| Scoreboard |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating: Adults 18-49 | 3.9/10 | 1.8/5 | 1.8/5 | 1.5/4 | 1.5/4 | 1.3/3 |
| Rating: Adults 18-34 | 3.0/8 | 1.4/4 | 1.4/4 | 1.5/4 | 1.2/3 | 1.9/5 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 15.11 | 5.86 | 4.95 | 3.65 | 5.01 | 2.56 |
“It’s great to launch this innovative new show with such strong initial sampling, but we realize this is just one night and that we’re going to build our business in this time period with ratings that will level out over time. Our focus is on delivering a great show and developing a consistent comedy viewing habit at 10 p.m. over the long haul.” Quote from Jeff Gaspin, Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment.
Update: in the final numbers, average viewers rose to 18.42 million and a 5.3 adults 18-49 rating.
The Jay Leno Show premiered to 17.7 million and averaged a 5.1/13 (rating/share) with adults 18-49…
Though I would prefer quarter hour data, half hour data will have to do. While there was some erosion with total viewers from the first half hour to the next, both the adults 18-49 rating and adults 18-34 ratings grew from the first half hour to the next.
(18-49 rating/share),(18-34/rating share),(viewers P2+) by half hour
10P 5.0/12, 3.7/10, 18.094M
10:30P 5.2/14, 4.3/13 17.22
Meanwhile on the CW season premieres of One Tree Hill (1.2/3, 1.6/5, 2.59M) and Gossip Girl (1.4/3, 2.1/5, 2.52M) were practically muted compared to The Vampire Diaries. Though Gossip Girl probably had a strong outing with women 18-34 (haven’t seen those numbers yet).
(update from the CW: we already knew CW still was second for the night, but here are some blurbs from what will be released later in a press release:
Kicking off its 3rd season, GOSSIP GIRL delivered strong demos in its new 9pm time period, matched its year ago second season premiere with women 18-34 (3.3/8). GOSSIP GIRL improved considerably from where it ended last season, building 27% in women 18-34 and 33% in adults 18-34 versus its May average.
Gossip Girl scored its best women 18-34 (3.3/8), adults 18-34 (1.6/5) and women 18-49 (2.1/5) since Dec 2008. GOSSIP GIRL also posted its largest audience (2.5mil) since Jan 2009.
Competitively, GOSSIP GIRL won the 9pm time period among women 18-34 and women 12-34 (3.0/8). GOSSIP GIRL also ranked second in the hour among adults 18-34 (2.0/5)
Earlier in the night on NBC, the two hour final performance show of America’s Got Talent averaged a 3.3/9 (rating/share) with adults 18-49 and 13.84M between 8pm and 10pm. For those wondering how the half hour leading into Leno looked, AGT averaged a 3.8/9 with adults 18-49 and 15.22M viewers between 9:30p-10pm.
ABC ran a repeat the broadcast premiere of the 2006 movie Dreamgirls from 8p-11p which averaged a 1.5/4 and 5.01M viewers. The big action for the Mouse last night was on its cable sister ESPN with two installments of Monday night football, and particularly the 8pm-10:12p portion of the first game probably had very good numbers. I’m sure we’ll see reports from ESPN later in the day and post those #s separately (update: here they are).
Due to US Open Tennis overrun, CBS #s are subject to a lot more preliminary than normal and should probably be ignored completely. The tennis ran over by 43 minutes, so the first .75 hours of the HIMYM details here are really Tennis coverage and the last 43 minutes of CSI Miami was pushed past 11pm and we didn’t see the numbers, But with those caveats the CBS repeats performed as follows: How I Met Your Mother (1.9/6, 6.19M), How I Met Your Mother (1.6/4, 4.73M), Two and a Half Men (1.9/5, 5.95M), The Big Bang Theory (2.1/5, 6.21M) and CSI: Miami (1.8/5, 6.03M)
Over on FOX a repeat of House averaged a 1.7/5 with adults 18-49 and 4.75M viewers at 8pm and another House repeat at 9pm averaged a 1.9/5 5.15 million viewers.
original early morning post below:
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The long wait for ratings for the premiere of The Jay Leno Show is over…well, almost. In the early metered market numbers, the premiere pulled a 12.1/19 (household rating/share) in the 56 largest Nielsen markets. That increased over the the last half hour of America’s Got Talent (8.9/13) by 36%. America’s Got Talent was in its final performance show.
It’s not possible to translate the 12.1 preliminary household rating into viewers and adults 18-49 demographic viewers precisely, but I’d guess somewhere in the 15 million viewers range overall. Of course after months of hype and promotion everyone expected the show to pull big numbers for its premiere. There is no question the numbers will go down, the question is how far?
