Broadcasting & Cable, The New York Times and others are reporting that NBC will give Jay Leno its 10-11pm time-slot every weeknight beginning next fall.
From B&C:
In a surprise move, Jay Leno is taking over the 10 p.m. slot on weeknights on the network.
The move would be a cost-effective manner in which to essentially cut down the amount of hours it must program with fare from the entertainment division. Jeff Zucker foreshadowed the move at a UBS media conference Monday, saying that NBC has to look at options including programming less primetime hours.
It would be a much-needed victory for struggling NBC in the wake of a massive round of layoffs and a re-organization of the entire way the network and studio are structured as the network continues to languish in fourth place.
From the NYTimes:
No broadcast network has ever before offered the same show in prime time five nights a week. Such so-called “stripped shows” have been a staple of daytime broadcasting.
The offer of a new weeknight show for Mr. Leno at 10 p.m., an idea that NBC executives said Monday came from the NBC chief executive,Jeff Zucker, not only allows NBC to retain Mr. Leno’s services, but also means the network may be able to greatly reduce costs of developing and producing other prime-time shows.
It looks like Jeff Zucker was serious about throwing in the towel. Quite a vote of confidence in the capabilities of your entertainment division programmers. Looks like all the NBC Entertainment jobs freed up this week by firings might not need to get filled after all!
Just remember, you read it here first!
Update: Even Jay’s in on the joke!
And as Leno becomes the lead-in for the late local newscasts, he joked that he might be getting his own lead-in from NBC’s increasingly expanding morning show: “Where I am coming on at 10, I will be on right after the last hour of the new today show.”
Yet another Update: NBC is officially throwing in the towel:
“We are not trying to compete,” Mr. Graboff [Marc Graboff, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios} said.
Update: If you’d like to do a bit of theorizing about the potential ratings for the new Leno at 10 show, consider that during the just completed November sweeps, these were Leno’s numbers at 11:35pm.
Total viewers: 4.9 million
Adults 18-49: 1.3 rating / 5 share
Those are pretty close to the season to date averages for the show as well.
Can Jay double that 18-49 rating airing 95 minutes earlier (and with a 60 minute show)? I’d say it’s certainly possible. That would beat 3 of the 5 shows NBC put on at 10pm last week. And one of those shows that it didn’t beat, ER, is in its last season.
It’s hard to know what to think about this. I’m tempted to think it’s a good business move, but I think Leno will fail at 10 pm. Yes, he beats Letterman at 11:30, but I don’t think it’s going to work at 10.
For a change you were kinder than I. I might have titled it “Ben Silverman loses 23% of primetime.” I’m sure Ben won’t take a pay cut, but I’m not sure he’ll be employed by NBC Uni in September.
Given the overall numbers for NBC, it just looks like taking the path of least resistance and given performance I’m not sure I fault them. Also since this was reportedly Zucker’s move directly, I completely agree with you about the vote of confidence…
I’m beginning to think I should skip applying to NBC for a job.
Julia, because of the way bureaucracy works the chance that NBC reduces its broadcast TV corporate overhead by 23% is precisely 0%!
Lets look at what will happen:
NBC will think, “hey we filled our schedule pretty well.” Let’s all go skiing. (http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/when-going-gets-tough-ben-goes-skiing/)
They won’t work on any new projects.
Flash forward. Fall 2009: Leno fails. Between Leno, Conan, Fallon, and Daly, they ran out of Celebrities promoting things. People will realize Leno isn’t that funny when they’re not really tired. People will realize that Leno isn’t that funny without first watching horrible stories on the news to depress them. People will realize that Leno isn’t that funny.
NBC will have nothing in the tank to replace 1/3 of their schedule.
NBC fails. GE refocuses on light bulbs.
Wow…
NBC is so stupid, this will make the 10pm shows of CBS/ABC even stronger.
btw, Variety is saying that Jay Leno will make 40-50 million a year with the new deal.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117997051.html?categoryid=10&cs=1
Why not just have the Tonight Show move to 10 PM? Conan still gets the earlier time slot he craved while being able to keep all of the personnel to which he’s become accustomed. Meanwhile, Leno doesn’t need to make a transition either. Move Carson Daly to Conan’s old slot, and voila, problems solved.
What does this mean for NBC’s primetime shows? Are they not going to renew 5 hours worth of shows next fall?
DeM, trying to find 5 hours of NBC shows to renew would be much more difficult than finding 5 hours to cancel.
The whole point of Conan taking over for Leno was because Leno was leaving, right? Now that he’s just on a different time will anyone bother to watch Conan aside from the people who watch Conan right now?
