I wrote at the end of July that it was way too early to write Conan’s epitaph, and at that point Conan’s Tonight Show hadn’t come close to losing a week in the important adults 18-49 ratings to Letterman’s Late Show. Fast forward 3 months, and a Letterman office romance/extortion scandal later, and the ratings trend is definitely not Conan’s friend.
Since the beginning of October (and the Letterman scandal), Letterman has topped Conan twice and tied him once for weekly adults 18-49 averages. The last time that Letterman’s Late Show beat (then Leno’s) Tonight Show for a week’s adults 18-49 rating was in 2005.
Conan’s Tonight Show has certainly frittered away Leno’s long time lead over Letterman’s Late Show, the big question is whether the current trend is just a post-scandal bounce for Letterman or whether it’s the shape of things to come.
Update: In response to comments that even posting this question is “absurd”:
Imagine that TVBTN was around during Leno’s “Hugh Grant” (1995) moment, and I’d written “Letterman’s Late Show Ratings Lead Is Gone, Can He Get it Back?”
Would that have been absurd? Because afterwards Leno passed Letterman and Letterman was then behind for the next 14 years.
Of course only time will tell if this is a long term shift, but it’s happened before, how can imagining it be absurd?
The trend lines above are 4 week moving averages.
For our weekly compilation of Late Night Ratings releases click here.
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
I say its gone for good. Conan just isn’t that funny or exciting. Letterman really isn’t much better but at least his monologues are funny.
Looks bad for Conan and adds to NBC’s whoes. But Letterman did get a boost due to his scandal.
Would Leno EVER under ANY circumstance return to the 11:30 time slot? Is that even a possibility?
gbd, I say no, at least not THIS TV season, but I think you’ll see a ton of speculating about it all season long anyway.
You’re onto something, Chris. The one thing with Conan’s 12:35 show was that the bad jokes in the monologue became their own mocking-type joke. At 11:35 the monologue HAS to be funny since you’re dealing with more than insomniacs and the otherwise sleep-deprived.
Leno’s Tonight Show was better — even better than the Jay Leno Show now. Conan is a bore, and not likeable. He has driven away his audience with his lack of humor and bad guests. He was much better at Late Night. If NBC was smart, it would cuts its losses, give Leno the Tonight Show back again and sack OBrien.
Personally, I would rather watch Leno later or Nightline.
Maybe NBC should have hired Jeff Dunham & the puppets to host The Tonight Show.
I have trouble believing that the scandal explains everything. I mean Letterman has only spoken of this mess twice since it happened. I can understand the scandal leading people to watch if Letterman were addressing it, via jokes or whatever, on a semi-regular basis. But would the scandal really compel people to tune in just see him putting on the same show as usual? If it were only the scandal, it seems like there would’ve been some falloff by now.
Andrew, I think the question is, and I don’t think it’s answered yet, was the scandal Letterman’s “Hugh Grant Moment”, referring to the Leno/Grant interview which caused Leno’s Tonight show to move above Letterman’s Late Show ratings effectively for good.
NBC CAN’T put leno anywhere else. Why? Well, they would have 1 hour of program to fill. With what i ask you. They dont have shit.
Can you guys put up a chart of the daily ratings over the same time period?
tw neither Conan or Leno are going anywhere this year, and probably not next year either. Before NBC makes any changes to late night they need to fix primetime. They need to leave Leno on at 10, and fix 8 and 9 O’clock with a total reboot (IMHO). After they get 8 and 9 fixed (if they can at this point) then they can focus on what to do about late night, but for the time being I don’t see them making any changes unless things really really go bad in the coming months.
The scandal has been heavily covered by all the news media (including an EW cover). This heightened awareness of Letterman and thereby increased viewer interest and tune in. Whether this tune in lasts is anyone’s guess at this point.
Conan O’brien, the red headed destroyer,(yes I, like Letterman, recycle my own material…..and, like Letterman it’s mediocre)can always count on his advantage in 18-34, though most of them are holdovers from Late Night that refuse to believe he lost every ounce of his talent (and not one bit of his uglyness) 2 years ago (Jon, be nice). Why??? I hate him….Jon, are you saying that his 18-34 advantage is only because of dumb kids that aren’t smart enough to watch the daily show??? Not that Stewart’s audience isn’t retarded conspiracy theorists, but Conan’s “young following” isn’t anything to champion. Kind of like…..I dunno,……maybe Razorblade Suitcase without “Swallowed”.
