dave? Probably none.
Who cares how this show does on NBC! The Jay Leno Show was Zucker’s stop-gap measure to keep Leno from leaving and burying Conan in the late night ratings. Leno will ultimately leave NBC and he’ll show up on ABC early 2011. Zucker was hedging his bets.
Lesley, Lesley, Lesley, you’ve been posting pro-Leno stuff since the strike. He’s damaged goods. There’s no way ABC wants him. He looks 100 years old and his material feels at least that old.
What’s funny is that inside NBC they are all thinking Trauma is going to save the fall for them. Good luck with that. Meanwhile this Leno project is emerging as a gigantic embarrassment and it won’t be long before A-list stars refuse to even appear on that show.
The creative failure of Heroes — which stretches back to its Season 2 premiere and even, before that, a poorly done Season 1 finale — is what these guys should be truly ashamed of. Watch this show move to Fridays after the Olympics.
But Monday wasn’t a total loss for NBCU — they do own/produce “House” (even though Zucker passed on the show to run on NBC’s air back in 2004) and those ratings were enormous. Maybe Jay will remind Hugh Laurie of that little factoid when HL appears on the Leno Show on Friday.
It wouldn’t ‘t be a bad thing if NBC turned into another Bravo, NBC Universal cable channels provided 25% of the income but 60% of the profits, meaning the cable channels are very very profitable, why not run NBC the same way? More reality less scripted.
I don’t get why Zucker still has his job.
This is still more profitable then a scripted drama in last place. Hopefully the writers make a comeback!
Thank you for this slice of sanity. Do you like Zucker or what?
Gotta disagree.
1) If we are going to declare success/failure after 1 night, he “succeeded” on his first night.
2) He retained 95% of his lead in. (5.7m viewers vs Heroes’ 6.0m). No network will complain about that.
3) He matched SNL’s Thursday special (5.7m viewers) and beat Parks and Rec (5.0m). Clearly they must be bigger failures based on 1 night.
4) Most dramas produce 22 eps. So 30 of 52 weeks Leno will face reruns with first run programming. Those will be the succeed/fail days.
You’re lowering the bar way too much. NBC affiliates have to be pissed at this terrible lead in they’ve been handed. And what makes you think that Leno first runs will beat repeats of hour dramas? Leno lost to The Mentalist last week HIS FOURTH NIGHT ON THE AIR. These lousy numbers, the 5.7 ratings comes a week after a 6-month extremely heavy promotional campaign.
Cancel this show.
If Parks & Rec had the Leno promotion for the past 3 months it would’ve attracted 12-15 million. And held most of them.
Instead of watching Leno tonight I had my wife run her nails across a chalkboard for an hour. Same thing.
The part that amazes me is how bad the segments with the other comedians going out & taping what is supposed to be a funny bit is deadly dull & has no laughs! I decided to punish myself & have seen all seven of Leno’s shows so far & these bits are awful beyond belief.
Even Rachael Harris who is a fine comedic actress inflicted a total dud on the viewers!
I really think the NBC veiw is they can finish last by spending money developing quality programming or they can finish last running Jay’s show and “saving money”.
This policy is called “cut your losses”.
Jay must feel great about being a loss leader like an 8 pack of toilet paper at Wal-Mart.
A bad idea from conception all the way through execution. Personally, to one poster’s point, I don’t think Leno will get a full year on this, let alone the two years talk shows need to find an audience. His version of the Tonight show was serviceable enough, I suppose; but, it is already clear that this overhyped experiment will soon enough be handed it’s blindfold and cigarette…
Said it before, I’ll predict it again…
Leno will go away for Christmas break and not come back.
I think Leno will do fine. His new show is just going through a period of adjustment, and so is the audience. Yes, NBC is known for dramas in the 10pm slot, and there is formidable competition against Jay; but tonight Pee wee Herman was on– and it was AWESOME!
I can’t wait until tomorrow…
Pee Wee Herman? You’re kidding right? If I remember correctly Hermann, a former star of a children’s show, was arrested for lewd conduct years ago. I cannot begin to imagine what the producers were thinking when they booked him. Who has any interest in him? If this show has any chance of success, they’ll have to to keep the likes of Hermann and his ilk off the guest list.
