The Jay Leno Show: Born Sept. 14, 2009 - Died Feb 12, 2010

[mike123abc]

Same again for last night. Lowest numbers yet. With Mentalist and Grey's, not much chance of that changing tonight. NBC claims they can still make money even if he his continually last. So there is the new broadcast business model...profit from mediocrity.

Part of the plan is that Leno will pick up audience during the 40-50% of the year when scripted programming is in re-runs.

Essentially for the cost of one night of programming they get an entire week, and hope to win audience during off weeks.

For all the complaints, one has to remember that NBC is essentially "free TV". You can get an antenna in most parts of the country and a DVR that can skip commercials and have the "free content". One should really be complaining about all the cable channels that charge you every month, ones that you are forced to buy filled with commercials and very little original programming.

 

[dfergie]

Increasingly the "Cable Programming (USA, TNT etc..)" has the Dramas even sharing Law & Order with NBC... I find now when off I dvr Leno and watch slightly later than air time when I am trying to unwind...

 

[bicker]

For all the complaints, one has to remember that NBC is essentially "free TV". You can get an antenna in most parts of the country and a DVR that can skip commercials and have the "free content".

Yes, this is true, and a good point. With so many ways to avoid doing their part with regard to fostering broadcast television, viewers can quickly become their own worst enemy. Even where folks use cable to receive these channels, the monthly rate for those specific channels is incredibly modest ($10.25 per month here), strictly regulated and kept affordable, even if it means the service provider has to take a loss on that service, and/or have subscribers with higher levels of service subsidize the basic service.

It should be noted, though, that an increasing amount of revenue is being extracted by broadcast television stations from cable and satellite service providers in return for the rights to carry those channels. So the "free"-ness is being mitigated to some extent.

One should really be complaining about all the cable channels that charge you every month, ones that you are forced to buy filled with commercials and very little original programming.

Another good point: Even NBC will present more than double the number of hours of scripted television this coming year than any cable network.

 

[dfergie]

I liked the Jon and Kate joke during the Monologue and the All Stars was funny

 

[dfergie]

Catching up... Ben Harper and Jack Black did a good job on "Under Pressure"...

 

[dfergie]

I enjoyed Larry the Cable Guy and the bit that followed last night...

 

[riffjim4069]

I enjoyed Larry the Cable Guy and the bit that followed last night...

I still enjoy the show, but I am waiting (foot tapping) for Leno and the writers to come up with some new and exciting ideas. In my opinion, it's the same old show minus the desk. My suggestions:

1. Bring back the desk. Howie Mandell made fun of the new set...and he was right.
2. Keep the Monologue, Headlines, Jaywalking and some of the other stand-by material.
3. Do something new and creative with the other 20-minutes of the show. What? I don't know, but it will probably involved hiring actors-->which means money-->which NBC doesn't appear willing to shell-out.

To be honest, no one expected Leno to complete with the CSIs and other primetime shows...however, they need to do something to generate another 1-2 million more nightly viewers.

I wouldn't classify Leno in the primetime slot as being a failure (Leno is always going to get his 5-million regular viewers)...however, NBC needs to deliver on the "new format" if they hope to achieve respectable numbers in the 6.5-7M range.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Believe it or not I always forget hes on at 10 and when I remember the show is almost over.

A few times I have found myself tuning in at 11:35 to see Conans bonny ass on TV which just has me turning off the tv all together.

 

[dfergie]

Wipe out the "10 at 10" segment, bring more music and standup comedians and let them perform (use the "stable" of stand ups they have also with what they do for a living)... and lose the "earn your pitch"

 

[riffjim4069]

Believe it or not I always forget hes on at 10 and when I remember the show is almost over.

A few times I have found myself tuning in at 11:35 to see Conans bonny ass on TV which just has me turning off the tv all together.

Yep, I seldom watch Leno live...it's always recorded, and sometimes I don't watch the show until the following day after work. To be honest, I am not sure how the ratings folks classify watching recorded shows the following day or two or three. In fact, I don't watch a lot of my recorded shows until the weekend and I get the feeling all my watching (and VOD for that matter) don't get added to the final ratings tally. Additionally, I know a handful of folks who do all of their viewing online several days after their programs air.

 

[dfergie]

Jay had some good Tiger Woods one liners last night...

