Leno / Conan / NBC / etc.

[Sir Stewart]

Not to pile on, but I simply cannot believe that any theater audience was in hysterics over this. Smells like marketing.

[jakobnicholas]

I'd not seen that ad. I thought it was funny in a dimented sort of way.

 

It's very different from the movie theatre ad I saw last weekend. The ad I saw showed clips of Leno interviewing people outside (he points to a U.S. flag blowing in the breeze, and asks a lady how many stars are on it....the dim-witted lady says, "I can't tell. It's moving too fast"), his newspaper wedding names bit, and other clips from his show.

 

Also, NBC's website has been putting different behind-the-scenes videos on their website. Some are funny, some not so much. And they include a few mini stand-up clips.

 

 

Conan's show has been OK, but I'm actually looking forward to seeing Leno on the tube again. I miss his monologue takes on current events.

[Sir Stewart]

I probably won't seek out the show much, but I do enjoy the bits you mention - headlines, wedding names, Jaywalking. If the show is chockful of stuff like that, it should be pretty good.

Is it really gonna be 5 nights a week at 10 o'clock?

[Analogman]

I am surprised NBC has not come up with a new version of ER/Third Watch to put in one of those time slots.

[Sir Stewart]

I am surprised NBC has not come up with a new version of ER/Third Watch to put in one of those time slots.

 

Wasn't that LA cop show supposed to be just that? I forget the name, but it was hyped to death as ER was ending.

[KevinG]

Wanted to laugh at that but didn't think it was that funny.

 

What is not funny about a hit and run, and the attempted murder of police officers?

[Sir Stewart]

What is not funny about a hit and run, and the attempted murder of police officers?

 

C'mon, you know anything's funny when done right. And I say 'you know' because of your avatar.

[Analogman]

Wasn't that LA cop show supposed to be just that? I forget the name, but it was hyped to death as ER was ending.

 

I can't think of the name of the show.

 

Was it this one?

 

Trauma

 

OR I guess not, as this is a medical show.

Edited August 21, 2009 by Analogman

[plasticeyeball]

i think he meant southland. i watched the first 2 and liked it, dvr'ed the rest and haven't gotten to them yet but i also have last seasons lost i haven't even started yet. (when i say last season, i mean the one before last year.)

[Sir Stewart]

Southland, right.

[KevinG]

C'mon, you know anything's funny when done right. And I say 'you know' because of your avatar.

 

True, very true.

[Analogman]

Southland, right.

 

So it looks like they are going with a new cop/medical show at 9, and then Jay at 10.

[Sir Stewart]

By the way, on the big screen in a darkened theater that Leno promo is even less funny, and almost disturbing.

[bobbob1313]

I don't agree.

[Guest Jules]

I was so unmoved by that promo I stopped breathing.

[Sir Stewart]

Watching it with a crowd, I was reminded of this nugget from Roger Ebert's review of Adam Sandler's Mr. Deeds:

"The foot has no feeling, Deeds says, inviting Emilio to pound it with a fireplace poker. When Deeds doesn't flinch, Turturro actually punctures the foot with the point of the poker, at which point I listened attentively for sounds of laughter in the theater, and heard none."

[bobbob1313]

I liked Mr. Deeds.

[Analogman]

I have watched bits and pieces of the show since it has been on, and I found it lacking. NBC should go retro and bring back the Million Dollar Movie.

 

Yahoo! TV Blog

 

'The Jay Leno Show' Is Taking NBC Down

 

By Lindsay Robertson | Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 10:25 AM

 

 

Which shows are suffering from 'The Leno Effect'?

NBC/Justin Lubin

 

NBC always had small expectations for "The Jay Leno Show." When it came to ratings, the network's goal was modest because the show costs almost nothing to make compared to average 10pm dramas. But what's going to happen to the great Jay Leno experiment now that the show isn't even garnering the tiny audience NBC expected for it? Up against juggernauts "Monday Night Football" and "CSI," Leno's last two Monday night shows have dipped way below even their modest goal. To make things worse, other NBC shows and local affiliates are starting to complain that Leno's unpopularity is dragging their own ratings down, too. The phenomenon even has a nickname: "The Leno Effect," and it's turning into a disaster for other NBC shows.

 

"The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien," for example, was building an audience and holding its own against David Letterman before Leno's show debuted. But now with a poor lead-in, "Tonight's" ratings are so dismal that Letterman beats Conan soundly night after night. Similarly, "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," which was a moderate success when it debuted last spring, can point directly to Leno for its own ratings dip. And even NBC staple and fan favorite "Law and Order" is suffering because Leno's show stole its classic 10pm time slot. The producers of these shows are no doubt grumbling in-house, where Leno is probably not very popular right now. But making some very definite noise are NBC's local affiliates around the country, who are finding that nobody is watching their post-Leno local news shows because by the time they air, the audience has long since changed the channel.

 

So what can be done to fix it? The show is already making modest tweaks, like moving its jaywalking segment closer to the beginning of the show, but in a story about NBC in this week's New York Magazine, writer Mark Harris suggests some pretty drastic changes: switching Leno from five nights per week to three or four, or even flat-out canceling it (which would be very expensive for NBC, what with Leno's contract). Or, what many are seeing as the nuclear option -- canceling "The Jay Leno Show" and taking "The Tonight Show" away from Conan O'Brien and giving it back to Leno. If NBC goes with this last move, they can probably expect a lifelong boycott of their network by Conan's fans. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

[Sir Stewart]

It really is unwatchable.