Lesley,
The American public has made multiple shows about celebrities dancing and fat people going on diets ENORMOUS successes.
We will watch anything! As bad as it is, the Jay Leno Show is a tremendous upgrade over most of the top ten rated shows.
“they’ll have to to keep the likes of Hermann and his ilk off the guest list.”
Who else fits into the Pee Wee Herman category? Rob Lowe?
Forget the drug and porn theater arrests, Paul Reubens copped a guilty plea for possessing child porn a couple years ago. He was put on the sex registry for Calif. Some child role model he is, and he’s thinking about making a comeback? I almost puked when I saw him on the show. Second week guest? Jay’s in desperate trouble.
If this is true – and it seems to ring a bell – I’ll never watch Leno again. What the fuck? To put someone like this on the air your second week? You are scum, Jay, absolute scum.
Anyone else know the particulars of what the previous poster claims?
Why book him? Like Paul Rubens is gonna get viewers. The Jay Leno Show: no laughs and pro child porn. This is the worst program in the history of television. CANCEL IT NOW.
I’m sorry, but anyone calling Paul Reubens scum or a sex offender is a moron, plain and simple. If you don’t find him funny, we can agree to disagree. But if you believe he’s a sex offender or pedophile, than you are stupid. Charges were dropped against him and he was found ‘innocent’. We live in a day and age where having photographs with any child nudity, even your own children, is grounds for arrest. Parents have had their children taken away for the standard naked-baby photos every parent has. It wasn’t the same circumstances with Reubens, but it was still an overreaction.
Paul Reubens has a massive olde tyme porn collection going back hundreds of years. TWO old photos of the 1840’s-era had children in them and so he was convicted of possessing kiddie porn. That was a ridiculous prosecution, and everyone knows it… except dummies like you, evidently.
“…has a massive old tyme porn collection…” that’s all I need to know the rest of the circumstances are irrelevant – convicted or not. The mere fact that he possesses a “massive porn collection” is enough for me to know that I wouldn’t want this perv in any position to influence kids especially as a kiddie show host.
What is it with you people who are defending him? Any sane parent would be horrified to find that the guy who’s entertaining their kids every afternoon is so into porn that he has a massive collection of it! Your argument to defend him serves only to give those of us who are concerned for the welfare of children more ammunition to oppose his being in any position to influence our kids.
When I saw that Jay had him on his show last week I changed the channel! Disgusting!
Nikki must have been linked by Drudge or another wing-nut site today!
Pee-Wee was in an adult movie theater doing what every other guy in a raincoat does there, he was jerking off!
Now we can certainly fault Paul Reubens for not using his home VCR that day, but no one else in that theater was arrested for doing what he was.
He was set up by the cops, why, we’ll probably never know, but it was definitely a setup!
Those places are totally dark inside & only with night vision equipment would you see anything happening!
Didn’t NBC kind of say they expected a third-place finish? They never expected to beat high-priced scripted drama. They are trying to save money in production costs and licensed fees. Now what they need are better scripted shows from 8-10pm. And time to cancel Heroes.
This show was doomed to fail from the get-go. And, even more crazy was how NBC seemed to either not know this or not care, as evidenced by the barrage of ‘the savior is returning’ commercials they ran this summer. Personally, I feel kinda bad to Leno as he seems a nice enough guy; but, my guess the show will be lucky to last the full season…
The headline here should have been the implosion of Heroes. Jay is not going anywhere – NBC can’t even fill the two hours per night they still have with watchable programming (besides the Thursday night comedies)
I’m with Lytton Strachey: “Jay must feel great about being a loss leader like an 8 pack of toilet paper at Wal-Mart.”
I have nothing against Jay Leno, but the people who came up with this plan should be blamed. Was it Jeff Zucker who, years ago, said his sterling peacock network wouldn’t be cheapened by putting reality shows on the air for easy ratings? NBC is now the bargain basement of the broadcast networks.
Money, money, money. Maybe NBC is not losing as much from 10-11pm,
but how will a lack of Leno lead-in affect the O & O’s 11pm news revenue?
