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Leno moves nightly to primetime - Page 3

post #61 of 163
4/5/09 at 8:04pm

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

What do you think NBC will do if Leno fails? After all, you can't have the President on every night. Do you really think they would give up 10 PM to the affiliates (and I wouldn't put it past Jeff Zucker, who at this rate will be CEO of GE)?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Regulus
Like replacing decent shows with lame "Reality", Game and News Shows, and allocating more and more time for additional Commercials.

You said it. How long until we get 30 minutes of commercials an hour?
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post #62 of 163
4/5/09 at 11:07pm

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

Dunno if I'm the norm, but I'm likely not alone. I pay very little attention to either networks , cable , OR prime time. It's all about the shows I want to watch. I pretty much time shift them all via DVR anyway to fit my schedule.

I never did like local news coming on at 10 PM though when I did pay attention to such things. I liked my news at 11PM. We mainly watched it for the weather. then came the weather channel. But that's still too slow. Now with the internet, instant weather and forecasts are personalized/localized as I need. No need for network or local weather/news for my family.

Now, I never watch news on TV. I get it quicker via the internet, so I never watch any news broadcasts. Besides, I hate All the meaningless banter newscasters must perform.

I'll DVR Leno and watch him like I do now, when I want.
The old network structure is a thing of the past, at least to me.
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post #63 of 163
4/6/09 at 4:12am

Re: Leno moves nightly to primetime

Quote:
Originally Posted by Harpozep
The old network structure is a thing of the past, at lest to me.

Isn't that the truth! Thanks to DVDs, DVRs and other Recording Devices, Scheduled Television (What is being known as "Appointment Television" by those in the Business) has become, IMO OBSOLETE.

Last Week I read a Station in Scranton, Pa is DOING AWAY with their Local Newscasts, claiming they can make more money on Syndicated Shows than they can on the Newscasts.
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post #64 of 163
9/15/09 at 12:36am
OK, so I tried to watch this tonight out of curiosity. The opening to the show was complete lameness. (Seriously - that intro sequence was 10x worse than last year's Tonight Show intro, which itself was hardly iconic). Jay's humor is still the same - which make me sleep personally, but he also felt a bit off, even for his typical routine material. A bit rusty, perhaps? The whole thing just felt overly manufactured and... antiseptic, and I frankly was too bored to keep it on once Oprah's cameo began.

My assessment: the ~20 minutes I saw was D-U-L-L; borderline awful, actually, which was NOT what I had expected from someone with Leno's experience.

I don't think I'll be tuning in again.
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post #65 of 163
9/15/09 at 5:20am
I watched the first 20 minutes or so. It was Leno...at 10pm. If you like Leno, you'll like this. And if you can't stay up for the late shows, but really enjoy Leno, this is good news for you. And if you're part of the 71% of the TV-viewing audience that can't follow a week-to-week plotline, then this is perfect for you.

But I'm a scripted TV guy, and have no interest in primetime Leno.
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post #66 of 163
9/15/09 at 10:54am


Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveF View Post

 It was Leno...at 10pm.

Yup, it felt like they had yanked The Tonight Show from Conan and stuck it before the late local news. I know Conan has been very gracious and tried to put a good face on this whole situation, but behind closed doors he has to be PISSED. NBC has shown once again how inept they are as a network these days by making this move.
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post #67 of 163
9/15/09 at 5:01pm
"Leno" debut scores 17.7 million viewers, doubling NBC's 2008 season 10 PM scripted average
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post #68 of 163
9/15/09 at 5:49pm
Will it maintain, rise or fall? Lots would tune in the first episode. I did.

Of course, at something like 1/4 the cost of a drama, it can have 1/4 the audience and still not be a loser. If it merely keeps a normal audience, it's much more profitable for the network.
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post #69 of 163
9/15/09 at 6:04pm
 As long as that singing car wash guy doesn't become a regular, it should do okay. Uggh, that was dreadful.
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post #70 of 163
9/15/09 at 7:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveF View Post

Will it maintain, rise or fall? Lots would tune in the first episode. I did.