I’m a bit surprised at this move from NBC really, is Leno really that funny that they feel people want to see him at 10 every night? I don’t personally, but then again I’ve never thought Leno funny myself.
NBC just needs to do one thing to get things back on track. Stop making crap shows!…It’s so simple. Rosie Live!…God, wake up! How dumb can you get?
Curious indeed. I suspect this is NBC’s attempt to be more like Fox? In a direct comparison, Leno will compete against local news, Univision, and two broadcast nets. Perhaps they are seeing more Fox-like programming focus in the 8 and 9pm hours then? Hopefully they can find their next Law and Order or ER-like megahits to anchor a couple of nights at 9pm. One sitcom night, one “ER” night, two “L&O” nights, and Friday reality…there’s the five day week. I can see how they’re putting it together, but I have to say I don’t think the average Nielsen family (or any average family) is ready for such a change. Unless Fox has really gotten us used to no-scripted-stuff at 10pm, more than we realize…
Leno was fired people. But this can’t be worse than anything else NBC has.
NBC needs another show to come along and revive its television line-up like the Cosby Show did in the mid 80s.
Eddie – or Seinfeld in the 90’s. They need their “must see TV” line up. They need an anchor. I hate to say it, but in terms of Nielsen ratings, any anchor program has got to be more mainstream than Heroes, and less quirky than Office or 30 Rock. ER, and the L&O incarnations, are their last somewhat mainstream hits. Comedy, drama, or one of each – they need those mainstream anchors to achieve Nielsen success.
Wow. What a stunning move.
I would nominate this as the most stunning programming move since Fox got the NFL. That’s 15 years ago.
I’m blown away. And I don’t necessarily doubt that this is a good business move. NBC will pay at most $1m per hour for over 200 hours of year-round primetime original programming. Probably even less than that. That’s an incredible bargain and a low ratings bar to clear for this to be a success.
Network TV as a storytelling medium really is dying isn’t it? The NBC 10-11pm hour, which has housed some of the greatest shows ever produced, will no longer be home to scripted storytelling. Truly the end of an era.
Les Moonves must be pissing himself with excitement.
NBC just handed CBS an engraved invitation to dominate both 10-11 AND 11:30-12:30
I like Conan but he’s on too late. Id rather watch at 11:35, and hopefully this will allow Conan to stay in NY.
Also, I agree with the Other matt, unfortunately GE will start investing in the Electric Car. They will air a one hour infomercial every week on thursday at 9 on the production and benefits of this car. And it will win the Night.
I’m with Mikey — Moonves must be delighted. To AC — I think the whole point is, Conan or no, NBC didn’t want anyone else to get Leno. Coupled with the relative low cost of programming/low ratings bar Mikey illustrated, that’s a tidy solution for Zucker.
Julia — if Heroes gets no worse I can easily come up with 5 hours (especially in the fall when there is 3 hours of Sunday Night Football). Heroes, Law & Order: SVU, two hours of The Biggest Loser and The Office/30 Rock. Throw in a Deal or No Deal and a Dateline on Fridays and that gets you to 7 out of 10 hours it’ll have to program Mon-Friday (I assume Saturdays will remain the scrap heap it already is…or perhaps they’ll go CW on us).
Heroes isn’t a gimme, but if Kings is even modestly successful “Renew or Cancel” decisions get pretty interesting.
Looks like this move by NBC is a “throw in the towel” move. I suppose they can settle on a stagnant audience. They should be able to shed some programming and creative slots at the network.
Mikey, re: a storytelling medium — when the networks completely ceased to look at stories as stories and started to look at them solely as ad delivery systems, it was only a matter of time.
I could see how this works for nights like Monday and Friday, where 10:00 is a dead-dead-dead zone for NBC, but this still seems like a pathetic move. Is Leno really appointment TV for people? If they wanted to keep Leno that badly, they would’ve been better off pissing Conan off and keeping Leno at 11:35. I fail to see how he could average anymore than 5 million viewers a week. By comparison, the average for the five shows currently on at 10:00 is about 7 million, and while Leno will be a lot cheaper, it puts NBC out of competition there, and makes CBS and especially ABC a lot stronger. Related to that, would Leno count as Primetime, or would they try extending him to late night, to keep the Primetime numbers from going down a lot?
It seems so weird that the network that put so many legendary shows at 10:00 – Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, E.R. – would make a move like this. That network is truly a shadow of its former self.
Amazing. But kind of sad too. NBC has a wonderful history of some truly great shows. Making primetime look like daytime doesn’t seem to be a winning option to me.