Unfortunately I didn’t see half hourly detail for the metered market numbers to see if people were already tuning out by the second half hour, but we’ll see that with the fast nationals hopefully, by 8:30am PDT.
The rest of the night was repeats and overrun of the US Open Tennis men’s finals on CBS, and the movie Dreamgirls on ABC. CW had the season premieres of One Tree Hill (1.6/3) Gossip Girl (1.6/2). Those numbers look disappointing on the surface, especially compared to The Vampire Diaries, which pulled a 3.2/5 preliminary metered market rating last Thursday in its series premiere, but how the shows performed with young women will tell the tale. We’ll know soon enough.
I’ll update this post with the fast national data (viewers and adults 18-49 demo ratings) as soon as I see them.
You can see TV ratings from other recent Overnight ratings reports here.
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All numbers are Live+SD.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Definitions:
*Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
Wow.
Good for Jay. Those numbers aren’t sustainable, of course, but it gives him a lot of room for significant dropoff from the initial numbers while still retaining a good, solid audience.
Looks like good numbers for AGT as well. Jay was funny, Jerry was funny, and Kayne was funny! I could laugh at that ahole all day.
that’s still pretty good. but well see how he does overall since most shows were in reruns last night. making him really have no competition.
I expect to be more then 20 million viewers. Not is’t official no more scripted shows on TV They will soon replace them with reality.
The ratings here really mean nothing. It was a huge curiosity factor. Let’s see how he does the rest of this week and, of course, next week when he has real competition. Even if he is successful for the first few weeks, I don’t see it lasting. They are going to wear out his welcome having him on 5 days a week. Eventually, NBC will drop it down to 1 night a week after they milk everything out of it they can.
Pretty good! There is no way of knowing how far they will go down… but I could foresee this show drawing 8 million viewers an episode and still being considered a pretty big success.
The fast national is in. 17.7 million viewers.
Hey, good for them but let’s be real. The premiere number for a show like this is meaningless. Let’s see where they are in a month.
that is a great premiere considering it’s NBC, but yes it will be dropping. Still, this could stay on with pretty low numbers, so I think it will be on for a while, and I’m sure NBC is pretty happy with the premiere.
Jay’s audience will be much more stable than let’s say Conan’s. Now i think it will average at least 8-9 millions in a couple of months wich would be fantastic.
also, I think more people tuned in to see what Kanye West would do.
The premiere numbers are fairly meaningless. I mean, if it premiered with 5 million viewers, that would be dismal. But let’s face it, the premiere episode benefited from 1. a huge promotional push, 2. curiosity factor, 3. zero competition from the other networks, 4. Jerry Seinfeld and 5. the amazing luck at having Kanye West post-VMA.
I think you need to look at Monday’s ratings once the other networks have premiered their new eps. That will give us a more accurate picture.
Honestly, if this is a runaway hit, I weep at the demise of scripted television.
As much as I want to hate him and this move… on nights that I don’t have a 10pm drama (or South Park), i can see myself watching this show…
it was actually pretty funny.
That is great for Leno thanks to the heavy promotion and AGT lead in but it will interesting what the show will settle because it’s not going to get 17m every night with weaker lead ins and stronger competition.
This is a weird question but didn’t ABC and NBC put 20/20 and Dateline more than once a week in the past?
I think in April they will be 6M. Mark my words.
I’ve already guessed the premiere number for VD and I was right.
Of course Jay did well. He didn’t have any competition. Let’s see how he does next week when he’s against CSI.
I wasn’t Impressed. The show wasn’t that funny. The car wash bit ran too long and Jerry’s interview was too short.
those Gossip Girl numbers dont look good it was a great episode too
Scripted television is dead on network. Even if it drops to half that audience that’s still about 8 million more cheaply procured viewers than a lot of scripted shows pull in with a pricetag.
17.7 million and a 5.1/13 w/adults 18-49…
My guess of 5.2 in the demo makes me a genius!
Regardless of what people say, I don’t think scripted shows are dead, it may be cheaper to put on shows like Dateline, Jay Leno etc but they don’t repeat well or sell well if at all abroad. CBS is unlikely to start putting Letterman at 10pm because their 10pm shows are doing well and cable has started traction as well.
Just brace yourself for the NBC press release…
How many people skipped the channel when that dumb car wash skit was going on forever?
that was the lamest thing ever.
“3. zero competition from the other networks”
This is the only part of your post I disagree with. The football competition last night was considerable, especially at the top of the show.
Strong start for Leno, the Kanye West controversy did help it a lot no doubt. I wonder how it will fare tonight.
wow i thought jay leno would only make 10 milleion viewers or so. well done
how many viwers got OTH and GG ??
“Just brace yourself for the NBC press release…”
Oh god,I mean, seriously…I’m afraid.