Of course, at something like 1/4 the cost of a drama, it can have 1/4 the audience and still not be a loser. If it merely keeps a normal audience, it's much more profitable for the network.
It will fall. But even if it bottoms out at half its debut numbers, it will still be roughly on par with the ratings of the scripted dramas it is replacing at a far lower cost. It will also benefit from being fresh content when its scripted competition is in repeats.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewA View Post

 As long as that singing car wash guy doesn't become a regular, it should do okay. Uggh, that was dreadful.
I think he will be, but I agree. I happened to tune in right when Jay was introducing it and it inspired me to tune right out again. I actually like the idea of regular remotes with a roster of mid-level comedians, but they have to be good comedians.
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post #71 of 163
9/15/09 at 9:42pm
I just happened to turn it on tonight near the end of the show and saw Michael Moore singing. That was enough to get me to change the channel right away. Between that and Kanye West's appearance last night I have to say this show is off to a very weird start and I certainly don't think I'll be a regular(or even occasional) viewer.
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post #72 of 163
9/15/09 at 11:49pm
I thought tonights ep was much better. The only awkward segment was the questions with Cruise and Diaz. They kept talking over each other and you really couldn't hear and Jay was forced to keep the questions moving. It could have been a funny banter between everyone but they forced the questions cutting off any momentum. Jim Norton's piece was also long and not that funny. I liked him much better on Tough Crowd.

Michael Moores segment wasn't bad either and making the guest 'earn' their plug could be interesting down the road. Moore singing wasn't all that bad considering the leadup.

It isn't a bad show, no worse/better than The Tonight Show, but I am really hoping they bring in more Jay and his interests than just making this Tonight Show light. They kind of are doing it by giving comedians a forum, but I want to see the stuff with Jay and cars. Top Gear has shown how entertaining they can make that even to people with zero interest in cars.
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post #73 of 163
9/16/09 at 2:59am
It's not just 1/4 the price of scripted programming; it's 1/4 the price, providing 5 times as much programming.  There's practically no way it could fail, except ABC and CBS follow-suit.
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post #74 of 163
9/16/09 at 2:39pm
Monday night's show had 18.5 million viewers on Monday night. Tuesday night was down to 11.5 million. Wonder where it will bottom out.
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post #75 of 163
9/17/09 at 3:01am
18.5 million was ridiculous.  No one expected it to be anywhere near that high.

To answer your question, anything above 8 1/2 million viewers is a big success.   They're still making more money with Leno than with what it replaced even at 4 1/2 million viewers.   Leno would be a financial failure if he routinely got less than 4 million viewers.
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post #76 of 163
9/17/09 at 5:45am
Thread Starter 
A little bit too easy.  Yes, at 8.5M Leno would be a success.. right now he's got the best turf, he's running against no new programming anywhere.  That changes next week, so we'll see.

 

But the real comparison of how this wins/loses if also how this impacts the Tonight Show.. once dominant, NBC is getting beaten in total ratings and nodded up in demos if not beaten in many that they used to dominate. 
 

If the Tonight Show continues to underperform, then that also figures into the Leno move and makes the entire enterprise not an entirely positive one.

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post #77 of 163
9/17/09 at 6:40am
Who's to say that the Tonight Show with Conan wasn't going to bomb anyway?  A lot of people who have watched the Tonight Show for a long time say that Conan is no Jay Leno, some even going so far as to saying that the show is no longer worth watching on its own merits.
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post #78 of 163
9/17/09 at 6:48am

I know some people have this weird hatred of Jay Leno and want to see him and NBC fail but I still don't understand how or why anyone thought that would happen. Love or hate the guy, he's got fans so why wouldn't they continue to watch him when he's doing the same basic show?

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post #79 of 163
9/17/09 at 8:02am
Thread Starter 

Quote:
Who's to say that the Tonight Show with Conan wasn't going to bomb anyway?  A lot of people who have watched the Tonight Show for a long time say that Conan is no Jay Leno, some even going so far as to saying that the show is no longer worth watching on its own merits.

 

I'm not to say it wouldn't bomb anyway.  I'm saying the decision to bump Jay for Conan and move Jay may turn out to be a strategic terrible move, worse then re-negotiating with Conan for more $ or letting him go.  That's the question that hovers over this.

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post #80 of 163
9/17/09 at 10:41am
     Quote:
Originally Posted by TravisR View Post

I know some people have this weird hatred of Jay Leno and want to see him and NBC fail but I still don't understand how or why anyone thought that would happen. Love or hate the guy, he's got fans so why wouldn't they continue to watch him when he's doing the same basic show?


A lot of people are still bitter that Letterman didn't get the Tonight Show. Me, I'd watch Johnny Carson reruns if they were aired.

Still, some people forget how bad Leno's Tonight Show was starting out. In fact, the first four months under Helen Kushnick's tenure as executive producer were disastrous. I heard Jay forbade them from ever airing again. This is covered in the book "The Late Show," by Bill Carter.
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post #81 of 163
9/17/09 at 10:42am


Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian^K View Post

Who's to say that the Tonight Show with Conan wasn't going to bomb anyway?  A lot of people who have watched the Tonight Show for a long time say that Conan is no Jay Leno, some even going so far as to saying that the show is no longer worth watching on its own merits.