Just added this to the post above:
If you’d like to do a bit of theorizing about the potential ratings for the new Leno at 10 show, consider that during the just completed November sweeps, these were Leno’s numbers at 11:35pm.
Total viewers: 4.9 million
Adults 18-49: 1.3 rating / 5 share
Those are pretty close to the season to date averages for the show as well.
Can Jay double that 18-49 rating airing 95 minutes earlier (and with a 60 minute show)? I’d say it’s certainly possible. That would beat 3 of the 5 shows NBC put on at 10pm last week. And one of those shows that it didn’t beat, ER, is in its last season.
Oh, and GRD, television has always been about the ads…(just consider how soap operas came into being)…better stories more ad revenue.
NBC probably figures it will have “X” numbers of viewers at that hour by default so why not go with something cheaper and a known quantity?
I think Leno could occasionally get good ratings (particularly if there is a good guest), but I don’t think he’ll consistently get 7 million viewers and a 2.6. It will be what people watch when they don’t like the shows on ABC and CBS, but it won’t be appointment TV five nights a week.
Maybe its just me but where has all the creativity gone in TV? I know its tough now for the broadcast networks with cable, but cable did not just arrive yesterday and its not like the ratings there are super high anyway. Obviously people have not left TV because the Super Bowl had its highest viewership ever this year with almost an average of 100 million viewers, I feel that when these networks, not only NBC finally put quality products out there for television shows and promote it WELL, people will return to the networks in high numbers. There is a huge opening out there for any network that can produce a quality sitcom out there that attracts everyone. I refuse to believe that the sitcom is dead. People need comedy in their lives, now more than ever.
wow
still trying to wrap my head around this and what it means
so basically this is what we know for 2009:
mon- ?, heroes
tue- biggest loser, svu
wed- ?, ?
thu- earl/sitcom, office/earl
fri- deal, ?
sun- football
kings, medium, chuck and law and order are question marks to return?
man, i cant help but thing jeff immelt is just an idiot for continuing to hand the keys to zucker and for zuker to do so to silverman.
these guys have just failed so much so that the office getting a 4.3 in the demo is like christmas to them.
most likely leno will average around 6 million viewers per night, but i guess always getting that at 10 is better than what they have now.
i think we probably will see chuck back with heroes on mondays. just becomes a matter of what new show sticks to partner up on wednesday with medium/ law order. though that in it self would be an interesting combo for wednesday.
They’d still have to hold a show or two for midseason Sundays after Football.
This feels like the nail in Chuck’s coffin. If they have to clear up 5 hours a week, i’m not sure Chuck survives.
I’m going to go be alone and cry somewhere.
“Heroes isn’t a gimme, but if Kings is even modestly successful “Renew or Cancel” decisions get pretty interesting.”
So Robert, does Leno at 10pm get factored into, or out of, the prime time averages?
I’m with you Jesse. My first though was, “Oh no! Chuck!”
I think it depends on how it does after the Superbowl, plus how much room NBC will make for new programs.
If NBC isn’t developing anything new for 2009 then I think Chuck would be safe. (Cancel Lipstick, Life, Crusoe, Night Rider, maybe move the original L&O (again.))
But cancel any more to make room for new shows and I can’t see Chuck staying.
Andrea, I’m not sure I understand your question — at least in the context of your quote.
I can’t think of any reason it wouldn’t be counted in the averages.
Edit — ah, the lightbulb went off. You’re asking if the Leno show averages would be included in the S-T-D 18-49 averages Bill would use for the Renew or Cancel Index. Too far away to worry about for now, but indeed an interesting question for next year if Leno winds up airing M-F at 10pm.
Maybe NBC should have given the 9/10 to the local affilates and have them compete with the FOX and The CW affilates local news wise.
Don, the affiliates wouldn’t stand for it, much the same way the FOX affiliates wouldn’t stand for FOX taking 10pm away from them. In this case, it would mean taking an hour that many affiliates are winning and making them compete with the established #1 player. It also means they lose an hour of lucrative (well, more lucrative than non-primetime, even if it is NBC) primetime advertising, during a recession when making ends meet is hard enough.
We can now count ER as completely done. No way is NBC going to keep an expensive juggernaut around when they’re cutting costs and no longer plan to air anything but Leno in the 10 PM slot. Law & Order could be washed up as well since it’s under performing which would in turn give The Simpsons a clear break at potentially forever securing the prime time record for most seasons of a fictional series.
This bodes pretty well for My Name Is Earl as it floats around the renewal mark. It’s hovering near 1 which is certainly well above the .92 mark that was used for renewal last year. NBC probably figures they should keep the two hour comedy block in tact. Throw in the new show from Office staff and they have a full boat after they let loose Kath & Kim. Would not be surprised if NBC had only like two new shows on its plate next fall.
