LENO NBC Primetime - 10:00pm MON-FRI*

What kicks the discriminating viewer in the teeth here, is the ratings dump it will be giving better late-night talents such as Conan, Dave and Jon. Why? Because Mr. Play-It-Safe will have the first chance to do a monologue about current events. People who stay up as a habit for "the monologue" to get some humorous spin on the current topics (and perhaps some perspective, which most of us are dying for), will split the audience between sharper wits, and some early guy who's more likely to go for the inoffensive, bland punchline than sharper barbs.

Considering Jay already has a built-in audience, and conservative, older (country's getting older, remember?) viewers may just take the easy route, and take the lame jokes, then nod-off during their own local news (country's getting older, remember? ). So, Jon, Dave and Conan will have less audience to fight over.

You're right - Conan's gotta be steeeeaming...!

 

Also the same 3 punchlines to most of his jokes, I did like he whats your beef Jay on Letterman

 

I think this will fail...and I'll be happy to see it fail. Mainly for two reasons:

1. The class and legacy of Carson's "Tonight Show" was decimated by the lowest-common-denominator comedy antics of Mr. Leno.

2. Another 5 potential weekly hours of scripted TV goes bye-bye.

 

I dont care for Leno.
Letterman is boring.
Who wants to watch Conan flip his head all the time.

For comedy, I watch the 11 o'clock weather.

 

NBC appears to be in its death throes and can, in all likelihood, only be saved by the firing of Jeff Zucker. I know a bunch of execs were marched in front of the firing line on Friday, but the Peacock Network has been slowly bleeding since Zucker took the helm. They can't program the network and they are proceeding to offer their various cable successes (???) as evidence that they are not totally incompetent. But at this rate, Universal will stop making movies that people want to see in the same way that NBC has stopped making TV people want to see.

They're seriously talking about cutting back days and programming hours. 2 years ago, Zucker declared the sitcom dead and suggested the company would move away from scripted programming. This is what happens when a lightbulb company tries to run what is supposed to be a creative business.

They've got to nix the bean-counters and six sigma gurus and get some actual entertainment professionals with experience to right the ship. Otherwise, it's been nice knowing ya NBC!

 

Ultimately I agree with you. I believe this idea is borne out of a desire to save money by getting more "cheap" and "NBC owned" hours on the air.

Ironically, I think the time is right for a variety type of program. These are heavy times, and I bet America is ready for some mindless, goofy entertainment. We're a little burnt out on our own cynicism and reality TV, IMHO. The problem is, they're trying to to it EVERY night rather than making it a special showcase. What's worse is that they are diluting the value and appeal of the Tonight Show franchise.

This whole move will have the impact of making NBC look tawdry and cheap. They are unable to compete in the marketplace of ideas so they are extending/expanding/diluting one of the few things that it working for them. This is just like what they did to the Today show when it went from 2 hours, to 3, to 4!!! It just looks like come corporate identity crap with a bunch of representative talking heads rather than entertainment and stories and other elements that are actually compelling.

You can't run a network on JUST filler. You've got to put a real show on every now and then. NBC just wants to talk, talk, talk...

 

Is Leno supposed to create a new show in the 3 months between his TS exit and his new show 90 minutes earlier?

Somewhat releated is Lettermn's rumoured retirement in 2011 and whether that chair goes to Ferguson or Jon Stewart(when his CC contract expires).

 

Now, if PBS would only move Charlie Rose to 10:00...

 

This means I can NOT watch Leno 1 1/2 hours earlier and get it out of the way.

 

Wow, I guess I was naive in hoping he'd drop off the face of the earth. Seriously though... this makes absolutely no sense.

 

Ferguson is consistently excellent. And I used to be a Conan fan.

 

I agree with all the above except for the weather.

At 11 pm. I watch reruns of Seinfeld.

 

I prefer Ferguson to anyone else right now. But late night comedy just isn't very funny anymore.

 

This is part of GE's stated overall strategy announced in October to maximize profits, chiefly by laying off thousands of workers. BTW, GE is a healthy, profitable company (their profits are actually up this quarter by 6%). In a news release last week, it complained that profits could have been greater, but for the dragging effect of a decrease in NBC's profits by 10% - not that NBC is losing money; it's still making a profit - just not as much this past quarter. And NBC is losing revenue because the prices it can charge for advertising is based upon ratings, and its primetime ratings are abysmal. So, instead of presenting shows people which will attract a large audience, it answers its own failure by presenting shows (reality and game shows) that cost less.

And hypocritically, while NBC News has been heralding David Gregory's ascendency to the host's chair of "Meet The Press" as if it's the second coming, its silence on the personnel cuts to its own news division (including laying off staff from the evening 'Nightly News') has been deafening.

