While Conan O’brien’s debut as host of The Tonight Show last week went about as expected — a good start with consecutive declines, a new week brings new headlines. In the metered market household rating numbers for Monday night, only a tenth of a ratings point separated The Late Show (3.0) from The Tonight Show (3.1).
Howard Stern fans will likely ascribe Dave catching up to Stern’s popularity rather than any success on Dave’s part (other than having him on) or failure on Conan’s part.
I am expecting massive amounts of speculation, and that the “Will NBC pull Jay Leno from prime-time and put him back at 11:30pm?” speculation will commence even before Leno has hosted his first show in prime-time in September.
While I’d say there’s no chance Leno won’t be hosting his new show in prime-time come September, let the speculation begin!
Sorry, because of the problems moderating comments on these Conan/Dave posts, commenting is now turned off.
Well one day does not make a trend, but a 3.0 is pretty atypical for Late Night anyways…we’ll see what happens though!
Letterman hosts “The Late SHOW”, not “Late NIGHT”. Geez.
Conan is not entertaining. He treats the show as if it is still on at 12:35 and it still feels like the B show. I don’t find Dave entertaining either, i wish he would retire and Craig Ferguson would take over. Craig is great.
Dave’s fixing his teeth? i hate his gap
Conan is great. CBS wins in everything else, let us NBC fans have a good late night rating streak!
Dave should close the gap between his teeth first.
Let’s see what happens tomorrow, could be an outliner. Howard Stern was on Letterman, plus Colbert had his first show from Iraq; he shares a similar young audience as Conan.
Although Conan will have a tough week ahead of him. Letterman’s line-up more or less beats Conan’s every night. It looks like Letterman surrendered the first week to Conan voluntarily, and now he is making his big push.
@Spungo, I’m still stuck in 1983. Sorry
I agree that Colbert having his show in Iraq hurt Conan. We’re going to see that throughout the Conan era. Whenever Colbert has high-profile shows, it will hurt Conan much more than he hurt Leno because of the similar audience they share. I haven’t watched Colbert in months, but I decided to choose him last night over Conan from 11:30-12 because I knew he was going to have (SPOILER ALERT) his hair shaved off on Obama’s orders.
Watched Colbert and then switched to Letterman. Letterman always brings out the best in Howard Stern. Stern kept saying that he was told he had to beat Conan for Dave. Maybe Dave should make Howard Stern a regular guest.
Conan really only has himself to blame- last week’s shows were horrible and the attempt on Friday to copy what Jay did the week before was awful.
I agree with mark, conan’s show has a 12 30 feel to it and I like conan. It feels low budget, almost amateur,just a bunch of writers hanging out trying to be funny, which was cool at 12 30, and is cool on cable, but doesn’t work for an 11 30 broadcast. Its a fish out of water.
The tonight show will probably never be what it was in the day of Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson. They were geniuses and we will probably not see anyone of their caliber again. Jay is not in their class but he is good. Conan is irritating, obnoxious, boring and embarrassing.
Oh wow, Letterman DIDN’T win? That bodes really poorly for him, I thought for sure Howard Stern being his guest would boost him past Conan for at least the night. I’m not entirely sure he’ll actually be able to beat Conan at this rate. As Stern pointed out on his own show, he was supposed to be Letterman’s Hugh Grant.
As for Colbert in Iraq, I think it only hurt Conan a little bit more than Letterman. Colbert’s been a frequent guest on both shows and both shows do pretty well with the young crowd. Honestly, Colbert’s not going to really tip the scales too strongly one way or the other in this battle. Now when Letterman was up against Leno, he may have been hurting Letterman a bit (only a bit though), since he and Leno had totally different crowds.
Conan is a hopelessly underpowered, unlikable clown who’s wit is consistently upstaged by his haircut. He is the middle aged incarnation of that loud-mouthed ignoramus that used to sit behind you in junior high that either told the same joke day after day or burped and then went giddy enjoying his own wit. He is uniformly awful and unfunny.