Bryan, NBC was way ahead of the curve today getting their numbers out (understandably), our regular overnight data with all the shows has yet to arrive.
And my 14 million / 4.5 demo guess is looking practically timid!
Ryan: i agree the bigning was funny then it got to long.
Jay’s a success, welcome to the future or broadcast T.V.
“Jay’s a success, welcome to the future or broadcast T.V.”
After only one airing?
TIme,time,time…
We’ll see I guess. He’s got (at least) two big drop offs to come. Tonight when the “I’m just curious to see what it is” audience tunes out and next week when then “I’m more interested in the competition” audience takes a powder.
In the end I think “Eric(Ohio)” above has the best take. Leno’s success will be made or lost on how many strays he can collect from those not interested in watching anything else on any given night.
Wow, thats a lot more than I expected. If this many viewers continue to watch the series on a regular basis (when new programming comes into play) than the series could be a success.
When was the last time we had a regular timeslot series premiere that big (in viewers)? I can’t think of anything between now and the 2004 fall season…
Wow. Very high numbers. What about tonight? What about tomorrow? That’s the more fun aspect of this: see how steep and how quick the slide is.
Jay Leno will get dropoff from the competition, of course, but I don’t think his competition is all that hard. It really only comes from CBS throughout the week. ABC has always been weak at 10pm and Fox doesn’t even have a 10pm, so. Actually Leno has some competition tonight as it’s up against the Big Brother finale.
If Leno could hold 6 mill when the dust settles NBC would be overjoyed. As for now, this is a fantastic premiere for them, they built up tremendous curiosity and the more people that tune in the first episode, the more viewers they can afford to lose over the next couple of weeks.
And honestly, the show was pretty funny. Maybe a little familiar, but there’s some ridiculously harsh reviews going around. The show’s still pretty fun, although the format could use a little more tweaking and time allocation adjustment.
Good numbers! But as others have mentioned–not sustainable. Once CBS offers new episodes of the CSI shows, The Mentalist, etc., Leno will take a huge hit…huge. People will also check out the new shows on ABC. NBC should enjoy this week for everything that they can squeeze out of it. Next week will be back to reality.
LING LIVE JAY, LONG LIVE JAY!
I can about guarantee you that 17 million is a lot more than any new show would have gotten
Sorry anonymous, but I don’t think he’ll drop off that much. As Mumbo pointed out he has very little competition. And say he loses almost half his audience from tonight and averages only 8 or 9 million viewers, that’s still more than what NBC had before with its scripted programming. The bottom line to me, this will eventually be the future of television, little scripted shows on broadcast, more on cable.
I was .3 million viewers off! Knew Leno+Seinfeld=success
Ok. Good for Jay and maybe this signals a retro shift back to the variety hour that was common when I was growing up. We had Ed Sullivan and Carol Burnett and even Hee-Haw. My big question is how this will affect Conan every falling numbers and could moving Jay back to 11:30 ever be a possiblity.
Dreamgirls was a broadcast premiere
,not a repeat.
I think those numbers will be 6 million or under by April. And no one is going to rush to dump scripted shows. Unlike Leno, many scripted shows repeat well, sell plenty of DVDs, get sold to overseas markets, and rake in cash when syndicated. They’ll still be produced plenty.
@Lisa, a lot of the times when those shows are repeating Jay will have all-new episodes, so it’s not like Jay repeats will have to compete with “Scripted show repeats” all the time
Good for Jay, I thought the show was good and the mock interview with the President was hilarious.
As for Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill it helps put Supernatural’s 3.38 million into perspective. It may get beaten by V.D. but it’ll still beat most of the other ones.
btw, those a good repeat numbers for House.. a 1.9 is what The Mentalist is doing right know.
Yes Chrisjozo, but it had a stronger lead in. If OTH or Gossip Girl would be paired with VD, maybe they’d do better.
Also, Supernatural scores worse than both in the all important female demos.
thx for updating
and I’ll just say right now before people start speculation about the “next-show drop-off” relatively NO ONE thought he’d get as high as 17 million on any show, so he deserves this victory
I just watched The Jay Leno Show and I’ll say it definitely wasn’t the mess I thought it was gonna be by reading so many harsh reviews. It wasn’t perfect television or brilliant and hilarious comedy by any means, but it was enjoyable and I did laugh more than I thought I would. 17.7 million is a lot of viewers but there are so many factors here, the premiere show, all the hype and advertising, the Kanye West drama. I do think that the numbers will bottom out somewhere around 7m and a 3-3.3 maybe in the demo and I think NBC would be happy with that.