 

What on earth are they going to do in repeat weeks? If I was NBC I'd stick in a guest host...otherwise they'll be writing off entire weeks at 10PM....

 

Jay would work 50 weeks a year, but NBC and the show staff wouldn't let him do it at 11:30.

That, or they can just have specials for a week. Things like the Olympics or other sports/political that's worthy of primetime.

 

I see it as a nice return to the evening variety show. His format may change a bit as a result of the time change.

I'm assuming it will be on at 9:00 P.M. in the Mountain time zone.

 

I have intimate experience with this.:thumbsdn:

The problem is that they're doing math based on producing the "results" they want today. They're lowering overhead to increase their profit margin, but they're doing it at the cost of not having a viable future. At some point, you've got to pony up and invest in a business as if you believe in it. Zucker should get bounced because he believes there's no growth in the business he's running and is operating on the premise that you've got to get what you can out of it WHILE you can.

What really gets me is that, while the network slowly fails itself into oblivion, Zucker and company make broad pronouncements about the changing nature of the business and what does and doesn't work in the present and future. If Jeff Zucker had the first clue as to what actually worked, NBC would be spending money on quality programs and enjoying rating that looked more like CBS's. That instead offering stupid platitudes about scripted programming not having a future while Fox and CBS kick their butts with -- scripted programming. But they've been watching margins for well over ten years -- they were obsessing over the cost of Friends and ER back in the day instead of enjoying the success these programs were creating for the network.

Zucker has come right out and said, recently, that ratings for his beleagured network don't matter. I think he really believes this! Even now, NBC Universal's "House" is a huge hit but they are satisfied to sell it to Fox, rerun it on USA and make money off the DVDs rather than produce ratings on NBC.

Seriously, even if GE wants to divest itself of NBC they've got to cut this albatross loose so that they can at least produce enough success to market itself as a sellable asset. They won't know how bad they've screwed NBC up until they eventually sell it and somebody else does a proper job of running it.

 

I can't believe they would go near anything in the "variety" format after that "Rosie Live" abomination...

Then again, it is NBC...well said, emkay, about their current tailspin...someone needs to tell them having models open suitcases filled with money is probably not a long-term plan to build a successful network-it's a cheap ratings high that will soon wear off...

 

NBC : "The Tonight Show...crunch all you want, we'll make more!"

 

Yeh, I don't think variety worked even when their were lots of variety shows. Donnie and Marie? Sonny and Cher? Tony Orlando and Dawn? Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters? Shields and Yarnell?

The *only* successful variety show that should be copied is Sabado Gigante - it is consistently entertaining and I do not speak spanish.

P.S. I guess The Muppet show can be looked at as a variety show - in which case it may have been the most entertaining variety show ever.

I don't really think Carol Burnett is a format that Leno could pull off - and Ed Sullivan? Fuhgitaboutit.

 

This is a stopgap measure IMO. It may deliver okay ratings over the summer, but once primetime returns in earnest in the fall, I think NBC will quickly realize they are surrendering an hour of primetime to the CBS procedurals juggernaut. It may not cost much to produce a nightly hour of Leno at 10 PM, but if the ratings are not there, then neither is the advertising revenue. If history is an indicator, it took well over a year for Leno to find his footing at 11:30 PM (and he was aided greatly by a timely Hugh Grant booking.) I think for Leno to work at 10 PM and to deliver the kind of audience NBC wants; his program needs to be considerably more than what he is presently doing at 11:30 PM. I seriously doubt NBC will sit by for a year or more waiting for the new program to work at 10 PM. What happens during sweeps? I think a lot of NBC network affiliates will be pretty unhappy about Leno going up against high-powered stunting and events on rival networks. In addition, just because Leno has proved to be a valuable lead-out to late local news does not necessarily mean he will be a strong lead-in.

I may be overly cynical here, but I do think this a shrewd move by NBC… at least in the short term. They successfully blunt any attempt by Leno to compete with them in an important, lucrative timeslot. However, come November or December, when they pull the plug on the 10 PM show, Leno is viewed as a failure and his value goes down, making him less marketable in late night.

Personally, I do not watch Leno in late night, so I will not be watching him at 10 PM. The only NBC programming I watch these days is 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights and Medium.

 

Conan must be fuming over this....

Great cost-cutting move for NBC....

 

Conan officially becomes the Fredo of the NBC family.

 

Carson had the insight to know when to call it quits and retire with dignity, and more important, stay retired despite the constant requests for comeback appearances. His producer cited Bob Hope as a reference of someone overstaying their welcome still doing the same outdated material that didn't connect with the audiences anymore. Obviously Leno doesn't see the shark behind him that he jumped long ago. Just a hack who can only draw fake laughs from Winton. I predict this new show will bomb like the Hindenburg as it's more difficult than ever for network late primetime to compete with basic cable.