I still say they dump MNIE and either keep Kath & Kim or go with a new show. MNIE has no room for growth, while a new show does.
Julia, that’s exactly where i’d air Chuck if I were them. Kath and Kim is awful, and Earl hasn’t been good in awhile, I think it’s time to cut them both loose, throw Chuck into a block of comedy shows, where I think it belongs, and put some new drama in Chuck’s Monday slot. Even if they just do it for a trial period and give a mid-season replacement order to Earl if it doesn’t work out.
Maybe i’m wrong, maybe I care too much about Chuck’s well-being, but that would make sense to me.
If they cancel Chuck because of Jay Leno I am banning NBC from my TV sets. This is the worst news. Merry F***in Christmas. The talented cast does not deserve to get shafted like this.
earl could be saved as a midseason holdover or possibly moving to 830 if nbc miraculously develops a quality show they can put at 800.
chuck, even though many on the internets are fans, doesnt really have good numbers and win this movie, its chances for survival are slim.
it really depends what nbc does in pilot season, which begins next month. they moved away from quality shows that no one watches (chuck, fnl, 30 rock, office) to crappy shows that no one watches (knight rider, lipstick, worst enemy), so who knows where they go next.
As someone who enjoys intelligent, entertaining, scripted television, this is perhaps the worst programming news ever. I don’t have a lot of interest in watching Leno now and that won’t change when he’s on at 10.
I was rooting for Life and Chuck to make the cut for another year, but I have to wonder now if they are both goners. (I know things were already looking somewhat questionable for Life.) If “characters” really are “welcome”, maybe these shows can head over to the USA Network. (?)
Regardless, if Universal hopes to keep people from just giving those viewing hours over to CBS & ABC shows, then I hope USA, Sci-Fi, Bravo, etc., programming has some attractive options because the 23% Leno Solution is no solution at all.
I’d say Earl is pretty safe. That Amy Poehler sitcom is coming in April, and they’re going to need a fourth comedy in that lineup, assuming they shitcan Kath & Kim.
Oh, geez, Chuck fans, cool your jets. It is far too early for you to start with that stuff.
I’m planning on starting to watch the show on Hulu over the Hoidays, but if an annoying “save our show from eval NBC!!1!” drive takes over this site, I won’t.
I’m totally shocked. I thought Leno was going and it might have been better for him in the long run. He could potentially be going up against dramas and counter programming from the other networks that could end up killing his show.
Why do I picture this new Leno show being one big NBC love fest? “Next on Leno…the cast of Heroes talks about tommorrow’s episode!”
But hey, I guess they got to do something. Good luck on those key demos. (unless this is a nod to David E. Kelly’s cut to Madison Ave. from last night BL finale.
Good news to CBS and ABC!
When they see that Tonight show have failed at 10 pm, they will replace this for local programming.
the cbs crime dramas at 10pm should improve a millions without the competion of L&O.
NBC has fallen far from its glory days of the 80s and 90s. Of course GE and the NBC juggernaut has gone downhill. Is it bad karma for GE helping Iran with its nuclear program? Probably not, but its gratifying to see a network that has been taken over by left wing extremists and wacko environmentalists biting the dust on all fronts.((MSNBC, NBC news is the worst of the lot)though alot of what they do is “greenwashing”). The other networks are moving left too, but at least they know what viewers want to watch. Granted I dont watch much network TV these days, with its endless crime, legal, game, singing, dancing shows – but that is what viewers want.
Wasting money keeping alive shows like Friday Night Lights for sentimental reasons is another reason why NBC has gone into the crapper.
How will Leno do at 10pm? Considering where NBC is right now, they could do worse. The ratings will be interesting to watch.
Wow great move NBC, now you made sure I will not watch your Network at 10h00pm!
I can’t believe this network used to have shows like Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, E.R, Homicide: Life on the Street…how pathetic they have become…
More and more, NBC seems to be the first network to follow a path foreshadowed in this Variety article:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117996347.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
Is the Jay Leno option a baby step in the “drop an hour” direction? Excerpt from the linked article:
“Among the possible scenarios: One of the traditional major nets — ABC, NBC or CBS — could mirror the Fox sked and drop an hour of primetime, airing only from 8 to 10 p.m. (or perhaps 9 to 11 p.m.) and return that extra hour to the affiliates.”
The Jay Leno option keeps the hour within the networks, maybe easing the process more than an outright return of the hour to affiliates.