 

[TNGTony]

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/12/0...how-loses-to-reruns-of-csi-miami-castle/34835

The Jay Leno Show claims one of its advantages is that it should do better against repeats, but last night against repeats of both Castle & CSI: Miami, Leno still came in 3rd with a 1.3 rating with adults 18-49.
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The Jay Leno show is really a lack-luster show. I expected so much more than the same late-night format moved to 10pm.

I can't find the numbers, but I hear Leno did well last night with a bunch of help from "The Biggest Loser" finale.

BTW to answer the ratings question when a program is DVRed... the answer is it counts if the program is watched within 24 hours of the original broadcast date otherwise it doesn't because the advertisers target their commercials for certain times and some are date-specific (sales, offers, events, etc)

 

[mike123abc]

The problem with the Jay Leno show at 10 is that it is pretty close to what it used to be at 11:35. It won that slot since its competition was Letterman and Nightline. It needs to be something different.

 

[riffjim4069]

Jay had some good Tiger Woods one liners last night...

I haven't seen Jay this giddy since Bush left office. For the life of me I don't know why he doesn't lay into Obama...I think he has a case of man love.

 

[dfergie]

The problem with the Jay Leno show at 10 is that it is pretty close to what it used to be at 11:35. It won that slot since its competition was Letterman and Nightline. It needs to be something different.

That's just it NBC in their infinite wisdom gave Conan the Tonight Show (which from what I have seen is just Conan in a different time slot) and had to make room for Jay or have him clobber Conan on another network... I like Jay's show better since they tweaked it, lose the 10 @ and get more music and it will be just perfect imho...

 

[dmendenjr]

The torture might soon be over:
(source)

NBC executives held discussions with both Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien Thursday about the future of the network’s late-night lineup. And while executives said that no final decision has been made, they did not deny that the network is considering moves that could include returning Mr. Leno to his old job as host of “The Tonight Show.”


NBC executives said a decision would definitely not be announced Thursday but did not deny a report posted by the website TMZ that NBC was considering making the switch and replacing Mr. O’Brien at “Tonight” with Mr. Leno.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Along the same lines, this just in the NY Times...

Update: NBC Plan Would Move Leno Back to Late Nights - Media Decoder Blog - NYTimes.com

 

[lakebum431]

Yes! That is what needs to happen. I would love to see Jay back in the later slot. Conan is NOT getting it done.

 

[TNGTony]

Hooray! Only the interesting part of Jay (I don't watch the inteviews) and the best of Conan before 12:30! Sorry I never got into Jimmy.

11:35 Jay Leno Show
12:05 Tonight with Conan
1:05 Late Nite with Jimmy

So would this be a last call for "Last Call" or maybe just moved back to 2:05.

 

[TNGTony]

Well lookie here... Jay Leno addressed this info when he came out on stage tonight:

Jay: Well, I could start off by wishing Katie Currick(SP) a happy birthday. It's Katie Currick's Birthday today. And ah, you know, she left NBC for another network. I gotta give her a call and see how that's working out.

(Audience chuckles)
JAY: As you may have heard there's a rumor floating around we may... we were canceled. I heard it on the way in this morning on the radio. So far nobody said anything to me. But Kev, you know, if we did get canceled it would give us time to maybe do some traveling.

KEVIN: That would be wonderful, man...

JAY: In fact I understand Fox is beutiful this time of year.

KEVIN: It really is!

(Audience laughs - Rim shot by Smitty)

JAY: In fact I don't think...I don't think there's any truth to the rumor. In my experience NBC only cancels you when you're in first place. So we're fine!

(Audience laughs-another Smitty rim shot)

JAY: We're okay. Actually, you know what happened? NBC found 4 guns in my locker. I was suspended!

KEVIN: I'm glad they didn't find them in my locker.

JAY: No, no... But we..ah... But we'll keep following this story. It's going to be fascinating to see what happens.

---then continues to other topics in his monologue.

Later in the monologue

JAY: ...and the justice department announced they'll conduct an anti-trust review of Comcast's proposal to...you know the merge with NBC. Yeah, yeah... Anti-trust. Which is the relationship I have with NBC! Anti-trust, that is what we have.

(Audience laughs - Kevin plays NBC tones)

JAY: Hey Kev!

KEVIN: What's up Jay?

JAY: What does NBC Stand for?

Kevin: What's that?

JAY: Never Believe your Contract!
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