Agreed. I think this is the main issue.
Another thing that could happen is midway through Nov. sweeps, a number of NBC affils start hitting panic buttons and begin moving their local newscasts up an hour, despite NBC’s inevitable threats, and those pre-emptions ding Jay’s numbers even more.
And Deal Or No Deal makes its return… at 10!
… with Jay hosting!
Leno should have made a deal with HBO or Showtime. Then do a variety special two times a year, like The Bob Hope Special, for NBC.
I think that some are over-reacting to the ratings since this is just the beginning of the season. Jay Leno is doing fine. AFTER the season settles down and the shows start going into repeats, Jay will be fine AND he has the advantage of being on the air all year around (almost) doing more first run, original episodes too.
Jay Leno has his solid base and they will sustain him over the long run of it.
IT IS TOO EARLY TO START IN WITH JAY LENO AND JEFF ZUCKER AND NBC.
I am sure that Nikki Finke does not like Jay Leno or NBC anyway which seems apparent in this blog. So consider the source.
Wrong. Dead wrong. Are you unaware of the huge promotional push for Leno? Maybe you just crawled out from under a rock. When shows have an enormous promo campaign their best numbers are ALWAYS the first few weeks, and then it’s all downhill.
No it’s not.
In network TV you can be canceled after only one or two episodes.
It can happen to any show at anytime.
In the late 60’s CBS had a line-up of hit “hick” shows like GREEN ACRES, BEVERLY HILLBILLIES and PETTICOAT JUNCTION.
CBS executives canceled them all after they felt embarrassed by their programming choices at the country club.
Seriously.
So the same will happen to Jay one day after Zucker and crew get sick of being the butt of every joke in town for the duration….How can you tell the difference between THE BIGGEST LOSER and THE JAY LENO SHOW?…You don’t.
Actually planning for/settling for 3rd place in Netwrok TV as Zucker has said is like taking thrid place in a football game:
No one cares because you aren’t even in the game.
Actually the network toldus way in advance. So good luck with that fortune telling career mrs obvious.
Gaspin did not ‘create’ all those shows. Please. Gaspin sat in his office eating lunch by himself as usual while the cable entities did their job. His involvement above them was total bureaucracy. With or without him, those shows would have happened. The guy is just a political person who knows how to talk #s to GE and therefore impresses them – but he’s useless in all other respects.
And “Henry”, what have you done? I can’t wait until the end of the year when ABC is in freefall and CBS is Chapter 11. All you haters are going to eat all these words.
Did we touch a nerve Mr. Zucker?
As I understand it, NBC’s rationale was completely motivated by corporate greed: increase profits by paying lower production costs.
Instead of paying $3M per hour for scripted dramas at 10 pm, they are “saving” $2M per night with Leno. That’s $10M per week or $520M per year. I can imagine the bean counters extrapolating further and going, “That’s one billion dollars over two years!”
At which point in time, NBC would be investing 5 hours of their prime-time scheduling to a 60+ year old man with a greying audience. This is why 60 MINUTES is being pushed to add younger correspondents and focus more on “hot” topics.
My prediction is that by Thanksgiving, at least one night goes away and that a second goes away by Christmas break. I can see Jay being marginalized to Friday night from 10-11 pm and Saturday nights from 8-10 pm (with a Best of the Week added at 10 pm).
It may be a tad early to call it the failure that many of us think it will be but the bigger question is when will GE wise up and fire Jeff Zucker, who’s driven the once formidable NBC right into the ground?
I guess the second biggest question is why Jay Leno and his “team” allowed NBC to do this to him? The handwriting was on the wall…this was simply NBC’s way of keeping him out of ABC’s clutches. And it worked. But, along the way, Jay has ruined his own brand and killed his television career. Really?! He couldn’t see this coming?!
I’ll say it again. Fox should start programing after 10:00pm. Quality shows shot on film. The production values on the new digital High Def network dramas is pretty bad. Anybody else think they look out of focus? If they did, NBC would be in 4th place. Fox is missing a golden opportunity. There are only two full fledged broadcast networks now; ABC and CBS.