The more I read this post and your previous Zucker post, the more I’m thinking that NBC is the first network in a while that is, well…pretty much ignoring Nielsen ratings as a metric of success. The Leno option could be good, as long as you can sell the advertisers on it. With lower programming costs, the ad rates might not need to be at prime-time premium levels in order to turn a profit. Ad buyers may see a bargain there.
NBC just might find a way to cut ad rates way low here. Provided the advertisers can be “sold” on the idea that enough eyeballs are wathcing their ads, they just might buy into the operation. How many eyeballs is “enough,” though? Who shall define that metric?
If I had to buy an ad spot in the 10pm hour, how much would I pay per million potential viewers? What’s my cost-benefit structure, and all that jazz…
This is a terrible move on all sides. First, I think Leno will cannibalize Conan’s audience. Few people will watch two hours of variety programming at night. They’ll either watch Leno or Conan, but not both.
Second, Leno did a good job in his tenure as Late Night host, and in some respects went out “on top.” He dominated Letterman in the ratings and while he wasn’t as good as Johnny Carson, he certainly did a respectable job and never made himself or NBC the target of significant controversy. (Unlike Letterman, who has repeatedly acted like a jerk and has turned off large portions of his audience by being excessively liberal and/or mean-spirited). But now he’s going to be associated with a boondoggle, which will just tarnish his brand on his way into retirement.
Third, NBC is going to get pwned by doing this. The fact that Leno couldn’t appreciably raise his ratings during November Sweeps shows you that he has a very stagnant audience. Why is that audience going to double at 10:00? Simply because there are more total viewers at 10:00? If they are going for “default viewers,” NBC may as well just air encores of its more popular shows at 10:00.
Les Moonves is definitely doing the snoopy dance right about now.
he more I’m thinking that NBC is the first network in a while that is, well…pretty much ignoring Nielsen ratings as a metric of success.
No they aren’t. What you see here is NBC desperately trying to do anything because they are acknowledging that they are failing at the TV business because their Nielsen ratings suck. How is this NBC ignoring that?
So leaving 17 hours to program, here is what I can come up with for keeping:
Chuck – 1 hour
Heroes – 1 hour
Office – 30 mins
30 Rock – 30 mins
Earl – 30 mins
Law & Order: SVU – 1 hour
That leaves 12.5 hours to go. I guess you can knock out some hours with
Sunday Night Football in the fall. But where does that leave you???
Does Medium return??? Does Life get a 3rd chance?? What about the few new shows coming — Amy Poehler’s show??? The “I already believe there is no chance in hell this show suceeds” Knights??? What are they going to move Burn Notice over from USA???
I think this is just the tip of the iceberg for NBC. Ben is as good as bye-bye. And someone is going to have to find some quality shows.
“The more I read this post and your previous Zucker post, the more I’m thinking that NBC is the first network in a while that is, well…pretty much ignoring Nielsen ratings as a metric of success.”
I somewhat agree. This move virtually guarantees that NBC will finish last among the major networks in the A18-49 race every year that they strip Leno. It would take a massive, American Idol-sized hit show to prevent them from being a perennial fourth. Yet they’ve decided to do this anyway.
They clearly are focusing on “most efficient” rather than “highest-rated”
I think it’s optimistic to think that Leno will continue to average a 5 share in the demo at 10pm. Competition will be exponentially tougher. I’m sure there will be a novelty dividend in the first one or two months but I suspect this thing will settle at more like a 3 share in the demo.
Julia, I have never seen NBC acknowledge failure. I’ve seen that industry insiders consider them a failure, with very much validity to that point. What NBC is doing, IMHO, is attempting to achieve success despite low Nielsen ratings, rather than defining success by Nielsen ratings.
Desperation? Perhaps. But they’re not desperate for higher ratings. They’re desperate for profit. Mikey’s post above put it very succinctly – “most efficient” rather than “highest rated.”
As long as enough advertisers pay enough money to turn a profit, then NBC is not really a failure. They’re only a failure if advertisers stop buying. From the Variety article – they advertisers have stopped buying on every network, not just NBC.
Hopefully Chuck will stick around. Even with giving 5 hours to Leno, they don’t exactly have a huge list of shows to fill the rest of the schedule. And they haven’t been doing too well with new shows either. They’d be better off keeping existing shows that are getting alright ratings, if not great.
Dumb NBC. They should’ve droped the 8/7 hour.
DWTS, House, NCIS, Survivor, HIMYM/BBT, and in few months AI and Lost are some of the shows who slaughter NBC’s every week.
Joe, I would also include ‘The Biggest Loser’ on NBC lineup for next Fall, which gets similar numbers as Heroes.
