Leno moves nightly to primetime - Page 2

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

I watch Leno and Conan, so I'm happy for both of them. If Leno keeps the same talk show style, then I could see it hurting Conan's potential audience because they will probably have the same guests. Ellen and Leno already share a lot of the same guests each day.

Then again, there was always doubt whether Conan would appeal to Leno's audience. So if anything, Conan's fans will get to see him at an earlier time, and Leno's fans will get to see him at an earlier time.

~T

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

I'm excited for this. I DVR all the late night shows and genuinely enjoy Leno. I can't wait. Have they said whether or not the bands (Max for Conan or Kevin on the Tonight Show) will go with the new shows?

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

1. Guest expectations for 11:30 are much different than for 12:30. And if the A list are going on Leno's show, Conan is once again stuck with the B List. While the B List in LA is probably stronger than the B List in New York, it's still the B List.

2. While it's likely Letterman will beat Conan in the ratings, Letterman is 25 years older. I think Conan knew that going in Letterman wouldn't be his competitor forever.

3. It's hard to compare ratings for an 11:30 show (Letterman) and a 12:30 show (Conan).

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

I'm far from an expert, but I'm guessing this'll be a mistake. I'm not sure this is the kind of show a prime time audience wants to watch. I wouldn't be surprised if it's another Rosie Live.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

It could even be as successful as the Chevy Chase show was!

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

I have finally given up on NBC for good- Its now official that I do not watch anything on the network. Lets start with Knight Rider- couldn't get past the first episode. All car no story-My own worst enemy- watched a couple of episodes-another badly written show-Heroes-so much negative things have been written and boy they were right!- Chuck- I didn't mind the main story but the back story was a bunch of idiots- couldn't watch anymore- Law and Order- 19 years of the same recycled plots, lets put this one out its misery. Putting Leno on prime time makes it easy- Ive never watched Leno and don't plan to watch him on prime time. As far as it goes NBC no longer exits

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

In fact, I'm spending WAY more time watching stuff on the cable channels nowadays. I watch a lot of ESPN, ESPN2, Discovery Channel, History Channel, CNN, Fox News Channel, and Turner Classic Movies (TCM).

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

So ... You're skipping tonights' Giants/Dallas game, then?

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

You guys make it sound like there are only 4 or 5 guests worth having. Geez, a typical show only has 2-3 guests per night.

I still can't see how Conan in LA would have any more trouble in this area than Conan in NY.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

He'll basically be getting Leno's leftovers. Look at it this way: Everybody moves ahead an hour. The folks who would previously have done The Tonight Show will now do The Jay Leno Show, Conan gets the people who previously would have appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Jimmy gets the folks from The Late Late Show, and Craig Ferguson gets people who wouldn't have been booked at all.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

No, I think Conan's replacement Jimmy Fallon will be working out of NYC.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

Stripping their affiliate status would be a suicide act for NBC. It'd be one thing if they were number one like the '90s. As it stands now, I doubt any of the other stations in the nation's #7 media market are going to want to dump their affiliation for NBC. If NBC's not careful, it could end up on WZMY in Derry, NH with no newscasts and cult hero Al Kaprielian as their sole local on-air talent.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

I am pretty sure there is an independent station in that market that would love to be an NBC affiliate.

I don't really get how a local news show would make them more money that Leno's new show. But then again, I have always hated local news anyway (mainly due to the local news in my area being really bad).

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

I bet several other affiliates will announce a similar plan, especially if they have a strong or competitive local news product. The affiliate potentially stands to make far more money from 10:00-11:00 pm when they have full control over that hour's commercial inventory. Even if they have to include the network commercials that air in Leno's program during the same hour (to satisfy their network commitment) the affiliate can still make more money with a local newscast where they control the inventory.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

NBC already owns a station there that they might convert to an affiliate, so they don't need to convince anyone.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

I don't know the specifics of the Boston's TV stations but I would think the same thing.

Why does anyone think that Leno isn't going to do, at least, OK at 10 PM? Whether you love him or hate him, he's number 1 in late night so I can't imagine that he isn't going to be able to take some of that audience to another time slot. I doubt he'll be able to beat real shows on ABC or CBS but I think he'll be able to hold his own against the CW or Fox affiliate's local news. If Leno's new show is on and it tanks or is getting beaten by other stations' local news, I'd understand saying the Boston affiliate trying to pull this move but as it stands, they're jumping the gun.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

Yes, a Spanish-language station. I would bet most viewers don't even have it programmed into their sets; I didn't when I lived in Boston.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

I guess that Boston station wants to compete against FOX's 10 PM news? I presume it had been showing NBC's previous programming at 10 PM. It seems a bit quick to suddenly push your own local news from 11 PM to 10 PM in favor of the network choice without giving it a try.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

Maybe they can air Leno at 11:00, just like some of those stations that show Saturday Night Live at 11:35 instead of 11:30.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

What is NBC thinking? I only watch Heroes, so I don't really have a complaint, but what about people who do watch shows at 10:00? Those shows are just gone, and NBC will become the lowest rated network (they aren't far from that now). I predict NBC will have a new president very soon, because the one they have now has destroyed it.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

NBC is thinking Leno will do better in prime time than some of the other shows they could be airing.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

To me, Leno at 10:00 is a huge question mark. There's simply no precedent for this.

Also, let's not forget why late night talk shows exist in the first place: they create a revenue stream for local television stations. With Leno moving to 10:00, that transfers a huge chunk of the revenue stream from the local stations to the national broadcaster.

Pitchman, you saw this as a potential benefit for both the national broadcaster and the local affiliates alike, but I tend to disagree with this assumption. One potential backlash is that national advertisers may not want to take such a huge risk on an untested show format, and the local advertisers may not want to swallow the extra cost of advertising at an earlier time.

This reminds me of an experiment the Canadian CBC network tried many years ago: Prime Time News. Back in 1992, the CBC moved their 10 PM national news broadcast to 9 PM. It was a complete disaster.

Could moving Leno from 11:35 to 10:00 result in the same fall-out? Only time will tell.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

Perhaps I didn't explain it well or you misunderstood. I never meant to imply that there was a benefit for the national broadcaster. NBC has nothing to gain by letting a local affiliate NOT air Leno at 10:00 pm. What I was saying is that depending on the terms of their affiliate agreement, NBC may not have a choice in the matter. One potential concession the affiliate has to make is that they still have to air the national ads scheduled to run in Leno's program in that same 10:00 pm hour (or elsewhere during prime time by covering their local avails with the national commercials.)

IMO, the local affiliate stands to gain way more financially from a 10 o'clock local newscast. It doesn't need need to get gangbuster ratings to be financially lucrative, either. It's all about positioning and perception. Historically, local news is the place where lots of different kinds of advertisers want to be. I know from personal experience that when I did a media buy for one of the companies I worked for, I paid $300-$400 a spot for the late local newscast that leads into Leno's Tonight Show, while only $75-$100 a spot for a commercial in the Tonight Show. It's simple math really. If an affiliate has an hour of prime time they can control with their own local programming, they are only limited by what the market will bear as far as what they can make on it.

IMO, the networks have no one to blame for this situation but themselves. Sure, competition is at an all time high and the viewing audience is more fragmented than ever, but it seems like nearly every year, the networks find new ways to chip away at and minimize the valuable prime time real estate that was once their province and domain.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

Like replacing decent shows with lame "Reality", Game and News Shows, and allocating more and more time for additional Commercials.

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

Drat! Beat me to it!