Jay Leno at 10/9?

[cgallery]

Jay Leno at 10/9?

I give it one year.

[LinuxRandal]

I tend to tune in Leno for the Headlines segment, and I have twice tried to view his car stuff online (Windows oriented, and I believe Flash which isn't available for my OS). The part of Letterman that I used to like was Larry "Bud" Melman, otherwise he seemed more sophmoric to me (personal preference/tastes).

However I really rarely watch either one, as NEITHER comes close to Johnny. I think the next host of TTS, will be the death of it. The question for me, is how long will this Conan/Letterman clone go, before the offer to move Jay's new show.

[cgallery]

I pretty much agree with everything you've said. I will add that on any given night, Letterman's monologue is awful. It is like he doesn't even care.

While I've noticed the younger generation really likes Conan a lot, his style and energy are going to be a turn-off to much of what is now the TTS core demographic.

So this may very well be a "cover our bets if Conan flops" move. That is, keep Leno in mix in the case that they have to reinstall him after the news.

One thought that keeps crossing my mind, though, is that the pool of hosts is probably pretty limited. After all, the job requires working nearly every single weeknight for months on end without going insane. Long breaks are a problem for the network, as people tune out.

Carson's use of guest hosts was a workaround, but it launched some competition which I'm sure makes networks nervous.

Leno doesn't use guest hosts, and he doesn't invite many standups any more. I think he still wants TTS, and has probably been fighting for it behind the scenes. Or perhaps he has been protecting Conan from what NBC did to Letterman.

[LCHIEN]

the TV analysts say that moving JL to the prinme time spot was a calculated risk. One it keeps Leno away from the competition. Second, their 10/9 shows have been a commercial and ratings disappointment and putting Leno in the spot can not do much worse and his type of show has 1/10th the production costs of a scripted series per show. And its pointed out, people don't like to join a scripted show in mid show whereas a talk show you can join at any time so they will pick up people tuning in for the news.

[stocktr8er]

I feel the move is only going to drive watchers to other networks such as TNT with their new shows such as Leverage or Trust Me.

What is going to happen to the line up currently in place. I know ER is gone but what about Law & Order and Dateline??

I know networks give a show only 1 or 2 tries to pick up an audience but now they don't even have a place to even try. It is a shame , NBC once "must see tv" and now....

[Uncle Cracker]

It wouldn't surprise me to see Leno back at 11:30 very soon. Even as bad as Letterman is, Conan O'Brien is incredibly annoying and pitiful. Letterman will crush him, and NBC will figure a way to get Leno back in that spot. They're probably hoping that putting him on ahead of Conan will help Conan last longer, and will keep Leno in the NBC fold if they do end up needing him back at 11:30.

[BobSch]

(Being a total optimist here.) Maybe Leno will be a hit and it will bring back the old-style variety shows.

Like I said, I'm being an optimist.

[billwmeyer]

Leno

I agree with Bob. I am looking forward to seeing him in prime time. He was kind of handcuffed moving in after Johnny Carson. He had to keep the same format that had been done for years. I think if he moves into prime time and does the same thing it will flop, but if he bring something fresh to the show it will go over very well. I too would like a variety type show back on the air, but not a Rosie O'Donnel version.

Bill

[gsmittle]

I too would like a variety type show back on the air, but not a Rosie O'Donnel version.

Bill

More like a Red Skelton/Carol Burnett type of variety show...

g.