Remember last year after Conan was axed and Leno got his old job back there were people who claimed:
No big name stars would go on Leno
He would be crushed in the ratings by Conan , Letterman, etc.
He would not last long
Where are all those people who said that now?
Watching Conan’s show and not Leno’s. Not that they watched Leno’s before or didn’t watch Conan’s before.
People said Jay would be crushed in the ratings?
I think the only prediction I made was that Leno would never get back the ratings he had previous to the Conan kurfuffle, as people watch latenight more out of habit then because its funny, irregardless of the host, and that the disruption would lead them to greener pastures. Googling, I think I was right, though I can’t find raw numbers so its a little hard to tell.
The real victor appears to be Nightline, which seems to have gotten some of the audience that previously watched the latenight shows.
What I find strange is that Conan’s fans worked so hard to get him back on the air, then pretty much stopped watching him once he WAS back on the air.
Many Conan fans like the IDEA of Conan more than they like watching him.
For the record, here’s what I predicted:
I think thats largely what happened, about a million former Leno fans went over to go watch the Daily Show and Nightline. So between this and predicting President Kerry, my Straightdope oracle ratio looks like about 1/2.
What numbers had the Tonight Show gotten say five years ago?
I am a huge fan of Conan* but I knew people were talking crazy by predicting Leno’s demise. It was raw emotion talking for them, I tells ya.
I mean, imagine thinking no big stars would go on Leno’s show anymore. Hahaaa! I remember bup even nearly bet me about it.
I have no idea if Fey has done his show, but I think we can safely put to bed the idea that he is ‘poison’.
*I mean, a big fan in that I love him and hate Leno. Not a big fan as in I actually have bothered to watch his show. I haven’t.
For me personally, I would always watch the Tonight Show (with whoever’s hosting) for the opening monologue and the first sketch. I haven’t stopped that, but now I watch Conan for the same reason
The show that’s really suffered for me is the Daily Show, as I no longer watch the whole thing anymore
I believe you, but do you have a cite that people claimed these things?
Jay is kicking rating ass.
This is a good graph:
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/01/27/tonight-show-ratings-final-score-conan-obrien-22-jay-leno-4/80436
Basically, Jay isn’t doing any better than Conan was doing. I don’t think anyone was really expecting Conan on TBS to do better than Leno. In general cable ratings are lower, and he’s doing pretty good for where he is. I would say the biggest problem is that he’s on directly opposite The Daily Show, which is more popular and shares a lot of the same viewer base. Notice in that chart above, when TDS took a dive because they were in reruns, Conan’s ratings jumped back up.
I’m not surprised that Leno’s doing okay. The public appetite for genial mediocrity is bottomless.
I still contend Jay was seriously funny at one point in his career. It’s sad to seem him fall so far. He’s one of the best funny storytellers I’ve ever heard, but he mainly just does cheap sex jokes and lame celebrity jokes now.
Just look above in this thread, the guy said Leno would be “poison” to big stars.
I can never figure out why people who like one of these guys have to hate the others. These guys are all good hosts , it’s just a matter of which one you like better. But lately it seems some Letterman fans say he is not good any more and should retire. If they were not good hosts they would not be on the air, TV networks don’t keep shows with bad ratings on the air , they need to make money.
“Successful” is not the same thing as “good.” Not all good artists are successful. Not all successful artists are good.
I don’t disagree with you, but I’d rephrase that. Your first sentence is fine, but I’d change the second to, “Leno has a perfect grasp of what the public wants, and is willing and able to deliver it.”
Tomato, tomahto.
Maybe “Team Coco” and the continual advertising campaign in which Conan really stooped to some pathetic levels, turned some people off.
I’ve watched him exactly once on TBS. I don’t care for the show, and I did like his show on NBC before he moved into the Tonight Show slot. I just don’t think Conan works well in this time slot, and I’m not sure why.
I felt the same way about Letterman (great following Carson), but his CBS show falls flat for me. And George Lopez always missed the mark for me as well. I don’t like being shouted at during the first half hour of any show, especially at that time of the day.
As for what has happened to Leno, I’m not sure. I still enjoy watching his show and monologue, but the jokes have much less wit to them. That may be a product of the audience and the demographics of that audience, instead of him. He appeals to an older audience, and I think that’s more an issue with the time slot, not the performer. My believe is that Letterman would have also had to alter his show to work on NBC on the tonight show.
I think that’s why Conan didn’t work. The crowd that watched Conan (and before him, Letterman), were younger and enjoyed a different type of humor. Moving that same show into a different time slot has not worked. I think NBC’s Tonight Show will never pluck a host from one of the later shows ever again because the audience just doesn’t want that guy at 11:30.
I realize there’s no way to objectively measure this, but I still contend that the stars who’ve appeared on Leno are of a lower quality than the guests for Letterman or Conan. To use the example cited above, Tina Fey appeared on Letterman on Friday and will sit down with Conan on Tuesday. She has not been on Leno all year and isn’t scheduled for an appearance anytime soon.