Look like Jay Leno is taking a bigger whipping than previously thought possible. I saw it the other night with Arsenio Hall assisting and it was pretty poor compared to his old show.
FX’s ‘Anarchy’ is first basic cable series to beat Leno
I hope it’s on the way out. I never watched the Tonight Show with Leno all that much, but didn’t really have anything against the guy. Now I’m starting to hate him a little bit, because his little oasis of mediocrity is sucking up so much screen time that might otherwise be taken up by shows I would actually want to watch.
I would assume that Leno has a multi-year contract with lots of dollars left on it. NBC would probably be unwilling to write off the show while they’re still on the hook for so much money.
I’ve caught a few random moments here and there and the suck-factor is consistently high.
Apropos of nothing, recently The Late Shift has been getting played on the movie networks. It’s a rather dramatized (but nevertheless watchable) account of the contract negotiations and squabbles in the mid nineties when Johnny Carson announced his pending retirement and NBC had to coin-flip between Letterman and Leno. One scene I find particularly interesting is one in which Rupert Murdoch offers an 11 p.m. slot to Letterman. The offer is shortly dismissed since Fox was not yet established as a viable network. I gotta wonder (assuming Fox actually made Letterman a serious offer) what coulda been.
Not to mention that aside from Leno’s gargantuan salary the show is probably pretty cheap to produce. There’s not a large cast- just Jay and the band and most of them are unknowns so they’re probably not making a fortune, and there are probably fewere writers than on a 30 minute sitcom and the set is paid for and the guests receive a small fee, so the network doesn’t have to get CHEERS-in-its-prime ratings to make a profit.
Last night was the first one I’ve watched since the first week, and that was just long enough to watch a mercifully brief and horribly unfunny sketch with Arsenio “Remember Me from the 1980s?” Hall. I didn’t think it possible for Leno to become less funny or more bland but I was wrong.
Leaving aside whether it sucks, leaving aside whether every creative type in television despises the very concept, Leno is still doing what NBC expects of it.
NBC guaranteed an average rating of 1.5 for Leno. And since Leno will be doing new shows 46 weeks a year, NBC is betting he’ll get more viewers while the competition is in reruns.
If, during the beginning of the season, when the competition is strongest, Leno is pulling a rating of 1.8, then the show is doing everything and more NBC promised the advertisers.
Of course, some local affiliates are complaining that their ratings for the late news are down, and that may be dragging Conan’s ratings down as well. If that turns out to be the case, NBC may have to do something, but it will take months of seeing how Leno performs against all types of competition to track that accurately.
Bottom line: don’t expect the show to be cancelled for at least the rest of this season.
The show right now is terrible, but it’s probably salvageable with some retooling. The economics of the situation mean that he has the leeway for some growing pains. I find it pretty surprising that so many of the segments are terrible though. I wonder if NBC will decide to scale back a little and go with maybe a 4 days a week schedule instead and try and build around one big drama in the late slot or a reality show that could cross promote with Leno.
I’m most disappointed by the Green Car Challenge segment. It’s embarrassing for all parties involved and it doesn’t even particularly cast the car in a good light. They essentially ditched the US version of Top Gear they tested out in favor of Leno and his car gimmick, that’s looking like a major mistake.
Well, someone will probably say this eventually. If Leno’s show goes in the tank, it’ll just be karma paying back NBC for canceling “My Name Is Earl”.
Amen to that! I still mourn that show.
Ding Ding. We have a winner.
I heard this on NPR radio the last two days.
I think NBC would rather get a low-rated Leno show on their network than to have him go to CBS or ABC and beat Conan.
Leno isn’t ready to be out of the talk show game, he would have done it to his grave if they let him. This show (which reminds me a little too much of Top Gear for me to be comfortable) is NBC paying him off.
I enjoy Leno. His MOR musings are pleasant, but in the past I couldn’t stay up late enough to enjoy them (he’s an hour later Central Time).
Not to mention “My Own Worst Enemy”.:mad:
I was disappointed that he didn’t try to do anything new or creative with the format. It’s just the same insipid, celebrity promo show as it always was.
The whole format of smarmy actors promoting crappy tv shows and movies has been stagnating for decades already.
So WWE Raw counts as sports?!?
I still haven’t bothered to sample the show because there are Criminal Minds reruns over on Ion.
I’d like to thank Jay Leno for making SOA look good.
If FX cancels SOA I’m gonna be pissed!!