Categorized | Cable TV

Updated: Drama at MTV’s 2009 Video Music Awards; will it be good for ratings The Jay Leno Show ?

Posted on 13 September 2009 by Robert Seidman

Apparently by focusing on NFL, True Blood and Mad Men, I missed the night’s biggest drama, provided courtesy of MTV’s Video Music Awards.  From THR:

hr/photos/stylus/105467-west_swift_vmas_341.jpg
Kanye West, left, and Taylor Swift (Getty)

NEW YORK — The MTV Video Music Awards suffered a bout of controversy Sunday night as Kanye West was booed after getting up on the stage in an apparently unscripted stunt and interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech.

Swift had just received the award for best female video, beating out favorites Beyonce Knowles and Lady Gaga.

As Swift thanked the crowd and her fans, West got onto the stage and implied Knowles should have won, saying she had one of the best videos.

more on THR

Though unless this prompted a lot of phone calls and texts with “OMG, turn on MTV NOW!”  it probably didn’t help Sunday night’s numbers much.  But it certainly has  a lot of people talking about the VMAs, and as distasteful as the shenanigans were, that’s probably good news for MTV.

Update: NO, everything doesn’t have to be about The Jay Leno Show.  Not even today.  But, I had completely forgotten that Kanye was appearing on the premiere of The Jay Leno Show tonight (Monday) until Forg bought it up in the comments below.      Assuming Kanye shows up, that can’t be bad for Leno, can it?

Here is the program listing blurb for Monday’s Jay Leno Show from NBC:

THE JAY LENO SHOW PREMIERES WITH GUESTS JERRY SEINFELD, A PERFORMANCE BY JAY Z FEATURING RIHANNA AND KANYE WEST AND HEADLINES — Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is the first guest on the new prime time comedy show hosted by Jay Leno and Jay-Z featuring Kanye West and Rihanna will be the first performers to rock the new stage. The episode will also feature headlines. Marking a new era in television, Jay Leno moves from late night to primetime on September 14 when “The Jay Leno Show” becomes the first-ever entertainment program to be stripped across primetime on broadcast network television. “The Jay Leno Show” promises more comedy in the 10 o’clock hour and will showcase many of the features that have made Leno America’s late-night leader for more than a dozen years.

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  • daniel L
    kanye is such a retard
  • forg
    Here is an interesting article on TIME with regards to the Kanye West drama effect on Leno

    http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2009/09/14/americ...
    Here's an excerpt:

    "Tonight the very first Jay Leno Show airs. The very first musical guests are Jay-Z, Rihanna and... Kanye West. As scholars of pop culture—and pretty much everybody else—know, Leno turned his ratings around at The Tonight Show around the time he interviewed Hugh Grant after Grant's prostitution scandal.

    Some would argue that Leno's ratings really got better because NBC had debuted the blockbuster ER, among other primetime successes, but let's not let numbers get in the way of a convenient theory. In the popular retelling at least, Leno asked Grant the immortal question "What the hell were you thinking?," catharsis was achieved, and Leno never looked back.

    Without a doubt producers are convening at Jay Leno headquarters, trying to figure out how to come up with a way to ask "What the hell were you thinking?" for a new generation. And NBC must be thanking God for giving them evidence of their argument that The Jay Leno Show will be a hit because it can comment on watercooler topics. (I'd suggest they planned the whole thing with Kanye, but that would be too savvy a conspiracy to credit NBC with.)

    The one problem, of course, is that Grant came along when Leno desperately needed a boost. With a massive amount of publicity, he was bound to get a big tune-in tonight regardless. What about later, when and if he really needs it? Well, it doesn't look like he'll have any shortage of subjects. Hell, just this week he could book 3/5 of his schedule with contrition appearances for West, Williams and Wilson, if they were willing."
  • RJ
    I just watched both videos, and Taylor's and Beyonce's were both good. Nothing spectacular, but Taylor's was better.
  • Frank
    To borrow an expression, Kanye West is stuck on stupid. Crashing awards shows is part of his tired, alcohol-fueled schtick and he clearly needs to change his medication. The real question is how will The View's ratings be on Tuesday with Taylor as the guest?
  • Bruce, I just put up a "guess the ratings" post...

    http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/09/14/your-predi...
  • RJ
    Can you say racist? Kayne was way out of line.
  • Bruce
    Is there going to be a "guess the rating" post for tonight's premiere of the Jay Leno Show?

    Usually, those posts aren't very intriguing because most people here are good at ballparking the numbers for premieres and finales since they follow the shows regularly and have a good grasp of how many people shows usually pull in.