Or the Pink Fallomingo.
If you look at the graph, the trend for Letterman didn’t start with the scandal – it started a few weeks before, with the beginning of the new season. According to the graph, Late Show even had a bigger surge before the scandal than after it.
Does the fact that Dave has a much better lead-in and promotional platform from the 10 PM shows factor in? Sure, but that’s only part of the picture.
The Late Show has just been flat-out booking the hell out of the show. It’s great to have promos on the #1 shows at 10, but even better if you’re promo-ing President Obama, Bill Clinton, Steve Martin & Martin Short, Tom Hanks, etc. Plus, Dave seems more comfortable and engaged in the show, and viewers are liking what they see and returning.
Late night is a long-haul endeavor, though, and I sure wouldn’t count Conan out yet. I’m quite surprised, though, that they haven’t made some simple tweaks to the show to make it more inviting. The show just seems to keep chugging along with few changes to the structure and content. At some point, changes will simply have to come.
I’m not worried. Jesus, its a few months into the Conan era, and some are freaking because his numbers aren’t Lenos. That was to be expected. They are compleyely differnt hosts. For one, Conan is funny(sorry, just wanted to take a shot at Leno). He’s new to some, and they have tuned out. That was always expected to happen. Conan is not going anywhere. He will eventually find his fanbase in this new timeslot. Dinosaur Dave will rvrntually be put out to pasture where he can sexually harass women who aren’t his employees.
Robert,
As I know so little of the behind the scenes I’ve no idea if or when an 11:30 Leno return would be possible. I would think if NBC could find some cutting edge shows such as a MadMen, the next Sopranos, if they could think outside the box for their weekly 10:00pm time slot and then promote and hype 24/7 the return of Leno while using the time to promote their new shows? I think Conan might even welcome a return to his old time slot and the local 11:00 affiliates would surely be on board? What an opportunity for some badly needed publicity to garner interest? You know more about it than I. I jsut don’t see how they can continue this schedule. OH! I’ve been wondering too. With these economic times? Why hasn’t a variety show popped up on TV. Some kinda morph between Carol Burnett, SNL or Laugh In?
Scandal ALWAYS helps a show. Remember when Leno first took over. He was not doing that great. Then he was the first to get the Hugh Grant interview after his prostitution bust. His ratings then took off, and he beat Letterman consistently. Dave has sex with his employees, is blackmailed, and admits it on his show. National coverage ensues. Ratings go up. Conan just needs to get caught having sex with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog in a seedy motel room and he will be a huge success!
One of Conan’s weaknesses is in interviewing guests. He simply can’t stop looking at the blue card. Even when he’s giving his fake laugh at something the guest has said, he’s still looking at the blue card. No other late night host does that. Doesn’t he have cue cards off camera for him to look at?
a.) conan is amusing, at best
b.) letterman is clever, maybe even witty
but neither is particularly funny
conan is a very weak interviewer
letterman, maybe average
the pair will regularly lose to
c.) none of the above
Or here’s another alternative: Defying Gravity in that spot. :>
I only bring it up because, ABC being the braintrust they are, killed the show since it didn’t get good ratings: ABC didn’t make it, so they didn’t advertise.
Since the American loss of the show, it’s continued to shine, taking the story into great new places. Venus for one; learning who ‘Beta’ is, and their entire mission.
It’s really kinda a shame Americans can’t see this, as all the groundwork has turned it into a really good story. Assuming you’re on a safe OS, like Linux or *BSD, grab the a torrent and get caught up. This thing’s much more interesting than anything on late night.
I never understood why NBC gave 11:35 to keep Conan at the network. If he had made good on his threat and left NBC, there’s no way he would have beaten Leno, and probably relatively few of Leno’s viewers would have preferred Conan on FOX or ABC. That whole thing never made sense to me.
What a terribly silly article. Why would you even ask the question “can he get it back” so early in the game? Such an overreaction.