[u2roolz]

Going to read the 1st 2 pages later on. But I can honestly say that NBC won't be canceling his show this year (2009-2010).

By the time they get something going production wise to fit into the time slots, it will be ready for the Fall 2010.

NBC knew the gamble going in. They obviously did this to save millions by not producing expensive shows.

It's pretty much like a white flag. They can't compete with the time slot until next year really anyways.

 

Not to mention the guests are really lacking or misleading. His "biggest" guests seem to take part in the Ten At Ten segment from some remote location. Not in his studio.

And I'm sure it's been mentioned that the other big networks won't let their talent visit his show because of the said time slot. The last time I watched his show was because John Cusack was on.

 

Another interesting thing that I noticed is that I tend to be watching Letterman almost every night. The reason: his guests. When I check the schedule on the tv, I've noticed that Conan's guests seem off. Like last night, Dave had on Bill Murray so I didn't flip the channel. I have DVR and with Conan's guests I don't feel the need to DVR his show. I'll watch his funny segments.

 

Edit: NBC cancelled Southland last week and it was quickly picked up by TNT. I think NBC cancelled the show before they aired any Season 2 episodes which is really fucking questionable.

The beautiful irony is that I'm sure TNT will put Southland on at a 10pm time slot to compete with Jay and thus beat him.

 

From Ain't It Cool News:

 

"For the first time on the same night two CW series pulled better 18-49 numbers than “Leno,” which on Monday matched its all-time low for the fourth time in 11 days. An executive with Atlanta-based Gray Television, which owns 10 NBC affiliates in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Colorado, Nebraska, Florida, North Carolina, Mississippi and West Virginia , told analysts and investors he believes only the egos of NBC executives are keeping “Leno” on the air at this point."

[u2roolz]

That being said I did go to 2 Tonight Show tapings while visiting Los Angeles. The 1st time was on March 17, 1998. He had on Matt Dillon, Michelle WIlliams, and Steve Earle. My mother yelled out Andover during someone's interview when the guest mentioned MA. We were living in Dracut, MA at the time which is next to Andover, Leno's hometown. So after the show he had his PA grab us and take a picture with him. Forgive me for my 1998 look.

 

Then in 2006 I saw Ellen Degeneres and some 5 year old trumpet player. Can't remember who the hell the musical guests were? Something along the lines of Good Charlotte.

 

Oh, and in 2004 in Las Vegas I saw him do his stand up act which was way better than his show. He went around the front row asking people what they did. When he got to me I told him that I was a film student. So he quickly replied, "So you'll be living in your parents' basement then."

[Guest Jules]

NBC knew the gamble going in. They obviously did this to save millions by not producing expensive shows.

So, instead they lose millions with shitty ratings. Could be the biggest mistake in TV history, no? Leno/Tonight Show was blowing Letterman away, and they make a change?

[u2roolz]

Like I said it was a gamble. I think they saw that the 10pm time slot would cost them millions to produce a decent show. Now I don't have the exact figures in front of me, but picture they never had Leno on the air at 10p.m. Instead there are 5 shows M-F. If those shows don't generate enough viewers early on, then advertisers will begin to pull ads. Then NBC will feel compelled to cancel the show or move it to an earlier time slot. Look at what happened to Southland: they PRODUCED the fucking thing, all 13 episodes, and won't even show it. WTF! Talk about throwing money out the window. Luckily, TNT picked it up.

 

So they probably figured how long will Conan stay in his time slot. And then that's when I think the switches took place in the NBC execs' heads. They took a huge gamble that folks would follow Leno to 10p.m. That hasn't happened yet. Even Conan is losing to Dave now. Big fuck up in my opinion. But it was all about saving money and taking a gamble with the "late night leader".

 

The difference being that it's dirt cheap to make Leno's show. So they're only really losing the revenue coming in from the ads.

[cryptique]

The difference being that it's dirt cheap to make Leno's show. So they're only really losing the revenue coming in from the ads.

What other revenue is there, really? This is turning out to be a disaster for NBC.

 

Leno's a hell of a nice guy, but as a television host, I didn't like him at 11:30, and I still don't like him at 10. NBC will likely give him a couple more years to see if his ratings ever pick up (doesn't anyone remember Conan's ratings when he first started?). If they don't, they'll ease him out, nicely. He's done a lot of NBC, but loyalty isn't as important as ratings. And it's not like Jay needs the money ... he'll retire and dick around with his cars and be perfectly happy. He turns 60 next year, so it's not like he'd be retiring all that early, and I'm sure he'll still be a visible presence even after his show ends.

[u2roolz]

Yes, I agree cryptique. But what if this was a great success? NBC could sit back in their cheap chairs laughing at the other big networks. I think that's what NBC thought would happen.

I guess people were bred to believe that "late night" programming begins at 1130ish. LOL

But I guess a produced drama or whatever's cost per episode vs. a week of the Leno show is quite a huge difference.