Conan was much better suited for the 12:30 slot where his irreverent sense of humor was allowed to flow freely. He's had to "clean up" his act a little bit too much for the Tonight Show gig and it has definitely impacted the overall feel of the show. I'm not a fan of Leno's comedy, but I do wish he still had Tonight Show and Conan would've continued to do Late Night where he was able to get by with just about anything.
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post #82 of 163
9/17/09 at 10:56am


Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewA View Post

     Quote:
 


A lot of people are still bitter that Letterman didn't get the Tonight Show.

 


If that's why some people hate Leno, I don't know whether to laugh at them or feel bad for them.

Personally, the only time that I watch a late night show is when I'm interested in the guest. I like Conan and find him funny but I don't even watch if I don't care about the guest.
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post #83 of 163
9/17/09 at 1:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattCR View Post

 

I'm not to say it wouldn't bomb anyway.  I'm saying the decision to bump Jay for Conan and move Jay may turn out to be a strategic terrible move....  That's the question that hovers over this.


I think the point, though, is that there is a difference between making that assertion based on sound foundation, and making that assertion simply because you don't like the ramifications of this being a success.  The vast majority of criticisms of The Jay Leno Show and NBC programming it five nights a week, stem from animosity for the content of the program, not sincere informed concern for its chances of success.  There are a lot of people in Hollywood who stand to lose a lot (like a good number of future jobs) if this is a success.  And there are a lot of viewers who favor scripted programming who stand to lose a lot, as well.  And that fear of this being successful is prompting a lot of the criticisms, with practically nothing else serving as foundation for the assertion that this was, as you say, "a strategic terrible move...."

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post #84 of 163
9/17/09 at 1:40pm
Same here. It's the guests that determine if I'll watch Conan's Tonight Show in its entirety. Luckily Conan's best bits are at the beginning of the show, and don't run forever as on Letterman.

Unfortunately, Leno is starting to resemble Letterman in that his comedy bits run for way too long, but they're shuffled all over the place.

Interesting enough, one of the best way to measure a show's true popularity is by their presence on BitTorrent tracking sites. Fallon's show only managed two weeks before it disappeared entirely. Conan has been on BitTorrent sites consistently for years although there sometimes was the occasional delay in posting the latest shows. Jimmy Kimmel only shows up occasionally, with Letterman being more frequent in his appearances but never complete.

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report show up consistently through thick and thin.
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post #85 of 163
9/18/09 at 11:24pm
Ok the track segment and the track itself is horrible. Top Gear it is not. So I'm done, I can't even try to defend this show anymore. It blows, is filled with awkward bits (10@10 anyone?) and just isn't that good.
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post #86 of 163
9/19/09 at 10:49am
If you're into cars and just want to see Leno driving them and talking about them, check out jaylenosgarage.com. It's much more entertaining than his show IMHO.
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post #87 of 163
9/19/09 at 12:05pm
10 @ 10 sounds like a local evening news gimmick.

Mel Gibson was kind of showing his age.

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post #88 of 163
9/19/09 at 4:12pm
I agree which is why I was hoping he would bring some of that Leno to the Jay Leno Show. I think primetime audiences could get a kick out of a jet engined powered car, or Leno spinning out at 198mph in his Carrera GT or just trying to do a burnout in a Smart Fortwo. :)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent M View Post

If you're into cars and just want to see Leno driving them and talking about them, check out jaylenosgarage.com. It's much more entertaining than his show IMHO.


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post #89 of 163
9/20/09 at 3:28pm


Quote:
Originally Posted by Francois Caron View Post

Interesting enough, one of the best way to measure a show's true popularity is by their presence on BitTorrent tracking sites. Fallon's show only managed two weeks before it disappeared entirely. Conan has been on BitTorrent sites consistently for years although there sometimes was the occasional delay in posting the latest shows. Jimmy Kimmel only shows up occasionally, with Letterman being more frequent in his appearances but never complete.

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report show up consistently through thick and thin.
 


this is quite true and i believe it is more accurate than nielsen to gauge the popularity of a show.
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post #90 of 163
9/20/09 at 3:46pm


Quote:
Originally Posted by Diallo B View Post
this is quite true and i believe it is more accurate than nielsen.

It's not true at all, it only covers a select "techie" sub-demographic, and then doesn't account for the rapidly growing popularity in other online media outlets like Hulu-- which carries every late night show listed save for Letterman.
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