Jay Leno Show "Wreaks Havoc" For NBC Affiliates' 11PM Newscasts

Los Angeles Times:

Call it the Leno effect. NBC's controversial decision to shift the late-night talk show host to 10 p.m. has been billed as a savvy business move that enabled NBC to substitute a low-cost talk show for expensive scripted dramas. But now it's playing havoc with many of NBC's more than 200 affiliates, where Leno's weaker "lead-in" is undermining audiences of 11 p.m. newscasts. News programs are crucial for local stations, which draw upon them for a third of their revenue.

Read the whole story: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[FerrellGummitt]

Airing reruns of "The Simpsons" beats two of the local news broadcasts here in Chicago. Maybe the National Broadcasting Company could try that.

[marka]

Night time talk shows and reality shows in general don't hold my interest. This year I am watching more of PBS than I am network programing. NBC needs to spend the year putting together a roster of quality scripted shows, air them next year, and stick with them until they find audiences. They did this once before and became the top network for a time. I suggest that they go back to the future.

[KingCujo]

Leno at 10 equals big mistake.

[BambooHarvester]

Horse Head, ain't it true jay walking should be called Howard Stearn walking ?
~

[matt832]

I'll watch reruns of reruns long before I'd watch Leno.

He dumbed down the Tonight Show to the point only people with a 3'rd grade education found it interesting.

[ChiGuy]

"The network...­cautions patience as viewers discover the new time slot for the talk show king."
__________­__________­__________­__________­__________­__________

The experiment is a big old bust, and they know it.
But they'll cling to that ridiculous logic for as long as possible before they finally admit the obvious.

Leno was a bore on the Tonight Show, and he did nothing to improve when he moved to prime time.

What a shame that high quality shows like "Southland" had to become the victims of NBC's experiment in cheapness, while they cling to banal pap like the new shows "Mercy" and "Trauma".

[Imzadi]

Co-sign! We watched one episode of each of those shows and removed them from our TiVo schedule. Gawd-awful.

"Three Rivers", (CBS) on the other hand, is watchable.

[PepperzMom]

Haven't watched Leno since 2004. Haven't missed him one bit.

[ChiGuy]

Wow. You held on for quite a while before pulling the plug.
I quit watching the Tonight Show after the first 20 minutes of Leno's first official show.

[PepperzMom]

Guess I was a bit of a glutton for punishment. Eventually, his show got stale.

At least with Letterman, you always have another new top 10 to look forward to.

[TurgidCaterwauling]

Jay Leno: Law & Order. That ought to take care of things.

[glesslib]

Many years ago, when Jay was a standup, he was very funny. No, really, he was. Familiarity breeds contempt, though. I tired of him years ago. Now the every night thing again is the last straw. This should have been a once-a-week deal. It would have given him and his writers an opportunity to come up with something fresh occasionally. This show is tired and boring.

[countfloyd]

His stand-up is still great but his instincts on skits and other material is bad. That's why the Tonight Show worked. He did his stand-up with some very quick bits then it was on to the guests.

[firstliberalelitist]

Are you kidding me?

[mockley]

Keith Sherin said, "Four weeks in, 'The Jay Leno Show' is exceeding our ratings estimates, as are Conan [O'Brien] and [Jimmy] Fallon. So we are happy with the 10 o'clock and late-night performanc­e."

Their expectations must have been pretty low. Leno's a hack comic who personified the Peter Principle when he landed the Tonight Show.
NBC has a problem though. If they cancel him, they will be admitting to one of the major gaffs in Tevee history.

[NHBill]

results say otherwise. 17 years of success. 15 #1 in latenight

[lafayette2009]

I used to watch the Tonight show but have not bothered with this one.

If this continues, Jay Leno's ratings will be as low as O'Reilly's!! .... lol

[simpleperson]

Which would still be crushing Olbermann and Maddow.

[lafayette2009]

All the cable news ratings combined don't match the lowest of the MSM primetime news shows, which is 5.8 million. Combined, the big 3 = 20 million a night.

The only cable news show we watch regularly (and that is on DVR) is Rachel Maddow who is the best and the newest.

The point everyone seems to overlook in the MSNBC/CNN/FOX ratings argument is that they are insignificant in terms of share.

The loud minority in action.

[truthartbeauty]

he was perfect for the tonight show and changing that was the mistake.

[rivergirl301]

Did anyone go, oh boy, oh boy, Jay Leno is back. Can't wait to get in on some of that. Everyone knew it would be a disaster, except apparently for NBC. Duh.

[MAragon]

The networks and especially NBC has been cutting off its nose to spite its face - killing off good shows right and left instead of letting them build up followings, which is interesting considering that's what they're so very willing to do for Leno. If Leno had been a regular show, they'd be talking cancellation already. A list of shows that are no more and should still be - and feel free to ring in with your examples from the networks' myopic programming decisions: Life, Reaper, Boomtown, ....
I almost never watched Leno and I don't now. His hogging the ten o'clock slot is already hurting solid shows like Law and Order: SVU, etc. Perhaps it would be a good thing if Comcast took over. They might bring back real entertainment.

[NHBill]

NBC can no longer afford "the good shows" The ratings did not support the production costs.

[SharonaMonk]

I was very disappointed when they canceled Journeyman.