I really enjoyed the Leno show although it did seem to lag a little at first. I’m sure they’ll work out the kinks as the show progresses. They were very wise to bring in all the young comics to lighten Jay’s load. The ‘remote’ shots, which they will probably have a lot of, are always a crowd pleaser. I agree Jay’s ratings will drop off from the opener, especially when the new shows kick in but I don’t see a huge drop. I see him getting between 12-15 million a show. It will probably fluctuate quite a bit depending on the guests. Too early to call it a hit but this may just be the momentum shifter NBC has been looking for.
Great start for Leno, and I can see him settling at 9-10m by January.
Also, that’s a very strong audience for AGT, and I think that mondays at 8pm would be a great permenant time slot for it next year.
Oh no! OTH Premiere disappointed ): It’s not OK guys! Watch this great show!
Can’t even tell how the premiere affected Conan since Letterman was late because of tennis and in repeats? But the affiliates should be happy? Wonder what the hold was on viewing audience for the news.
Jay’s numbers should go up and down, depending on the other network scheduling of repeats. A lot of people like to watch things that are new. It will also depend on the guests. It is the lack of a variety of guests that will hurt these shows in the long run. “Celebrities” are already overexposed and not that many are entertaining when interviewed.
Congrats to Jay — he isn’t everyone’s cup of tea — but he soundly beat Letterman in viewership for the last 10-15 years, so the majority have started to speak again. For those of you who don’t find him funny, wait up for David or Conan. Conan is a decent interviewer but has never been very funny. And Letterman was downright surly for many years, although he seems happier now that he’s leading Conan.
Speaking of the demise of scripted TV, I think there’s much more scripted TV now then ever before — just less on the Big 3 or 4 networks. And many of the new and best scripted shows have been coming from the Cable networks for many years now. Formerly the big 3 would axe many good shows and keep mediocre ones. Now they find their way elsewhere, or even are first developed elsewhere. That’s why the big 3 audiences are down so much — they’re instead becoming big cable-type companies rather than the former controllers of TV output. This is a golden age for reality, scripted, and whatever else you want. If you have satellite or cable, your choices are markedly increased from the past. Why would someone want to lament or complain about less scripted shows on the biggest 3 or 4 networks? Shortsightedness? Narrow vision?
Prediction for tonight:
12mil, 4.0 demo with a steady downward spiral from there.
I mean, has ANYONE read a really positive review of the show? Everything I’ve seen has ranged from “awful” to “Ok.”
Wow im shocked with Leno but Kanye West was on it and with all the commotion at what happened at the MTV awards, that is why Leno premiered so high but it will drop significantly.
Wow Gossip Girl creamed One Tree Hill in demos. Looks like the switch really helped Gossip Girl.
Looks like the networks are having a good start to the fall season!
I just don’t get the appeal of The Jay Leno Show….What’s the big deal? A talk show is a talk show…Is that all people really want anymore?
Women 18-34: 3.3 Gossip Girl & One Tree Hill
3.0 Vampire Diaries; 2.7 Top Model; 2.6 90210; 2.5 Melrose Place; 1.7 Supernatural
Interestingly, more men watch Gossip Girl than One Tree Hill, given the former’s half a point lead in 18-34 despite a tie in women of that age group. I’m part of that.
18-49: Vampire Diaries 2.1
Top Model 1.5; Gossip Girl & Supernatural 1.4; Melrose Place & 90210 1.3; One Tree Hill 1.2
Still to come: Smallville (big question mark given Friday move) & Beautiful Life (should get worse #’s than ANTM, its lead-in and especial inspiration for existence)
CW #2 in YA for GG & co is somewhat impressive.
And of course Jay Leno which outdid its last late show by 50%. A 5 in adults and a 4 in young adults. But by Friday it’ll be down by at least half I’m guessing.
It’s SOO weird to see NBC on top of all three hours of primetime. And by a large amount. Of course it was going up against mostly repeats, but still.
im really impressed with jay leno’s numbers!!that huge!!but in one month i think it will sink!!(4-5 million viewers).
cw shows did really well on 18-34 demo last night!!!!
Jonathan B,
Grey’s premiered in early 2005 to 18 million viewers and better demos. Law and Order: Trial By Jury premiered to over 20 million viewers and better demos in March 2005. And Heroes premiered 3 years ago to better demos.
There is a chance Studio 60, Privet Practice Pushing Daisies also had better demos.
I don’t know what show most of you watched but I thought it was boring, not funny, awkward and basically the same old thing. Just what sheeple wanted I guess, but I’ll pass, I downloaded it anyway so no commercials and was able to skip through so it only took about 10 minutes to watch, waste of ten minutes basically, I felt so cheap and used after wards I had to have a shower.