He’s not going anywhere. Conan is here to stay. His ratings will go up and they will go down.
Not even worth discussing at this point. It’s very simple: there’s finally real competition in late night for once. Watch what you like and don’t worry about the other, because neither are going anywhere.
Mark, they didn’t give 11:35 to keep Conan, they did it because they thought Leno was retiring. It only made sense for Conan to get the tonight show. Then Leno decided that he didn’t want to retire, so NBC gave Leno 10PM to keep him from jumping to another network.
Isn’t it more likely that NBC is costing Conan than it is that Conan is costing NBC.
I mean come on! It’s NBC for god’s sake.
Uh, Tommy, not quite. NBC made the move 5 years ago because Conan was getting very lucrative offers from other networks to put on a show at 11 or 11:30, and they didn’t want to lose him. They didn’t want a repeat of what happened when Dave bolted for rival CBS. Therefore, NBC convinced Jay to agree to retire in 5 years to be a “good guy” and keep the family happy.
But the point is, NBC made the move because Conan wanted to be at 11:30. That was the main reason, and if they did not make that move, Conan most likely would have been gone.
jocor, While NBC has it’s problems, I think Conan’s ratings are all on Conan. If Leno was still doing The Tonight Show I don’t think we’d see such a deep decline in ratings. But we can never really know for sure. I’m sure NBC’s troubles have a little to do with the ratings decline (very little), but not as big an impact as Conan himself. I have nothing against Conan, I don’t even watch Late Night on any network, but the vast majority of his ratings decline is on him.
Tommy, when renewing Conan’s contract, they put a clause in guaranteeing him 11:35 or a huge penalty bonus, so they essentially forced Leno to retire. Which is probably part of why he ultimately decided not to retire, since it was never his idea to do so in the first place.
SB, yes they wanted to keep Conan from jumping ship like Letterman did. But I doubt they forced Leno into retiring to keep Conan. Leno was the king of Late Night, I don’t see how NBC could muscle him out if he didn’t want to go at the time.
I think that at that time (fall 2004) Leno had to either be OK with the idea of the Conan deal, or was just going along with it to be a good soldier figuring things would work themselves out. Either way, he changed his mind on retiring and NBC was in a tough situation.
No, they didn’t force Jay, but they strongly coerced him. From all the accounts I’ve seen and heard, NBC basically went to Jay and said, “We have this situation with Conan, and we don’t want a repeat of what happened when Johnny left.” They worked on Jay about how great it would look for Jay if there was a smooth transition this time (unlike when Johnny left), and so they got everyone to agree to the 5 year plan.
If you remember, Jay constantly made jokes at the time about how weird it was he was planning his retirement for so long in the future. Well, those 5 years went pretty quick, and Jay decided he had a lot more fuel in his tank.
So, no, they did not force Jay, but they certainly twisted his arm. And now, ironically, we can see the “smooth transition” NBC ended up with.
I agree with Jeff. This is a silly, premature article that seems written just to have filler on this site. Conan started his show this summer. THIS SUMMER! Talk of his shows’ demise is only being tossed around by borderline retarded people. This a LONG-TERM venture people. Conan will be around for awhile. And Dave is a couple of heart-bypasses away from retirement*.
*Where he will be cared for by all the interns he had sex with over the years.
cress, I merely present the facts (the ratings) that have already happened and ask the question. How is that premature?
Had I claimed “Conan’s A Goner!”, that could be argued as being premature
The late night wars are very long indeed, too early to make calls.
The Tonight Show lost its lead pretty quickly when Leno took over, but after a couple years he was number one again and then became dominant.
Conan’s only had the show for a few months, so just stay the late night course for now I say.
Bill..because it is premature to wonder if Conan can “get it back” after less than six months into it. Viewership decline was to be expected. And, as you said, you report the facts. And the fact is a viwership decline. But to wonder whether he can get back the lead is absurd. The FACT is, it’s early. Leno struggled early in his run, and we see how well that turned out.
i’m sure he can when he first starting out on late night his ratings were not good but after a few years he became the lead in his timeslot just give it a while and i know he will be back up there again with the tonight show.
cress, “Wondering whether he can” is absurd?