Fox won’t add that hour as there are some FCC regs that come in to play then when you are a net that has three hours in prime time.
Fox has previously said they don’t want those rules to govern them.
I’ve watched Jay from the 1970s when he was slugging it out in comedy clubs for a comp meal instead of a paycheck. The guy had an edge and didn’t talk through his laughs. A couple of weeks ago as a guest on Bill Maher’s show he was back in that groove — bright, funny, well-informed, even progressive.
Maybe if NBC gave Jay his balls back and hired a coach to remind him how to do stand-up he’d draw a worthwhile audience instead of the mushbrains he was retooled to attract.
“Mush brains” watch a lot of TV and respond readily to TV ads. Your “worthwhile” audience is not spending much time with broadcast television.
I was thinking the exact same thing, but I knew that his show would wind up getting watered down which it has done. Hopefully the network will realize this and let him be more Jay again.
Curt
#1 Jay Leno is no longer relevant. Deal with it.
#2 He’s writers let him down. The show is not funny.
#3 It’s too late to re-tool. The truth is out.
#4 The show and Zucker will soon depart.
#5 Hollywood will cheer.
I find him hilarious compared to Conan, Letterman and Fallon. Guess you don’t have a sense of humour.
I’m sure the ‘rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic’ analogy has been made but it bears repeating. It’s clear that most of us just aren’t all that into network TV anymore.
16 Episodes of Lost from now I don’t know that I’ll watch on the four “major” networks ever again. Cops? Lawyers? Doctors and nurses? Wow. Thanks.
Something no one seems to mention… The whole point of a studio and a network merging is so the studio can make shows and have easy access to slots on the network. In theory, those five 10pm timeslots should be filled with Universal dramas. The job of the development execs at the studio and the network is to come up with hit series. If they’re not doing that, they should be replaced. Hit scripted series have an unlimited future and can bring in revenue forever. With Leno and reality shows there’s no syndication, no future DVD/payperview revenue. There’s only the advertisers’ checks for that one night.
Since Zucker has gotten there, I have no idea what NBC is playing at. Maybe they should broadcast USA Network and make NBC the cable station.
Well, Leno bounced back to a 2.4 last night, almost beating out the premiere of The Forgotten on ABC. I’m not a Leno fan and only watched the first show last week to check out Kanye, but if this show can pull in low 2’s a few nights a week, this really isn’t a bad idea for the time being. NBC has had so many expensive failures that it’s hard for me to blame them for doing this. But I’m sure you won’t update this story today Nikki because it will ruin your daily screed against NBC.
I’ll update the story. Leno got 4.9 million viewers on Thursday, the biggest night of the week when networks promo all their shows at 10 pm. This is probably why NBC’s dramas are doing so ungoldly bad. That and the fact they suck.
There’s your update.
jay did a semi-fawning interview with michael moore the other night; jay is mega-rich yet he couldnt defend capitalism worth a damn — of course the suckling pig moore is very rich as well. america is not going to fail to notice that leno is going along with the leftward lurch of ge-owned nbc.
Let’s talk about how LENO did up against GOOD WIFE AND FORGOTTEN premieres last night. Both dramas will be gone in five episodes or so. LENO will continue to plug along. TOLDJA!
Um… Didn’t they say in the beginning that the show didn’t have to get big numbers. 5.7 million viewers is fairly respectable. While I am not a fan of Leno and the idea of losing drama at 10. I wouldn’t dance on Leno’s grave just yet.
This seems so dumb from afar. Why not just have Leno stay put where he was a ratings bonanza on The Tonight Show and let Conan walk? Giving Conan that guaranteed contract where 40 million was his if Leno didn’t cede the TS chair to him was just horrible business maneuvering. The network clearly overestimated Conan’s market value and now they’re paying dearly for it. When the ratings for the revamped Leno show become so bad that it’s not profitable for NBC even relative to their meager expectations, he’ll be released and recruited by another network, and when it’s a three-horse race in the 11:30 slot, further embarrassment will befall the fallen peacock empire as Conan is a distant third in the ratings. This whole thing is just a fiasco of unprecedented proportions.