J, not sure what #s you’re citing for CW exactly. Vampire Diaries had a 3.1 with women 18-34 last Thursday at 8p but those were final #s
Not sure who thinks Jay is funny, but it’s certainly nobody in my circle of influence. That was bad…like really bad last night. Leno on the Tonight show was middle-of-the-road, non-offensive, lowest common denominator humor that was worth a chuckle on rare occasions. He’s somehow managed to water that down even further for 10pm.
Even the reviews are almost universally bad. Really, who liked this show? Who are you people?
Think he’ll have half the viewers by the end of the week?
That’s more than I expected by the Kanye curiousity factor must have been huge. That story had been a big pop culture event that spread far and wide.
I don’t have a problem with Jay having a show like this, only with that it’s on 5 freaking nights a week. So here’s hoping he does better on some nights and terrible on others. That has to be likely doesn’t it?
Erm, #’s from your overnight reports.
i know alot of men who watch Gossip Girl but none who watch one tree hill
well i guess i was wrong in my guess…
Ha ha!
Scripted shows are DEAD!!! Over…its over. Thank GOD!!!
More reality shows and JAY LENO!!!!
Which means bloated losers like Berman will have to go out and get a real job!!!
Can you imagine..that crap show Leno put on last night had almost 18 million viewers and amazing demo numbers!!!
So the days of TV as YOU knew it are OVER OVER OVER!!!!
Berman and all those loser development losers will have to dust off their resumes and look for real work.
Go Jay GO!!!! Scripted shows especially dramas are DEAD…like Bermans scalp!!!
unscripted shows are terrible in foreign sales / dvds etc.
I never liked Leno. But his new show was entertaining.
I was one of those who tuned in out of curiosity — won’t be doing it again any time soon. It will be interesting to see what Conan’s numbers do. Fans of Leno really have no reason to tune into Conan any more (unless they did already), and I really can’t see people doubling their talk show viewing habits. Leno could end up cannibalizing the rest of NBC’s late night talk show lineup.
Byron: enjoy the moment while you can. Once the rest of the returning and new shows kick in, Jay will more than enough competition to keep him occupied. I’ll save any further remarks until the end of the month and then we can all be on the same page… pretty easy to be Number 1 when you have next to no competition, and you’re trading on your past success and name.
uh…it would be interesting a sociological ( or psycological??) analysis about the relation betwen Bermsn ( ??? ) and the JLS ( unless the guy above was someone fired by Berman ) … internet is a great place you can see really everything LOL
Wow…
I’ve been wondering for the past few weeks, why aren’t the ratings displayed in a table anymore, that way they were WAY easier to read.
wow! great numbers for NBC tonight! AGT 15 mil., TJLS 18 mil.! JUST WOW!
I wasn’t going to watch it as I stick to scripted shows only and no reality TV. My wife and I decided to watch. We never really watched him on the Tonight Show. Interesting point, I stopped watching at 10 (we’re in AZ) and my wife kept the TV on for NBC news, Conan, and Fallon which she never ever watches. That’s the key for NBC. How many households will Jay pull for the news and the following programs.
I might tune in on Thursday and Friday to Leno if I’m home when there is nothing else on I watch at that time.
Also I expected higher numbers around 20 mil but I think the football game stopped some of the East Coast viewers from switching over earlier.
Thanks,
Lizard
“Ok. Good for Jay and maybe this signals a retro shift back to the variety hour that was common when I was growing up.”
I agree with marenamoo’s point above. It would be a mistake IMO to read into this too much in the scripted vs reality debate. If anything it is more about retro, and variety shows were a part of that. The real takeaway from this, if he continues to get solid ratings, would be the same takeaway from Burn Notice, Castle and NCIS succeeding. That there’s still an audience for old fashioned type tv.
Not to repeat myself too much but I think nbc’s attitude that people wanted more light entertainment was the right one. I just wish that instead of Leno 5 nights a week they for example had leno on two nights, one night of psych (or a similar type show), and a night ending in Chuck. And so on. Leno? Not a fan, but the lighter entertainment aspect is a solid concept.
As to the health of scripted tv – there have never been more scripted tv shows on the air in my lifetime. It’s ridiculous (in a good way) how many are thriving these days. So I’m not worried about that format’s future.
Kinda Sad. leno’s show is pretty much 2 good jokes and a movie trailer. Not to mention, editing to make the dumb people stand out when he goes and interviews people.
Timbotam wrote: “Why would someone want to lament or complain about less scripted shows on the biggest 3 or 4 networks?”
Because I don’t get cable. And now I’m forced to watch reality-game show-variety show drivel. Maybe I’ll just start reading more.
I think Jay’s two greatest strengths are his own considerable likeability and the collective “national hearth” aspects of the 10pm hour relative to a talk show.
11:30pm is too late. The audience has already fragmented by then but at 10pm most people are still up.