Conan is to late night what Couric is to the evening news: ego slowly drowning in incompetence.
but you have to remember that with NBC mantaning the “coveted” lol 4th place. NBC is experimenting online. According to NBC Conan is getting lots of views online via HULU and NBC.COM so if Conan holds his own and does well online NBC will be Happy
Cody, not sure where you’re hearing ” if Conan holds his own and does well online NBC will be Happy”, but online viewing isn’t likely to make NBC happy in the absence of TV viewing.
thats my speculations, their experimenting on how they can make money online so if Conan’s a hit and at least makes some money online i think NBC will be happy.
Dave is the King of Late Night. He already was — ratings aren’t the only thing to determine that. CBS wants to extend his contract until 2012 — I hope he stays until they have to carry him out feet first. Dave rules.
I’m not shocked about last night’s low numbers. I watched it, and David Duchovney’s interview was remarkably awkward. I felt VERY uncomfortable watching it, and David’s jokes fell flat. Even the audience didn’t respond to him. I’m actually shocked more people didn’t change the channel.
I love these people who say Conan sucks just cuz they don’t like him. I didn’t like Jay Leno (not personally, I just didn’t think he was funny) but I don’t think he sucks. I know some people liked him.
For me, I’ll be happy if Jimmy Fallon can hit his stride and start being funny, it’d be great to have 4 awesome late night shows.
Uhmm. How did Jimmy Kimmel do for the same time period?
Anyone think that it’s odd that there are appx. 2 million viewers missing?
There should have been a bump somewhere.
Intern Jack, those are Household Ratings, not millions of viewers. Kimmel had a 1.1 HH rating.
sad thing is only night six
That’s sad. Letterman’s so lame he couldn’t even beat Conan with Howard Stern. Letterman’s lame.
CATHI – HOWARD BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN DAVE HOWAR HAS TURNED DOWN LETTERMNA NUMEROUS TIMES BUT AFTER A YEAR AND A HALF HE DECIDED TO GO ON LETTERMAN
AND A 3.0 IS HORRIBLE FOR ANY LATE NIGHT HOST DO YOU KNOW WHEN HOWARD STERN WAS ON K ROCK IN NEW YORK HE DREW AN 18 SHARE IN CERTAIN DEMOGRAPHICS
LET’S HOPE HOWARD RESIGNS WIUTH SIRIUS BECAUSE HE IS THE ONLY ENTERTAINING THING ON RADIO & TELEVISION AS FAR AS TALK SHOWS GO
Jay really pushed the limits for an 11:30 show the past few years. I love Leno, but had to turn him off or tape and fast forward quite often. Viewers of the Conan show were probably surprised that the humor could get worse and decided Dave was more their style…only problem is, Dave seems to be trying to copy Leno and stoop down a level on the crude meter, as well as an intellectual level. Dave needs to stay true to who he is and leave the tacky stuff aside. His viewers have always been more ‘dry wit’ and less ’slap stick’. After the curiosity has passed, Conan will revert to his usual audience plus a few, and Dave will gain a few. Dave will lead in the ratings and Conan will be consistently a close second. Watercooler talk will be about what was on Letterman.
“Watercooler talk will be about Letterman” haha.
Please. Letterman is old news. He hasn’t been watercooler talk for nearly 10 years. Conan’s humor appeals to younger, non-wussy viewers who don’t balk when he does something silly or risque because they don’t take themselves as seriously as the old fuddy duddy’s that watched Leno and watch Letterman. The new king has arrived, deal with it.
You know that it took Leno 2 years to catch up with Letterman.
Like Ohiogirl said, Dave will move in to first place with Conan as a close 2nd, but with more 18-49 ratings.
I agree with Yomoni. Anyone who would prefer Leno over Conan really hasn’t progressed their sense of humor past knock knock jokes. Leno was consistently full of stale and unfunny jokes. Conan plays to a younger crowd who aren’t afraid to think outside the box and offers jokes that aren’t formulaic one liners. I think Dave is great, and always watched him over Leno, but Conan is even better.