Chuck – 1 hour
Heroes – 1 hour
Office – 30 mins
30 Rock – 30 mins
Earl – 30 mins
Law & Order: SVU – 1 hour
Biggest Loser – 2 hour
Thus leaving 11.5 hours
If NBC does not pick up Chuck, does anybody see maybe CW picking it up. Chuck is produced by Warner Bros. Studios and they own half of CW.
One question…Will this be live EVERY weeknight or will they also show reruns? Guest hosts? Myself, I like the idea.
Why does everyone keep putting Chuck in their predicted lineups? That show’s treading water under this new format and we still don’t know just how many viewers will be around by the spring when Heroes keeps turning away people in droves…
They should do it like Fox in its early days: Just air shows on weekends…
What will NBC do if Leno fails in Primetime. I can not see Leno beating CSI Miami, et. al. Leno is great, and glad to see he is sticking around. Too bad its at NBC. Leno and ABC/Disney would have been a better fit. The Leno-less Tonight Show with Conan OBrien will fail because he is not as personable and fun to watch as Leno. The clear winner in this is ABC News Nightline.
What happens when Leno’s second half hour loses viewers, and cannot provide a strong lead in for local news? NBC is grasping at straws with this move. But then again, they made their own mess giving the Tonight Show away to Conan OBrien.
Intersting move. This will be a big time pass/fail situation. Either this will work very well (thanks to low cost per hour), or people will get massive Leno fatigue and turn it into one of the biggest disasters in television history (seriously, two million or fewer viewers total after a year seems very possible).
To be quite honest, I have no idea which it will be. I lean toward disaster, but considering the pablum people make into Top Ten shows these days, it may work out for them. As pointed out, he only needs a 2.5 to 3.0 demo to make this very successful, based on cost per hour. Of course, the last people Leno appeals to are the 18-34 crowd. I just can’t imagine many of them will watch.
No matter what, however, this will boost ABC and CBS through the roof at 10 pm, which is very good news for viewers such as us. Now the chances are better for success from some of these 10 pm shows that have been getting cancelled by the bucketload. Perhaps ABC and CBS will use this opportunity to try some interesting stuff at that hour, rather than just more soaps and/or procedurals.
On the whole, however, the biggest thing I take from this is that Ben Silverman is an abject failure. With a massively successful Olympics to promote his fall schedule, Silverman has produced zero hits and presided over the demise of the few hot shows he did have. He mis-programmed both Chuck and MOWE into near-oblivion and oblivion, respectively, and he has sat by idly while Tim Kring has run Heroes into the ground. He also used his honeymoon year to put absolute crap like Knight Rider and Kath and Kim on the air, neither of which had any chance of being a big hit, while he cancelled ER, a show that is far and away one of the most successful still on NBC’s airwaves. And now his boss has had to eliminate the ten o’clock hour in favor of a low rent talk show that has the potential to be mildly profitable but no chance to be a huge success, while sacrificing their ability to ever program another E.R. now that they have no 10 pm slot to place it into.
That’s the oddest part of the Leno announcement. While it might be successful on its own terms, it has zero chance to be the type of monster smash that NBC desperately needs to pull themselves back to respectibility.
Still, if it works out, and if NBC could ever find something that would let them dominate a night or two again, it could work for them. I doubt it will, but it could. Either way, however, Silverman has to be history. Keeping him would be tantamount to admitting you just don’t care anymore.
They are just lucky that John McCain pulled one of the biggest political blunders in history, which helped prop up two different shows. Think about that, sportsfans. John McCain has done more to help NBC than Ben Silverman.
Not bad of move, I think its a good refresh for NBC.
Why not try it out, you never work..Who wants to be a millionair did a weekly shows and revived ABC…
9:00 is the new 10:00, boosting ratings for the dramas normally on at ten (ie.L&O) and the first 8:00hour will vary.
Monday: Heroes and new drama
Tuesday: ?, L&O SVU
Wednesday:?, L&O
Thursday: 4 Comedies
Friday: Medium and ??
Sunday (post football): throw in a midseason dramas,comedies.
Man, itll work
You guys are making a fuss over nothing.
change is what the networks need
Max,
I don’t think it will work. Leno will go against some of CBS big shows. I don’t think Leno will beat CSI:Miami, CSI:NY, Without a Trace, Private Pratice, Numbe3s even 11th hour would do good against Leno.
Then you will have shows like L&O:SUV and L&O that will go against The Mentalist on Monday and Criminal Minds and Lost on Wednesday or CSI and Grey on Thursday, they can try for Sunday but that is where we will find Cold Case and DH. So what is left for NBC Friday and Saturday nights. Not a lot of choices.