The network news broadcasts were where our national “family,” so to speak, could once gather nightly. But they’ve, for the most part, lost their journalistic credibility and thus large portions of their audience. (However much network news may try to delude themselves that the shrinkage is all web-based. Face it, net news, “you lie” when it suits you.)
So maybe there is this collective water cooler dynamic without a current home out there for the grabbing and Leno, at l0pm, is poised to tap into it.
But given the uneven quality of the show they put on last night, it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Hopefully, they still see it as a work in progress and things will improve.
The show was just terrific! Although the switchover to the local news at the end seemed a bit rushed. That was probably due to the impromptu interview Jay squeezed in with Kanye West.
We all know the numbers are going to drop and pretty significantly if their creative doesn’t get better. Thought there would have been stronger bits, better writing and a different feel from The Tonight Show. But guess what, it was a solid start for any show given what was spent to market it. And the local TV station effort was solid as well. We may have had too much Jay for us in the business, but the local affiliates should have seen solid increases in audience in their markets as well. Needs better content if it is going to survive the onslaught of new shows and season premieres starting next week.
the Patriot/Bills game was good………Jay who??????????
Byron, your simplistic and ignorant views remind of me a quote about the Beatles: “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962
The way of the Troll.
Vexatious litigation,
erroneous views.
Oh, the post doesn’t actually tell about OTH’s #’s so I guess in my head I decided it had the same as GG. But the CW press release would put shows as thus:
Women 18-34: 3.3 Gossip Girl
3.0 Vampire Diaries; 2.7 Top Model; 2.6 90210; 2.5 Melrose Place; 2.4 One Tree Hill; 1.7 Supernatural
Great result for the CW!
Second in the 18/34 group and that’s all they care about. Job well done.
Tennis killed CBS jauggernaut line up – plus K.W got a ton of press for his actions causing a stir out here in Opryland world and the midwest about their little sweet heart; Taylor Swift…THEN-everyone watched LENO.
…After all the press on Kanye West’s actions; then and only then LENO plan a quick interview…and/or I think NBC paid the bad boy to do more bad and got the ratings…for TV bad press is good news for the networks…I think LENO will lose half his audience in a few weeks when CBS is back on track…I think if FOX would expand to 3 hours instead of 2 I think NBC’s days would be limited…
I just scanned over the channel when LENO was making fun of Seinfeld’s high pitched vocal slip up…proving my point that LENO is BEAKER from Sesame Street…it was even more annoying!
P.S. hey LENO – your “new interview design” isn’t new- Tom Snyder already did the chair with chair without the desk…your viewers are just to young too notice.
The promos they’ve been running all week were so creative (especially liked the black and white) and professionally polished, the show itself — at least the first one — fell short of the promise.
I thought the set looked great. The color scheme may be a bit “vibrant” for the audience watching him from between their toes as a prelude to sleep but it does look absolutely fantastic. And Conan and Fallon have already got the market cornered on every possible hue of blue, anyway.
That initial bit with him surrounded and shaking hands with audience members came off staged and awkward. It also seemed to mess up Jay’s subsequent timing with the laugh lines in his monologue.
I guess what they were aiming at was establishing a warm connection with the audience at home by having him make physical contact with the people in the studio.
Nice gesture, nice sentiment but I think it would have worked better if Jay had just ventured out on his own into where the audience was seated and shaken a few hands, gone back up and bantered a little about how he has happened to land back on the air after being “retired” by the geniuses at NBC. (He’s got some good lines judging from the interviews he’s been doing.)
And the monologue itself wasn’t up to his best. I thought the writing would be better.
But compared to the car wash video that followed it, the monologue was brilliant. That video was so awful and so unfunny, it was bewildering that they decided to air it.
At that point, I was already writing the show off in my mind. I didn’t see how it could recover in the short term from something so putrid and in the long-term from the faulty judgment that had approved it and was, therefore, embedded in the brain trust of the show.
And then Seinfeld came out and saved it! I loved the drama of watching that stark of a game changer. Suddenly, things were humming. The show was working.
Seinfeld was in top form, he came prepared with a really funny bit, his rapport with Jay was entertaining and all was right with the world.
I breathed a sigh of relief. But it proved premature because then Kanye suddenly appeared and his whole spectacle of faux apologia was painful to behold.
But then it was onto the musical stylings of Jay Z, Rihanna and West. Nothing more entertaining than watching a reenactment of the fall of the Roman Empire set to a beat.
Followed by Small Town News. Oh yeah, that transition was real smooth and made a lot of sense.
Oh well. Good luck, Jay. I may snipe from the sidelines but I wish you the best and hope you succeed.
Great numbers for Leno but that will not last. Last night Leno had a good lead in AND CBS was not just all reruns but everything started at a later time so leno had no real competition.