Someone earlier made a good point that Letterman typically receives around a 3.0 rating anyway. Conan is in trouble. This much hyped “TV EVENT” should have at least lasted a month before the #’s dropped like they have.
I doubt NBC would seriously consider dropping Conan though for Leno (even if Leno’s primetime show flops).
Either way, if both are a failure the only one left smiling will be Dave and CBS.
Again, why hasn’t Zucker been axed already!?!
I think Conan will be fine, his ratings will level off and if he can create some buzz with some knockout interviews and monologues he’ll see increases. I think Leno has a lot more to worry about, I think he may start huge and sink like the Titanic within the first month. NBC is already having a hard time getting advertisers to pay primetime ad rates for Leno now. So if Leno doesn’t pull over a 1.5 in the demo he’s doomed. ABC and CBS will reap the benefits and ABC may actually end up with a new show that makes it. The low cost of Leno is the only upside that I see for NBC but if they can’t get advertisers to buy ads does it really matter how cheap Leno will be for them?
Conan will be okay in the long run but I think his set is too wide and makes the show not seem cozy enough. Also that terribly ugly backdrop he does his monologue in front of isn’t doing him any favors.
LOL @ Chris
I’m sorry. I’m a (semi) fan of Conan, but please, don’t say stupid stuff by implying that Conan is more “sophisticated” than Leno. There’s been no thinking “outside the box” for any of Conan’s skits/monologue since he started last week…unless you DO find his material as smart and witty – then I feel sorry for you.
Letterman is so bad that Nightline has equaled him in the ratings. Letterman’s top out. Cher was right, he’s a butthole.
Letterman’s humor is ok – if you’re 65 and on viarga.
i cry when i see david letterman on tv. its like a train wreck.
When can we expect yesterday’s numbers? Will be interesting.
The one who I feel sorry for is Anonymous. Who, as a (semi) fan of Conan, obviously doesn’t have much of a sense of humour himself. To say you feel sorry for somebody because they think Conan is smart and witty is just a weird thing to say. Why do you feel sorry for them? If you haven’t been paying attention, Conan is a very smart individual, who gives amazing interviews and is truly liked by so many of his guests because he’s so funny. And why come on here using an Anonymous name? Ashamed to type in your own name? Man that’s something to feel sorry for you for. That’s just pathetic.
LMAO no offense, but you’re an idiot Joey. OK, my real name is Doug. Or Ryan. Or Linda. What does using my REAL name have anything to do with my comments?
And as for the comment itself, yes I DO feel sorry for “Chris” who first bashes Leno’s humour, and then says that Conan isn’t afraid to think “outside the box”. You and him are both trying to find excuses for why Conan isn’t doing as great as expected (i.e. his humour is too “smart” for Jay’s old audience) — I mean, I get that you guys are fans, but really, get a grip.
Linda, I know your name doesn’t have anything to do with the content of your comments, but I just think it’s weird to type Anonymous as your name. Obviously you didn’t write your real name in the NAME field for a reason. Just sayin’.
Either way, I am a fan of both Jay and Conan. But I certainly don’t feel sorry for anybody who prefers one late night host over the other. And I’m not trying to find any excuses for his performance. I don’t need to. I enjoy his comedy, he’s got the gig, he’s not going anywhere, so I’m good.
And what’s with the name calling? Somebody’s got anger issues. You call me an idiot when you don’t even know me. Whereas I know for a fact that yes, you are pathetic. Sorry.
LMAO ookkkk – you “know” for a fact that i’m an idiot, even though I don’t “know” you, so therefore I can’t call YOU an idiot.
Hmm…is this that “out of the box” thinking all you Conan fans are raving about?
Anyways, enough with this anyways. I’m sure you’re too busy sobbing over the fact Letterman actually BEAT your precious Conan last night…
I don’t think Conan takes the job seriously. I think the tonight show should be funny but with class. He is too sophomoric for me.