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.
If that's why some people hate Leno, I don't know whether to laugh at them or feel bad for them.
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...."
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.
What about old people that by and large don't steal shows online? The only accurate gauge torrent sites can give is to see what nerds (a group that I count myself as part of) and somewhat tech savvy people are watching.
There are several logical problems with this argument. For one thing, the demographics that use Bittorrent are dramatically different than the demographics that watch network television. For another, the demographics are dramatically skewed toward international audiences that turn to Bittorrent to access programming that may not be available in their own country for months, if ever.
What I said was that, a) I'm skeptical that file sharing statistics are representative of broader popularity -- especially in shows that skew older like the late night shows and the b) popularity among viewers that don't contribute to revenue doesn't matter.
But no biggie, as I was responding more to Brian^K's post above yours, while realizing you had expressed a similar idea. But I have to ask, why should I use my extensive skill-set, imagination, and intelligence to do the entertainment industries job for them. Also I'm a hippie and I think everything should be free.
This is an inanely myopic perspective, not to mention ridiculously rude and puerile.
It is true that Adam and I agree about this, but your interpretation was out of context. Put it back into context, i.e. a comparison to the effect of popularity. That's what matters. Popularity for popularity's sake is vacuous. And there is nothing about popularity of something on a bittorrent that indicates clearly how much money a broadcaster can make off of that item. What Adam perhaps was too polite to point out was that often popularity of something on a bittorrent indicates a heavy interest in getting something for free, the exact opposite of what fosters the objectives of business.
No, you're putting downloaders in the context that they don't matter, and I'm pointing out that it's the industries job to make them matter. They can either find someway to use that audience or they can enjoy their upcoming layoffs. A loyal viewership is a loyal viewership regardless the venue. Time marches on, the audience changes, the industry has to change with them.
What this sentence indicates is a heavy misunderstanding of bittorrent and its users. I'll just point out that it doesn't matter where you watch Leno, Conan, etc., it's always free.
OMG you're a hippie too!!!
I see what you mean but if they're not watching ads, they don't matter to the advertisers or networks and so they don't count.