Really? Hire a coach for one of the leading standups of the last 35 years? What is he going to be taught?
Folks, this show is a holding deal. Just as they held onto Letterman after the morning show failed. Leno will be back at The Tonight Show soon enough. Leno’s primetime performance is only distracting from Conan’s plummet.
Ah, if only things worked that way. They don’t. When you suffer a catastrophe as great as this new Leno show you’re forever tarnished. Jay’s brand as we knew it is dead.
There’s no going back. The Tonight Show is Conan’s for many years. If Jay moved back to 11:30 most of his old viewers wouldn’t follow. It’s obvious the 3 down months took a toll and he’s jumped the shark.
Hmm. Some things not mentioned so far:
1. 5.7 million was Leno’s typical rating in 2008.
2. “My Own Worst Enemy”
‘Nuff said.
The reason they kept Jay around is because they knew they made a mistake with Conan. I can see the day where Conan is gone and Jay is back at the Tonight Show.
If Jay went to ABC, NBC Tonight Show would not even be on the air.
It was a dumb move and Zucker probably knew it – but he was in a corner. In the end, moving Jay to 10 was the less costly mistake.
The part that amazes me is how bad the segments with the other comedians going out & taping what is supposed to be a funny bit is deadly dull & has no laughs!
Yeah, I thought the young comics would be a highlight of the show. Instead, they are surprisingly dull.
Taped segments just don’t seem to connect as well with the studio audience. Conan relied heavily on them during his first few weeks on the Tonight Show, and they largely fell flat.
Last night against a pricey Bruckheimer drama jay came within .1 rating point of tying, The Forgotten 2.6 Jay Leno Show 2.5 now who’s the fool ABC for buying a Bruckheimer drama that must cost at least 8 times what The Jay Leno Show costs or NBC for buying something that works for far less.
There was an article out today that stated NBC stands to make $300 million profit off of Leno per year if he just maintains 1.5 demo rating. Last night with Pee Wee 2.5. In six months ask ABC how much they have made off of The Forgotten. Then ask NBC how much they have made off of Leno, divided by 5.
Tonight its Eastwick another Warner Bros show up against Leno.
Not surprised the ratings are in the toilet like every other POS on NBC. Watched Leno when Robin Williams was a guest and even that episode sucked. When Robin can’t breathe life into something, you know it’s time to stick a fork in it.
I guess that means we should stick a fork in career since he’s clearly not able to breath any life into that either…
Now, it all depends on you…If you guys want to be forced fed some trash like the Jay Leno show, stay tuned. So NBC will still pay Zucker (what a name!)millions of dollars that it saved. If you don’t want to become a Zucker’s sucker, turn off the TV and go to bed early, so the road will be safer the next day. I am hoping the New American Idol will have the same fate….what goes around comes around and hope it will bite the AI producers in the ass after mistreating Paula…and pay idiots like Seacrest and Kara. Now every body turn off your TV then maybe there is no more hunger in the world!
The show’s in last place, but the calculus works. They are more profitable in that spot with the cost of Jay’s show then they would be with an hour of scripted programming. It’s very cynical but it works. However, it must harm the network brand and could lead to their other non-Jay shows suffering because of it.
I tmight have been in 3rd among networks, but in many markets it was below Fox, or CW or even MNT programming.
I know what will save NBC: more hour-long cop dramas, doctor dramas and lawyer dramas! Or perhaps they can spend several hundred million more on shows like Kings and My Own Worst Enemy and then unceremoniously dump them after only a few weeks…
How does Zucker still have a job? Haven’t they given the guy enough slack?
LENO AT 10 IS STRANDED.
AND REAL ENTERTAINMENT DISBANDED.
CONAN YOU SUCKER,
YOU BELIEVED ADMIRAL ZUCKER.
NOW THE USS DEBACLE HAS LANDED.
thank god for poetknowit. i love you man. or woman.
nikki, csi miami (along with the other csi’s) is a wheezing franchise with a huge, huge overhead, falling numbers, and SAG residuals to pay. leno is cheap as dirt. old hollywood model v new. leno gets about half for the ads is why in a recession advertisers would choose him. profit margins, profit margins…
You cannot be serious that advertisers will choose Leno over any CSI show? REALLY? Even if the NBC ads are free, no way. CSI is still pulling incredible numbers.