    In this case, I'd be quite interested to read people's predictions because this is a very unique premiere with no ratings precedent to base one's numbers on. There should be a wider range of guesses for a premiere like this.
  • Gypsy898
    There are rumblings about people boycotting the Jay Leno show because Kanye will be there. I guess if the ratings are low for the premiere they could always blame it on that.
  • Visan
    Kudos to Beyonce! Soooo much class!
  • Junior G.
    Aw man Robert, you should've been there when it was live, I was literally screaming at my TV, and I still am right now at Kanye!
  • K.H.
    Of course that "incident" was staged! This is MTV! They are known for pulling stunts like this. I'm just surprised that so many people fell for the okie doke!

    In terms of the performance tonight, of course he will be there. Jay Leno and NBC couldn't have dreamed of a better scenario. Controversy sells and this is the hottest story in the country, esp for the 18-49 demo that advertisers drool over.

    I predict that ratings will be higher than anticipated for the fist episode.
  • David
    It is POSSIBLE that Swift was not in on it initially but I doubt it. They do storylines like this at that awards show every year. Last year didn't that Borat guy molest Eminem?
  • Scotty
    David wrote: "That was not 'real' it was clearly pre-planned acting."

    Clearly, yes, it was planned, because Taylor Swift was in another expensive gown, waiting in the wings, came out on queue, etc., but I submit that the planning took place only AFTER West interrupted Swift's initial acceptance speech. Whether Beyonce knew she was going to win or not, I don't know, but they could still have prepared for that possible outcome. Clearly, a lot went on behind the scenes, but that doesn't make it any less "real."

    Based on Swift's bewildered expression as West took the stage (and mic) from her, I certainly don't think THAT was planned at all.
  • David
    That was not "real" it was clearly pre-planned acting.
  • HogWash
    I just have to give props to Beyonce. What an amazing thing to do to give Taylor her due since it was ripped away from her. Total class act and I will always remember her and respect her for that.
  • Scotty
    West is consistently disrespectful and dishonorable. The redemptive part of the evening occurred when Beyonce, after winning the best video award, I believe, inviting Swift back out onstage to "have her moment." Beyonce understands class, a concept West probably will never master, or perhaps even comprehend. As for Leno's ratings, I plan to watch the show, out of curiosity, but I won't watch Kanye West. As for Leno failing, as some speculate, I don't think he will, but even if he does, IMHO it will not turn the tide of scripted hour-long dramas moving away from broadcast and on to cable. I think it's already a "done deal," regardless of Leno's success or failure.
  • This was either quite a fortunate coincidence for Leno, or a clever conspiracy!
  • Kermonk
    I don't think I've seen the videos, but that behavior was totally wrong. Just look at Taylor Swift, standing here looking happy and then this jerk muscles in and essentially says 'you video was crap'. Really noble dude.

    And Robert what's with the defensive "all doesn't have to be about Leno" tone, its your website - you decide. Besides there hasn't been that much about Leno. Its only natural to cover things which are current.
  • Doug
    So, Kayne's on Jay for the premiere? How much did NBC pay Kayne to go up on stage at the VMAs?
  • Julia, I think MTV also wants people to watch/embed the clip (as I have now done above) from MTV.com, instead of YouTube so they can sell the ads in it.

    Though I'm not sure what the incident means for the ratings, I'm sure it is a big deal in terms of viral videos. Just the version I embeded above (which they sell ads for) had been viewed over 800,000 times already when I snagged it at 12:45am. Edit: Brian Stelter has a post about Viacom wanting you to only be able to watch it on MTV or on MTV's web site:

    http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/1...
  • forg
    Now I'm really curious if Kanye West will show up on Jay Leno. My guess is not since the song they will be performing is Jay-Z's song anyway and him and Rihanna are just featured artists and his part is dispensable. Plus, Kanye sort of embarrassed Jay-Z's wife Beyonce too with his VMAs shtick so I'm guessing Jay-Z won't want to be associated with that guy right now.

    But nevertheless the controversy will be good "material" for the Jay Leno show.
  • tdot
    kanye was a douche. taylor swift is so pleasant and lovely.
  • I'm sure it will, but Viacom is good about taking stuff down from YouTube. I'm sure that tonight they are particularly diligent since they want people to watch the repeat.
  • forg
    It will return ;)
  • The scene was pulled from YouTube by Viacom by the time I checked at about 11:30 PST.
  • forg
    Kanye was really rude. Anyway, I don't think it will help that much because minutes after the incident, the scene already popped in YouTube.

    On another note, Kanye West (along with Rihanna and Jay Z) will perform on the first night of Jay Leno Show right? Now I wonder if he will show up given the hate he is receiving right now. And well, in a way, this is another buzz for the Jay Leno show
  • I think it may help the rerun right after a little bit. Taylor Swift and Kanye are trending topics on Twitter for what it's worth (not much).
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