I found the car wash bit and the obama bit to be the best parts of the show.
Wow, those are huge numbers for any show that isn’t on CBS in this day and age.
Why don’t you make those blue tables anymore?
Potentially the biggest week for NBC until the Winter Olympics? You have Jay Leno premiering, America’s Got Bowling Balls, I mean Talent having Susan Boyle on Wednesday after the Monday finale, alot of curiousity about Community, the loyal following for the Biggest Loser, and a marquee NFL match up with NY Giants against Dallas on Sunday Night. I could see 5-6 peacock shows in the top 10 this week. Next week? Well, get back to me on that.
William, you’re right about NBC’s results this week.
I’m sure they did very well last week too with 7 hours of NFL football, but Nielsen hasn’t updated the data for last week’s averages yet.Weekly primetime averages posted, and NBC dominated as should have been expected.
toinght its Sons OF Anacrchy on 10 pm and Big Brother at 10 lets see how Jay does toinght i am sure we will be just fine look at what happend with Glee and Vampier Diars both did great in ratings so i dont see how scriped tv on netwrk is dead
Eric (Ohio) says:
September 15, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I found the car wash bit and the obama bit to be the best parts of the show.
I respectfully disagree about the car-wash video. Could not have loathed it more but do agree about the constructed Obama interview. That was one of the show’s highlights. Terrific! I think I could watch a whole hour of that stuff.
What was sort of interesting but also sobering to note, though, was that the kind of editing and snipping that they did on that piece for comic results was probably not all that different from the editing techniques used currently by many of the so-called actual news organizations to “shape” what they put out.
While watching coverage of Ted Kennedy’s funeral, happened to see footage of the 60 minutes interview Roger Mudd did with him when Kennedy was seeking the presidency. Mudd asked him why he wanted to be president, and Kennedy couldn’t seem to come up with a coherent answer. The impact of that interview on the public was that Kennedy hemmed and hawed himself right out of his candidacy.
While watching it, my impression was that if that had happened during this last election cycle and Kennedy were the candidate of choice of CBS, that interview would have never made it onto the air. At least not in that form. They would have snipped and edited all the stuff that made Kennedy look bad out. JMO.
WHy does the ratings looks like that , where is the table which contain each time slot and how eah show in the hour performed , it was way better than now
“WHy does the ratings looks like that , where is the table which contain each time slot and how eah show in the hour performed , it was way better than now”
I do agree, I really liked that format, followed by analysis.
we liked that format better too, I promise. And we hope it makes a speedy return.
If you regularly read are blog, you’d know what was going on with that. But if you’re not going to bother reading us every day, I’m not going to bother explaining it again.
JAY RULES!!!
NBC Rules Monday Nights!!!
Scripted TV is DEAD!!!!
Marc Berman that bloated bald loser will now have to get a real job to support that ghoulish family of his.
SCRIPTED DRAMAS ARE DEAD…HOORAY FOR JAY LENO!!!!!!
DRAMA DEVELOPMENT EXECS..DUST OF YOUR RESUMES..TIME TO GET A REAL JOB YOU FRAUDS!!!!
YAY FOR JAY AND MORE REALITY TV…..TV AS YOU KNEW IT IS DEAD THANK YOU JAY LENO AND THE BRILLIANT NBC EXECS!!!!!!
BROADCAST NETWORKS..SAVE YOUR MONEY…BEN SILVERMAN WAS RIGHT..MANAGE FOR MARGINS…LOW COST REALITY SHOWS AND JAY LENO RULE!!!!
THE WGA IS DEAD!!!!!! HIP HIP HOORAY FOR JAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Nielsen dropped the hammer on Robert & Bill over the summer, leading to both the purge of the archives and the current format of the overnights.
It’s unfortunate, but unless we want to pool tens of millions of dollars together to build a Nielsen alternative, Robert & Bill are limiting themselves to what Nielsen allows (which is to protect Nielsen’s historical data sales to advertisers).
didn’t ABC say that if Jay was a successs (i’m not saying it is yet) that they would move nightline to 9 or 9:30
right if Abc does that than again i will turn to cable Nbc is fail in my book at 10 i am going to turn more to cable
Daniel, yes, but Jay’s success cannot be judged from one day.
Doesn’t Jay employ WGA writers??
SCRIPTED DRAMAS ARE DEAD? Huh what happend to cable drams did i miss something and i think Glee did really well and so did Vampier Diares?
Two and a Half Men (1.9/5, 5.95M), The Big Bang Theory (2.1/5, 6.21M)
If possible, I want to know the final numbers for both since I’m curious if TBBT still beat 2.5 men in both demos and ratings because that would be a first
Jay is as vanilla as they come. I just don’t see this working. A talk show of this nature NEEDS controversy, it needs someone with spice. Leno won’t offend anyone and that’s just plain boring.