Any company ad buyer realizes there’s a real stench to being linked to the new Leno show. Your brand is tainted by linkage to what appears to be a big failure. No corporation wants that.
I don’t like Leno’s brand of comedy and would never watch this show, but I do find it hilarious that this website is screaming TOLDJA after two weeks and reprimanding the network for saying TOLDJA last week. What happens if the curiosity audiences had for new shows vanishes next week now that they’ve seen them. What if Leno gains a bit. It’s obviously much cheaper to produce, that’s the whole point. I think I’d wait a month or so and see how this really pans out before trumpeting success or failure…
So it’s the first premiere week, and except for NFL football on Sunday, NBC has finished fourth from 8-10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday with the exception of “Mercy,” which tied “New Adventures of Old Christine” while barely beating out “Gary Unmarried” in its second half hour. And of course, Leno is finishing third from 10-11 p.m. each night. If this trend holds up tonight and Friday – and there is every reason to suspect it will – Jeff Gaspin is going to realize that moving to program a network led by a man who has no idea how to run one (Jeff Zucker) may be his worst nightmare possible. And somehow he’ll be left holding the bag while Z (for Zero) stays in charge for another year, common sense be damned. It is to vomit.
Before we declare Leno dead:
Mon 9/21: 5.8m viewers
Tue 9/22: 6.8m viewers (and, according to the LA Times blogs, “won the adults 18-34 demographic)
Wed 9/23: 6.4m viewers.
Sarcastic Cynic,
And your point is? Those are terrible numbers especially leading in to the affiliate 11 pm newscasts. Also, the affiliates have to sell local advertising off these ratings. And you rounded up. The Nielsen figures are 5.67 million, 6.72 million and 6.4 million.
These numbers are 10 days removed from the biggest promo push in years. Maybe he’s not dead but he’s on life support.
Leno Thursday night rating: 4.99 million viewers. That SUCKS.
The Thursday numbers are in. What is now clear is that Leno is consistently retaining well over 90% of it’s lead-in. Leno’s ratings reflect the show in front of his–when NBC is up, Leno’s ratings are up and vice versa.
The Jay Leno Show is not going to be cancelled if it continues to hold 90+% of its lead-in. The lead-in shows, OTH. . .
You don’t know much about TV. If a program loses 13.5 million viewers in one week and only gives the 11 pm news 4.9 million viewers as a lead in, it most definitely is in danger of cancellation. That show you’re referring to that leno retained 90% of its viewers DID HORRIBLE. If that show did great, then 90% rention is impressive. bUt considering the lead in got ratings you’d normally see on public access, then 90% retention is not good.
Leno Show got 4.9 million viewers on Thursday night. You were saying? A week removed from the biggest promotional push in history and a 4.9. It’s pulling down the rest of NBC’s shows, since Thursday 10 pm is when you promo your shows for the week. The other programs on the NBC schedule surely resent Leno. The affiliates and their news ops surely resent his show. This whole thing is a real drag.
Please enlighten. I thought, from reading DH, that the genius of stripping Leno was a) keeping Leno and b) the show would be so cheap, that all it would need is about 12 viewers to make money. Yeah, profitability was the priority over getting big numbers of eyeballs.
If so, who cares about audience size, other than as schadenfreude. Watching a Zucker Hail Mary play fail is entertaining.
Of course, apparently unconsidered was the effect on local news at 11:00 and Tonight Show ratings — which appear to be unaffected, no?
I love the show — it puts me to sleep every night by about 10:07.
I can’t believe anyone buys into NBC’s BS when they say they’d be satisfied with a 1.5. Two-thirds of the affilaites will bolt and program their news at 10 with those kinds of numbers.
I also think all the talk about profit margins and even ratings misses the big point. This is a show by the former “king of late night” that is really, really, really bad. It’s unbelievable how awful the program is. How can it be so much worse than Leno at 11:30?