Imagine that TVBTN was around during Leno’s “Hugh Grant” (1995) moment, and I’d written “Letterman’s Late Show Ratings Lead Is Gone, Can He Get it Back?”
Would that have been absurd? Because afterwards Leno passed Letterman and Letterman was then behind for the next 14 years.
Of course only time will tell if this is a long term shift, but it’s happened before, how can imagining it could happen again absurd?
Conan has a low ratings Leno as a lead in and no scandal.
Cress, “viewership decline was to be expected”. According to you, NBC expected Conan to lose 2 million viewers in a few weeks……Without people like you (the lower part of the 18-34 crowd, and helpless Conan supporters who are in denial) he would be getting wiped off the face of the earth, and out of our memory forever. Kind of like Razorblade Suitcase……On a side note, doesn’t this season of Mad Men suck. Do they need to show Betty Draper in every damn scene. Cmon. It’s like Matthew Weiner is too much of a goodie goodie with no idea of what it’s like to be crazy and wild. He’s got no balls.
I can see your point. Hugh Grant did put Leno on top back then(which I posted earlier here). And Letterman may have his “Hugh Grant” with his own sex scandal.
But your article, in hindsight, would have been better if you had drawn those comparisons in your original post. I mean, when I read your article, I thought of Grant/Leno ‘95 immediately. But, this scandal is about Letterman. And contrary to some, late night hosts and their lives are not that interesting. Movie stars(Hugh Grant, back then maybe) are more tabloid/rating friendly. I think Letterman has got an initial bump, but it will fade.
“Cress, “viewership decline was to be expected”. According to you, NBC expected Conan to lose 2 million viewers in a few weeks……Without people like you (the lower part of the 18-34 crowd, and helpless Conan supporters who are in denial) he would be getting wiped off the face of the earth, and out of our memory forever”
Jon, plese let me know how the apple sauce tastes tonight at your REST HOME DINNER.
Grant/Leno was a bit different I think. Jay Leno was still fairly new at that point (it had only been 2-3 years, right?). It’s possible that part of the audience that tuned in hadn’t given him much of a chance before, decided they liked him, and stuck with him. Letterman, on the other hand, everyone already knows.
Then again, being fed up with Conan at 11:30 is making some people (like me) rediscover Dave. So maybe it is a lot like Hugh Grant, even if not exactly.
I watch Dave now instead of Conan, but to be honest, neither show really thrills me.
usedtolovecoco: Leno had guest-hosted for Johnny for years, but he had just took over as permanent guest host when he got the Hugh Grant interview.
I think that it may have something to do with personal style. Both Letterman and Leno are comedians, and they both have bands that they banter with, and they both have guests that they hope will interest the audience. Talent, IMO, is one of those subjective things, so I am going to say that both men are considered “talented” comedians. However, they both have very different styles. IMO, if they are both “clowns,” then Lettermans is Krusty the Klown, and Leno is Bozo the Clown. One is an smug upstart, and one is a fun-loving guy who can crack a good joke. If Letterman slices you up, you feel it, because he’s sassy and saucy, and he’ll let you bleed. Leno might slice you, but he’ll give you a bandaid for your wound. The two guys offered two different styles of delivery, but now that Leno is gone, what one is left with are two “smarty pants,” since that is also Conan’s style-again, IMO, which is totally subjective-and the audience, if they no longer can choose acording to style, among other things, may be opting for the classic “smarty pants” style of Letterman. Also, maybe some preferred Leno’s more laid back approach there in the late evening, especially if they spent the day dealing with “smarty pants” on the job, but it hasn’t translated into preferring his program over shows that the public wants to watch before bedtime, or just “wind down” time.
Just some observations.
cress, Leno became permanent guest host in ‘87, I believe; took over for Johnny in ‘92; and the Grant interview was in ‘95.
“…he had just took over as permanent guest host when he got the Hugh Grant interview.” Don’t know why I put “guest” in that sentence. I was going to correct after I posted, but did not. I do know those facts Mark, but thanks anyway.
lainey: AWESOME post. That is a spot-on review/analysis of both hosts. I do think Conan, with his sitcom-writing background, has more engaging skits. Conan always intrigued me, not because of him, but because of his skits. He had hilarious skits that carried his show. They may be both “smarty-pants”, but I think Conan will be around longer. That is also math..Letterman is in his 60’s.