What NBC should have done was to fire both Zucker and Silverman, hire someone that will give the audience what it does want like CBS did with The Mentalist.
The Mentalist is a huge success for CBS because CBS gave its audience what it wanted, some may not like The Mentalist (I don’t like it) but it is a success.
Instead of trying to get the next big hit NBC is going for cheap, easy solution that may work in the short run but not in the long run. I see this move as working maybe a month or two but not a season. Plus the real loser in this apart from the viewers who like scripted shows, is Conan O’Brien. After an hour of Leno, who I am sure most guests will want to appear on his show since he will be in primetime, who will want to stay up, wait for the news so they can watch Conan? Not me unless he’s got guests that I really want to see.
oups that should have read ” don’t think it will work. Leno will go against some of CBS and ABC big shows”
I would just like to point out that CBS aired Big Brother in 2000 six nights a week and NBC is not the first to offer the same show in prime time five nights a week.
I think this is a bad move born of desperation and failure. HOWEVER, I do think it is much better than turning that extra hour over to the affiliates. Doing that would be very final. Once the affiliates took over, NBC would never get that hour back (kind of like FOX). At least this way NBC retains ownership of the 10:00 hour, so this could work as a short term solution, giving them something to air while they revamp their development department and try to get some shows that people will actually watch.
Saturday night used to feature some of the top-rated shows on television: Mary Tyler Moore, All in the Family, Carol Burnett, Bob Newhart. Now the networks have given up on Saturday night. So, if it’s expendible, why not try the risky. What about faux-news like Jon Stewart and Colbert. Second City stuff. British programs in the original language. What about Keith Olbermann and/or Rachel Maddow with a That Was The Week That Was format?
You don’t need huge ratings to be a hit on Saturday night. You need to be exciting. Don’t bury the audience before its dead. Is Cops the most entertaining program we can come up with on Saturday? CBS has Craig Ferguson who is one of the best talk show hosts on any network. Why not give him an hour or two on Saturday night? Who knows what might develop?
Leno won’t be the last talk show to make it to primetime. This is just the beginning. Over 50 years ago, Pat Weaver saved network radio with an audacious experiment called Monitor, 40 hours a weekend, a show that broke the rules, a show that had no format. It lasted 20 years. He joked that it was a “kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria,” news, comedy, music, all together in one program. Network television needs its own kaleidoscopic phantasmagorias.
This will fail miserably and then the network will have to come up with five shows to replace the five hours of Leno.
I don’t understad why NBC would’nt be able to get the hour back from the affiliates?
If they will not want to give it back just steal CW, Univision and My Network TV affiliates. A station would want to be affiliated with a network who will bring them more money.
Chuck would actually pair nicely with Reaper on CW if NBC did not want to pick it up for next season.
As for the claims that Chuck is treading water, it is the only show to increase its viewship from the start of the year to date for NBC — up a total of one million with a peak up of 1.25 million. It comes just shy of 7 million this week and it holds its demo week-in, week-out. In the new world order of NBC, that is a success.
The following shows should be retired:
Earl — has gone one season too far — the tornado episode this year was a train wreck. Jason Lee is phoning it in too.
L&O — time to bury the old dog, she just won’t hunt no more.
Knight Rider — honestly, I think we can all agree on this one.
Life — I love it, I really do, but its demo numbers are not good at all.
K&K — the single worst comedy in the last 5 years to air on TV, in my opinion.
Shows already retiring or retired:
ER — going out properly and with some dignity. A procedural never gets that.
My Own Worst Enemy — good concept; bad execution.
Lipstick Jungle — unappealling then, unappealing now.
Deal or No Deal — when it came back as a special; nowhere near what it once was.
Shows to be modified or used differently:
Biggest Loser — cut it to one hour; use two hour special for opener and closer. Move to Sunday opposite Extreme Home Makeover at 8pm after football in winter.
Medium — keep as mid-season show with 13 show run — Sundays after Biggest Loser.
Just my thoughts, but if NBC really is going to cut and run. I’d:
1) Try to program a real Friday, like CBS — target an audience and get it — if that means Biggest Loser and some other reality show great. I won’t watch, but I know my mom and sister-in-laws will.
2) Plan a real Sunday for after football — men watch football; target men with something-like Chuck, Kings, Burn Notice, etc. and advertise the hell out of it during football season. Again, target an audience and go out and get it.
3) Put your stars on Leno at 10pm; Put your stars in the hosting role of SNL.
Wow that was fun to get out.