The idea of filling five regular hours of prime time with a single variety or talk show has never — NEVER — been tried before. Why not? Because programmers knew (from other things that were done) that ratings would be bad. And NBC knew too.
So what are they really doing here? Maybe they are hoping to be the network to end the whole concept of prime time. If NBC winds up with lower ratings but more profits than ABC, ABC may say…. let’s put Oprah on against Jay. Then, CBS can say… why are we producing all these expensive shows to get, say, 50% of the relevant audience? Let’s put The Price Is Right on, take a bit of a hit, but reduce our costs and hold up pretty well against Jay and Oprah!
… GOODBYE PRIME TIME.
The idea of filling five regular hours of prime time with a single variety or talk show has never — NEVER — been tried before. Why not? Because programmers knew (from other things that were done) that ratings would be bad. And NBC knew too.
So what are they really doing here? Maybe they are hoping to be the network to end the whole concept of prime time. If NBC winds up with lower ratings but more profits than ABC, ABC may say…. let’s put Oprah on against Jay. Then, CBS can say… why are we producing all these expensive shows to get, say, 50% of the relevant audience? Let’s put The Price Is Right on, take a bit of a hit, but reduce our costs and hold up pretty well against Jay and Oprah!
… GOODBYE PRIME TIME.
I like Jay’s show. No it’s not new. That’s the point! We didn’t want him out in the first place. The reason his numbers are down is because people are not used to thinking of him being on at 9:00. I am a die-hard fan of Jay’s and I have missed several shows just because it’s 9 and not 10. I think once people adjust to the time change he is going to lead in ratings. He is an amazing talent and the funniest comedian ever. I’m old enough to remember Johnny Carson and he is much funnier than Carson. Carson was lame. Jay can turn anything into amusement. I hope he brings in more stand-up comics but other than that, I’m glad there’s no music and only one guest. I like the new format with a funny opener and a (usually) funny closing segment.
I don’t completely buy the whole lead-in philosophy to the local news. Even if your station has the best lead-in, if your newscast is of low quality, people won’t watch. To me it seems like more of an excuse by the affiliates. Here’s a good example, in Chicago the 10p.m. (Central time) news situation goes like this. WLS, the ABC O&O is always number 1 no matter what ABC leads them in with and it has been this way for years. However, WBBM the CBS O&O is always the last place newscast at 10 despite having good CBS network lead-ins. WMAQ, the NBC O&O, is always a respectable second place with their news. Going by the lead-in philosophy, WBBM should be winning easily with their 10 p.m. news because CBS has a strong lineup of shows at 9. However, it’s just the opposite, the CBS station is always last with their local news. Another Chicago situation with the 9 p.m. news. The WGN news at 9 always beats WFLD, the Fox O&O despite WGN having shitty CW programs leading in to their news. Once again, using the lead-in philosophy, WFLD should be beating WGN since Fox has the higher rated shows compared to The CW, but WGN’s news is winning and always has.
As for the “Bruckheimer Drama” comment here is the point. It’s like “teach a man to fish feed him forever”? If you use your money to make content like Jerry Bruckheimer does, it can pay you forever, whether it’s second tier broadcasting or syndication or hulu or dvd and blu-ray collections or who knows what other broadcasting opportunities arise in the future. But a talk show, reality, news or game shows it’s all just junk food. It’s good one time only and usually not a very good one time at that. There is very little craft to them and their tight prod. schedule makes them even more disposable. AND non-union usually, which is obvious. Their income stream is limited. By getting cheap and not creating comedies and dramas because of the cost they’re actually pissing away their chance at building present and FUTURE never-ending streams of revenue. So don’t talk about money/business because making disposable crap is the definition of pennywise/pound foolish. sorry bout the rant.
In the Thursday Oct 1 Nielsen ratings Leno tied his lowest demo yet of 1.6. He drops in overall viewers from last Thursday. So far this week he’s down every night compared to last week. It’s reported in the media he’s having trouble booking guests.
It doesn’t sound like people are “finding him at 9″ and, if they are, they don’t like what they see.
Whats with Jimmy Fallon show? He seems like such a nice guy who is trying hard as hell but DAMN….is the network doing anything to help him? Almost painful to watch