Jay Leno Gets Prime Gig at NBC - Reports say the 'Tonight Show'...

Smart move, NBC. You keep Leno on the family so that
when Conan flops, and he will, you can move Leno back into the Tonight Show.
The reason Leno beats Letterman every time is that
people connect easier with Leno's humor. Conan is
great, but his comedy is similar to Letterman, and
Letterman will win out head to head.

Eric wrote:

Wow NBC makes another horrible move. I didn't think they could dig their grave any deeper... Atleast this will free up my night even more to watch better quality shows on other networks

I completely agree. I was flabbergasted that NBC essentially decided that the way out is to essentially de-program more of its network (after it de-programmed Saturdays).

Jeff Zucker floated a trial balloon of this bad idea a couple years back saying that he would only program reality shows from 8 to 9. He was quickly over-ruled, but it looks that using Jay Leno's personal popularity as a shield will enable him to once again downgrade NBC.

It is quite insane the way Jeff Zucker has sabotaged NBC (with the eager collaboration of Ben Silverman recently) without barely any resistance from GE.

Once Zucker's failures are discovered by the blind board of GE it may be too late to save a once great network, and we will all be the poorer for it.:(

michael wrote:

Best wishes for the show Jay. I will probably DVR his show and watch after other programs on CBS and ABC. Personally I think that NBC will regret the 10pm shift, but I hear they will save big bucks. The Leno Show only cost 2 million per week where as 1 hour of a drama can run about 3 million per episode. So ala in all its a good thing I won't have to worry about getting into an NBC show that will be cancelled like Lipstick Jungle, My Own Worst Enemy, and Journey Man all show I'm sad to see leave the air.

Given that Leno's show is likely to generate low ratings, I don't see how it can be considered a good move.

Programming old movie re-runs would also cost less.

NBC's problems come from its inability to identify good shows. Jeff Zucker and now Ben Silverman seem unable to generate any shows that the audience likes, and keep on returning to the same losing formulas and producers.

In the hands of merely competent managers, NBC would flourish.

Now it is almost dead.:(

Liz wrote:

Jeff Zucker has destroyed NBC.

Truer words have never been spoken.

I would like to know what NBC considers its Signature Shows now.

Heroes? With its huge ratings erosion in the past year and a half?

The Office? Good demo numbers, but constantly a third or fourth place finisher in its time slot?

I remember when NBC used to be my network of choice, with shows like "Cheers", "Friends", "The Cosby Show"... but today's NBC is nothing like its former self.

Which is funny, given NBC's penchant for catering to a certain portion of the viewing audience, that they're starting to look bloated, aged and senile themselves. That was not a crack against older folks, those who would complain, just a somewhat-snide comparison towards an entity that has been very anti-older viewing audience for so many years. Karma has now bit them in the ass, and I think it's hilarious. Now if karma would clone itself so it could do the same thing to Fox.

It has done the same to Fox in a way, and if it were not for "American Idol", that network would be dead in the water. Its current hit shows ("House", "24", "Bones") all benefited from being scheduled around "Idol" at one point or another, and the audience stuck with those shows over the years. But look at their ratings now, which follow the trend of a horrible Fall, to be saved by a good Spring thanks to "Idol" and "24".

What a relife to know that Mr. Leno will be with us a long long timg. It prays to the Good Lord fomething good once once in a while in a while,Thant once in a while is Jay Leno, you are it.
Bless you Jay

God, this is sickening. While Jay seems like a nice guy, I agree he's like watching paint dry, and he steps on all his jokes. Haven't watched him in years. A lot of the country is on Early Prime, where he's already on at 10:35, and would now be on at 9, where I assume he'll fall as flat as Rosie.

It's a nail in the coffin for "Life" and the Law and Orders. NBC never had any class; who thought they could sink even lower?

Thorny wrote:

Which is funny, given NBC's penchant for catering to a certain portion of the viewing audience, that they're starting to look bloated, aged and senile themselves. That was not a crack against older folks, those who would complain, just a somewhat-snide comparison towards an entity that has been very anti-older viewing audience for so many years. Karma has now bit them in the ass, and I think it's hilarious. Now if karma would clone itself so it could do the same thing to Fox.

Isn't it funny how discriminating against part of your potential audience always comes back to bite you? ;)

To give another example in a related field, the studios have been making a bunch of over-expensive bad films supposedly aimed at the "all-important' 25 and under crowd, and now their DVDs don't sell anymore because those are films that most people don't really want to see and those who've seen them don't want to see twice.

How lame. Hope NBC's ready to lose even more ratings.

name wrote:

How lame. Hope NBC's ready to lose even more ratings.

That's what you get when a network is managed by someone who is saying that networks don't need ratings.

If that were true, then Dawn Ostroff would be a masterful network head. ;)

Hurry Back Jay, We need you back. Whats on TV now is stupid and seems a child could write better jokes
Brian

Brian wrote:

Hurry Back Jay, We need you back. Whats on TV now is stupid and seems a child could write better jokes
Brian

If they decided to can Conan and bring Leno back, I'd have no problems.

Oh, that won't happen for quite some time. NBC execs admitting they were wrong is as likely as Theodore Roosevelt running for another term as president.

If Conan does get pulled from his duties, the memo to the press will read something like this, most likely: "After meeting with the current host of The Tonight Show, both sides have agreed that a return to previous success is beneficial to all involved; to that end, we're pleased to invite Jay Leno back into the late night family, where he has long had a home."

To which Jay Leno will likely flip the execs the bird with both hands and open up a classic car restoration garage.

Aaron R wrote:

Oh, that won't happen for quite some time. NBC execs admitting they were wrong is as likely as Theodore Roosevelt running for another term as president.
If Conan does get pulled from his duties, the memo to the press will read something like this, most likely: "After meeting with the current host of The Tonight Show, both sides have agreed that a return to previous success is beneficial to all involved; to that end, we're pleased to invite Jay Leno back into the late night family, where he has long had a home."
To which Jay Leno will likely flip the execs the bird with both hands and open up a classic car restoration garage.

Let me try my hand at that one. "In view of the amazing success Jay Leno has encountered at 10 pm (Jay out-rated its lead-in, mega-hit Friday Night Lights by 7% in the all-important 12 1/2 to 29 1/3 young hip adults with an edge), NBC has decided that a late Night lineup of Jay and Conan (whose audience mix became more heavily weighted in the all-important young, hip demo with every show) is what will enable NBC to build on its stunning success of the past few years. Jeff Zucker is quoted as saying that NBC once again is increasing its profitability by making daring strategic moves and expects to beat CW when all is said and done".