LouisC, I think you have a good idea about going with some of the British panel type comedy/news shows. I mean, we’re already stealing every slightly successful scripted show from BBC, might as well take the successful cheap shows as well. (Personally, I’d like to see Have I Got News For You.)
so when r they going to replace o’lberman on msnbc when LENO kicks his – - – ???
What a move. If it works – and i’ll let the numbers gurus define the parameters of success – somebody at NBC is a genius. If not … I haven’t watched Leno or any of them since 1993, but my gut likes this move, and Leno is bulletproof regarding kibitzers. He’s at the point now I don’t think he even hears the critics, which us a good thing for a seasoned performer. Good luck, Jay Leno. More power to you.
Why doesn’t NBC try something so old it would seem new: program Saturday night. I grew up with CBS’s Saturday night block. I actually watched most of it before I went out at night when I was a kid. Give me Law and Order and something compatible or some reasonably adult comedies(again, the old CBS block) and I’ll watch.
Keith, why would a show on a broadcast network beating a show on a cable net be big news?
Law & Order was NBC’s 2nd highest rated show,Dec 1-7, just behind Sunday Football and 1 Million more than L&O SVU.
It was also one of NBC’s two shows in the top twenty at number 17.
Canceling Law & Order would be big mistake for NBC.
Hell, it even beat it’s lead in, Life, by 3 Million!
Mrs. O’Leary: L&O only did that well last week because CSI: NY wasn’t on. When it is, L&O gets 7 million and a 2.2 in the demo.
Precisely Holly…..precisely. If you are going blow the ship up, blow the ship up. L&O has to go!!! Hey Hey Ho Ho!!!
I do not agree with NBCs plan to put Leno on 5 days a week but I do like that they are willing to try something diffrent. I just wish it was with someone who appeals to a younger demo. Leno needed to go away gracefully.
David- “The Leno-less Tonight Show with Conan OBrien will fail because he is not as personable and fun to watch as Leno.”
Conan appeals to a younger crowd. No one at my university ever comes to class talking about something that Leno did but they do talk about how funny Conan was.
More great knowledge from the Times:
“No broadcast network has ever before offered the same show in prime time five nights a week.”
Warren Littlefield would beg to differ, since his solution to all of NBC’s problems was 5 editions of “Dateline” a week. (That and 20 “upscale” multi-cam sitcoms set in New York City with sassy white chicks working for newspapers, magazines, tabloids, promotions agencies and/or lingerie companies.)
Not to mention that DuMont had a 5-night-a-week prime time show all the way back in 1947, with the kiddie program, “Small Fry Club.” CBS followed with “Face the Music” in 1948.
Conan is by far better than Leno. Leno just isn’t funny. People write his entire show. Atleast Conan has alot of input with his. NBC didn’t want to let Leno out because of a competition to there Late Night series. Not to mention it was a 20 million payout to Conan if they cancelled his contract.
How screwed will NBC be if this dosen’t work out?
Good comments from Les Moonves: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6621431.html
Nice to see that somebody out there still believes in the traditional model.
If Kings, the philanthropist, and the amy poehler show work, this could be an interesting lineup.
Mon:
Heroes
Kings
Tue:
The Biggest Loser
The Biggest Loser
Wed:
The Philanthropist
Law & Order: SVU
Thu:
My Name Is Earl
Amy Poehler
The Office
30 Rock
Fri:
Chuck
Law & Order
They could save Dateline, The Apprentice, and new shows for Midseason once football is over. A whole bunch of new shows in the fall would be too big a risk considering that leno’s performance is still a question mark.
The best thing about this is that Friday doesn’t have to be a throwaway night anymore. They have enough programming now to at least *try* on Fridays.
I think this spells the end for
Knight Rider
Kath & Kim
Friday Night Lights
Deal Or No Deal (now that they have enough to air on Fridays, even NBC doesn’t have to settle for 5 mil and a 1.3 in the demo)
I also seriously doubt that Howie Do It, Momma’s Boys, or Superstars of Dance will do well enough for a return. Much less a fall berth… if they do well enough they can be filler for repeating shows or midseason replacements.
I agree with Holly. I think this will work well enough while NBC develops some new shows. I don’t think it will last beyond the 2009-2010 season, I don’t think it will have to. This is actually a pretty clever move.
NBC was going to have to cancel more shows then it had new ones in production. If Kings, Merlin, and the Philanthopist all fail, they’ll be even happier with this. I’m not saying they will. Plus Medium is pretty much on the bubble and likely to be ended. If all this happens, they’res no way NBC could fill all it’s time. Eliminating the 10:00 hour on weeknights makes it possible.
@ RR Ryan
They already tried programming Friday and that didn’t work out so well.
NBC – THE NEW CW – ENJOY EACH OTHER…