Thank you, Cress. You are probably right abou the longevity thing, as long as both guys still are given a platform, like their own shows.
I am more familiar with Letterman, as I have seen him more. Sometimes he’s too abrasive for my taste, but he has done some very clever things in the past. I always thought that the little tubby guy was very funny-I think his name was Larry? I remember, eons ago, his “frozen french toast on a stick” schtick. Concerning O’Brien, I thought it was funny when he went to Ireland to search for his relatives-not an easy task when you are a red headed fellow named O’Brien. It’s kind of like searching for your relatives if your name if Smith or Jones-or, in my case, Nelson. There are thousands of folks to sift through, and I thought that his man in the street approach-”Hello, my name is Conan O’Brien and I am looking for my Irish relatives”-was really humorous.
In a word, no.
The decision to give Conan the Tonight Show chair was not just a random attempt to get ahead of the game. Bottom line is, young people far prefer Conan to Dave. Conan is still just beginning his introduction to many viewers in the prime TV season, but more importantly, every single year the lion’s share of late night TV viewers aging out of the 18-49 demo will be Dave’s, and the majority aging in will belong to Conan.
People here are talking like Hugh Grant showed up on Tonight, and the ratings suddenly flipped around. That was not the case.
Leno was stuck for 3 years doing a show that didn’t work. Finally, after he dumped his domineering manager/producer Helen Kushnick, he changed the show completely. He got a new band leader, he had more taped bits, and most important, he moved to a new studio with a cozier, comedy-club like set. The ratings began climbing up, and it culminated with the Hugh Grant moment.
Letterman has seen a similar steady climb before his recent scandal, and Conan will have to make changes to his show to see a similar climb.
What scandal?
Before the change I rarely watched Conan and watched Leno once or twice a week.
Since the change other than the first week I rarely watch Conan and rarely watch Leno due to the time slot but have watched Letterman more as he is more appealing to me than Conan but he is no Leno.
So for me all the switch did was cause me to watch less late night TV in total.
Couldn’t this be a result of Leno being on at 10.
People who watch Leno at 10-11 can go to bed after the nightly news. Why in the world would they stay up and watch Conan.
I don’t think NBC or anyone ever had expectations that Conan could compete against Letterman. Letterman’s a bloody veteran and appeals more toward the majority of people who actually watch TV that late at night (the old people). NBC is just going to have to be patient with Conan building a fan base in the younger generation and by the time he has that grasp demographic and Letterman FINALLY retires it will be CBS that will be behind when they probably give the show to Craig Ferguson. I think as long as Conan doesn’t drop terribly in the ratings and stays competetive he’ll be on the show for awhile, but beating Letterman? Probably not going to happen.
Leno is around so that NBC can still keep their “old people” demographic. They knew that Conan probably wouldn’t appeal to them very much so they kept Leno on board to keep some of them from completely going over to Letterman.
I give it five years. Letterman will more than likely be close to retiring, if not already retired, Conan will have a great stake in the Late Night audience, and once Letterman leaves he’ll probably get an even greater audience.
Jason, I’m sure that NBC DID think that Conan could compete against Leno. Otherwise, they destroyed one of their most profitable shows for no reason.
1) I suggest he get better writers like Leno has and improve the monologue. I would like to see less picking on the same people and quit repeating the same(similar) jokes.
2) If he is going to take so much time off then do what Carson did and have guest hosts.
3) Use more funny comedians and less Musical acts at the end or try a 50/50 split.
My last comment is that I thing Conan Is excellent with his interviewing skills. Keep up the good work.
CONAN SUCKS……like Razorblade Suitcase with or without “Swallowed”
I am still waiting for Time or Newsweek to post his ugly mug on the cover and call him a failure. That elitist snob deserves it. I mean C’mon. The “lunatic fringe movement” that I am a part of will not rest until that is done. And, let me talk about Fallon, the pretty boy snob who did his buddy Lauren Michaels a few favors (David Letterman style) to get where he is today. He’s the 2nd most talented commodity on stage every night, right behind the hideously overrated Roots crew. Don’t you just love that white guy in the band that thinks he’s black.