An aside: “Chuck” won both Best Comedy and Best Lead actor in a comedy in Entertainment Weekly’s poll for Emmy snubs. That’s strong fan support.
Forg, you can see the finals in Marc Berman’s PI Forums. Travis Yanan posted them.
Edit: nevermind, he didn’t post them for CBS. We won’t likely see them until next Tuesday…
I never watch Jay before last night, is he always that bad?
What competition? The 10 pm slot was filled with garbage except for the Fox 10pm news. We need something new and refreshing and Jay is it. I have been watching Fox 10pm news for more than 15 years mostly cause I couldn’t stand the stuff at 10pm. Go Jay!!!
Thanks Robert. I really hope the final numbers will stay the same for TBBT and 2.5 Men
Solid numbers for CW but still pales in comparison with the performance of 7th Heaven on The WB for several years and just on par with the UPN Monday sitcoms
17 million is more than NBC’s gotten for a series premiere probably since the 1990s. Howwever those numbers will drop once the series airs week days but its still good. Lets see how Jay Leno holds up against CBS and ABC’s powerhouses.
“Glee” barely got 7 million viewers and a 3 demo….so what….Jay Leno got 18 million viewers and a 5 plus demo…Jay destroyed Glee’s numbers
Glee will lose 30 percent of it 7 mill and 3 demo within in 4 weeks….
JAY has now changed TV as you knew it…that bloated bald weasel marc berman has to get a real job now!!!!!
The WGA is thru…network development worms are super thru….
…
We want MORE AND MORE….
“Glee” barely got 7 million viewers and a 3 demo….so what….Jay Leno got 18 million viewers and a 5 plus demo…Jay destroyed Glee’s numbers…THOSE LOSERS AT fox WOULD KILL FOR 18 MILL..AND YES THEY ARE LOSERS..THEY INHERITED AMERICAN IDOL..DUH!!!
Glee will lose 30 percent of it 7 mill and 3 demo within in 4 weeks….write it down nitwits
JAY has now changed TV as you knew it…that bloated bald weasel marc berman has to get a real job now!!!!!
WE WILL NOW HAVE MORE AND MORE REALITY TV AND JAY …HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!
NO MORE CRUMMY SCRIPTED DRAMAS AND….better still… TV DEVELOPMENT EXECS ON THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINES….SOUNDS WONDERFUL
BEN SILVERMAN WAS A GENIUS….HE KNEW NOT TO WASTE MORE MONEY ON CRAP GARBAGE 10PM DRAMA SHOWS THAT SUCK….
JAY RULES 10PM…REALITY TV IS BRILLIANT…
SCRIPTED TV SUCKS AND IS DEAD….JUST LIKE MARC BERMANS SEX LIFE….
ET
The WGA is thru…network development worms are super thru….
…
We want MORE AND MORE….JAY AND REALITY TV..AND LESS AND LESS BLOWHARD PSEUDO TV EXPERTS LIKE MARC BERMAN…..
SCRIPTED TV IS DEAD DEAD DEAD…18 MILLION VIEWERS FOR JAY FOR A LOT CHEAPER COSTS THEN THAT GARBAGE GLEE WITH BARELY 7 MILL VIEWERS
Well it was a series premiere and nothing else was on at 10. The numbers wont be so big when CBS and ABC start airing their series. CBS will get first at 10 monday, wednesday, thursday and friday. Tuesday if Good Wife and Forgotten both do subpar Leno could break even. NBC will consider Jay Leno a victory if it holds up at least 7-9 million viewers to the 10pm dramas. Remember, NBC expected its 10pm dramas to get around 8-13 million but My Own Worst Enemy, Life, and Lipstick Jungle, all flopped (veterans ER, Medium, and SVU held up well as usual). NBC now believes well, if we put a cheaper talk show there ratings are expected to be lower 7-8 million but even that for a talkshow would be good.
BYRON IS A CERTIFIED MORON !!!
THE REALITY YOU SPEAK OF…
IS NON-EXISTENT
GO WATCH VH1 YOU LIL BITCH
When does the US ratings season officially begin?
Steve, Monday, September 21
As the first comment says,Wow!
WOW thats amazing I thought like maybe 14 million but 5.3 in the demo! AMAZING – NBC has something to gloat about (for now)
18 million is a huge figure. I hope the show can maintain a decent audience. Also don’t blame Jay for NBC’s woes it’s management that has failed to come up with drama hits and conceding defeat that has led to Jay being put there.
I don’t understand the logic at putting Jay at 10. I’d put him at 8. His humor’s clean enough for 8, it can be a lead in, for other shows, and they’ll have that 10pm time slow available for dramas, which draws in more adult viewers.