Conan just ain’t funny, it’s that simple. He often looks like a deer caught in headlights during the interview segments. His monologue is often cruel and tasteless. His co-host is dead weight. He doesn’t have anything.
Its very sad that letterman’s ratings went up after the scandal. I will never watch him again. He is a cheater and most of all a hypocrite he has jokes about other doing the same thing that he does. Is apology was a joke and he is a joke. Very sad if you ask me.
Can I just say that the reason why Leno overtook Letterman was because the show the version of The Tonight Show Leno was doing at the start wasn’t very good. People watched because it was there but once Late Show With David Letterman started it was better.
Now during the time people weren’t watching in huge numbers, Leno retooled The Tonight Show, he increased the comedy and really raised the game in the monologues. Then there was the OJ trial. I think Jay had the best comedy bits at the time with The Dancing Itos and his monologue.
Once Hugh Grant came along the show had improved but the Hugh Grant coup got people watching to see the show had improved.
That interview got people watching The Tonight Show but the quality of the show kept them there. Now we have Conan, where this version of his show isn’t really clicking with the audience. I’m not sure how he can change it though because he’s been doing this format for years.
I also think his monologues need to be sharper. Leno had the best monologues in late night and his delivery of the jokes was spot on. I think that’s because Jay has a stand up comedian’s timing.
Get off of Conan, his show is awesome! It’s early in his new run and having that unfunny twat Leno, back on doesn’t help. I am sure Conan do his show better than any of you twats that are posting mean things about Conan.
What I don’t understand is that if NBC didn’t want to lose Conan five years ago, why would they sacrifice a proven winner in Leno?
If they assumed (or if they were told by Leno) that Leno would retire in five years, then that makes sense. But if they pushed Leno to retire – they must have assumed that Conan would do even BETTER than Leno in that time slot.
In that case, and in any case, really, NBC has to be disappointed in Conan’s performance.
Jon, are you saying that Jimmy Fallon had sex with Lauren Michaels to get his show? Wait, who is Lauren Michaels? Do you mean Lorne Michaels?
This debate is not stupid or worthless…
Joan Rivers helmed a talk show on Fox in 1986; it started out well, but after a few months sunk like a big rock. Cancellation in the following year.
Conan will have more time, but he needs to stop this ratings trend.
How ’bout this for a face-saving move on the part of NBC – stop programming 10pm eastern, turn it back over to the affiliates to do 30 minutes of news. Then start late night with Leno at 10:30 eastern, and then have Conan, Fallon, etc…
Maybe this has been the plan all along but NBC is being diabolical and rolling it out gradually?
I guess not, that would infer that NBC has some kind of a plan.
I fail to see how it’s absurd to ask the question. It’s just a question not an assertion. Besides, it is a provocative question that sparked this lively debate.
Gee, only two commenters have mentioned the elephant in the room so far — Leno’s new show is siphoning off viewers from Conan, and he’s going to struggle to win them back until Leno is off the air.
Leno’s show is an hour of late night programming, no matter what time of the night it’s on. People who liked Leno don’t even have to change their viewing habits — they can simply set the Tivo/VCR/DVR to record Monday to Friday at 10pm and continue to watch when they always did, with the added bonus of skipping the commercials. And those who get their regular comfortable shoe of a Leno show are not likely to want to get another whole hour of the same late night shtick from Conan, especially if they never bothered to stay tuned in for him before.
And for all those who say he’s going to take time to hit his stride. How exactly? Unlike Leno when he took over, everybody already knows Conan from the thousands of shows he’s done, and they’ve already formed an opinion. And they haven’t exactly been brimming with new ideas in late night programming to help him either. It’s the same old stuff that it’s always been all these years and people are already getting their fill of it from Leno at 9pm.
I would be amazed if NBC didn’t see this coming. And I would be even more amazed if they believe that this is just a temporary blip until Conan “finds his feet.” As long as the “King of Late Night” is still doing his thing, it won’t matter what Conan does, he’s not going to get the ratings he inherited from Leno — not even close.
Conan needs to be more like Leno in his line of humor if he ever decides to get past Letterman.
Fallon is beating Ferguson in all key demos, so as long as that’s happening, NBC has nothing to worry.
NBC created their own monster. They didn’t want Leno to jump to another network so they gave him the 10PM slot. But at 10PM more people watch dramas and that caused the NBC 10PM ratings to fall, so much the Boston affiliate wanted to drop Leno because it is killing their local news ratings. Well if Leno is killing the local news, he is also killing Conan because when they are watching dramas at ten they don’t switch over to NBC for local news and only Conan fans switch for him so Jay Leno is hurting affiliate news shows and Conan. NBC might be better to go back to dramas at 10PM so the affiliates are happy and Conan has a better lead in. It may cost less to make Leno’s show and make more money but at the expense of the affiliates and Conan. Leno is the monster created by NBC.
Conan is by far the more entertaining between him and Jay (he was a writer for the Simpson’s for crying out loud and Jay had to buy stories for his own book!) … The problem is the handful of people that watch late night talk shows are now watching them at 10 on Jay’s sorry excuse for a comedy show!
If he could do ONE thing that he has not stolen from other sources I might tune in but 90% of his show an be heard everyday on Howard Stern (because that is where he gets most of his ideas – including Jaywalking)
Uh, Huckleberry, Howard claims he invented everything. It’s a meta-joke that most of his listeners don’t get. All the bits are from old-time radio, including jaywalking.
I believe that Jay is a funny guy.
Adam Carolla is also a funny guy.
On Adam Carolla’s podcast, which consistently ranks amongst the most popular downloads on itunes every week, Adam simply sits in his warehouse and talks to someone or rants about funny things. He doesn’t have preproduced bits or an army of producers, consultants, writers, or executives, micromanaging him as Jay does.
My solution for NBC, if they want to try to pull this out, since they have nothing left to lose, is to scale the show back to the bare bones, and let Jay sit there for an hour and just be Jay. We already like him, that’s been proven by his success at 11:30.
Hey, NBC is cost-effective, right? Fire most of the staff. So far, they haven’t helped. The problem is not Jay Leno, it’s The Jay Leno Show. Be truly cost-effective and let Jay BE the show. Get out of the way, and let Jay be his compelling and interesting self, as Adam Carolla is his compelling and interesting self on his podcast. The model is already working on the internet, NBC simply needs to adopt the model to TV, with Jay, which they totally could.
All they have to do is stop overthinking it.
There are two vewry big differences between the Leno/Hugh Grant bump and the Letterman scandal bump. First of all, the Leno bump was not a scandal that ultimately would hurt LEtterman’s reputation. We have not heard the last or even the worst of this scandal ayet, and when it is all out in the open, Letterman may not even be on the air. It is pretty clear there was sexual harassment going on at the Ed Sullivan Theater. (No…just because Stephanie went along with it does not mean it is not sexual harassment. Giving people prime job opportunities in exchange for sex is sexual harassment even if the emloyee goes along with it.)
But the other reason is the Leno was good. So the bump helped viewers see what they were missing. With Letterman, viewers who are watching for the scandal are simply reminded of why they stopped watching him in the first place. Reminded that he is a old fogey whose comedy is stuck in the Carson era, who thinks that it is hilarious to find out if things will float in water, and thinks that audiences wnat an entire week dedicated to ventriloquists. Except it is not 1975 anymore, and this is not the Gong Show.
Thinly…there is a huge differnece between being a popular podcast on iTuens and being successful in prime time. If you translated Adam Corolla’s listeners into ratings, he would be dead last in the ratings. By a big margin.
Johnny –
Since there will soon be nothing left to lose, anyway – might as well try an approach that is at least working for someone on some platform somewhere, as opposed to the approach they’re trying now, which is not working at all.
Letterman just plain rules. Conan is out of his league.
Why is Jimmy Fallon still on NBC beside in contract? If the clown was on Disney I would not have a problem and then maybe a little less than Disney would be even better. OK he was smart enough to backdoor a degree in communication which is a cakewalk in itself but don’t brag about it.