Jay Leno ... Master of Time
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 3:39PM 
Say what you want about Shelly Palmer, the guy makes you think. He's one of those rare old-school media types who have successfully embraced new media (others include Jeff Jarvis, Bill Sobel, Leo Laporte).
Today Shelly commented on last night's premiere of The Jay Leno Show. In a Facebook exchange, he noted, "I wonder how Jay would have done if Johnny Carson started a 10pm show three months after Jay took over the Tonight Show?"
It had always been my contention that Jay wasn't so much giving up The Tonight Show as he was manipulating time itself. All he and NBC did was merely shift the NBC late-night line-up by 90 minutes. The Tonight Show (with a less-funny Jay Leno) is on at 10p, Late Night (with a watered-down yet overproduced Conan O'Brien is on at 11:30p, and Late Late Night (with Jimmy now battling Craig) is on at 12:30p.
The net-net is ... it's a shame. Nothing seems to be working properly now for NBC's late-night line-up. Jay now has too much pressure on him to make a variety show work during crime-hour. Conan has been castrated by a time-slot that I don't believe could handle his AMAZING sense of off-beat humor (the guy is just truly brilliant). And poor Jimmy Fallon has an equal amount of pressure for someone who never really screamed, "talk show host."
I think this was just an overall bad move by NBC, and I don't think it's destined for success. But they had to do something. Ahh, I long for the days of scripted television.
p.s. Please keep Jeff Jarvis in your thoughts and prayers, as he just had prostate surgery this morning.
jay leno, mattsnod, shelly palmer in General 
Reader Comments (3)
It's not a shame -- just another in a series of massive blunders by NBC. Ten years ago they were literally unstoppable from a ratings perspective. But, the world moved on and they didn't.
I've never been a big Leno fan, but this show could go for a while. It has to be way cheaper to produce than a one-hour drama, so the ratings needed to make it profitable are much less. Who knows? Maybe NBC execs are geniuses.
Conan stared with a lot of promise, but never really became great. He's kind of OK funny in a quirky way, but he never fully came into his own in the way that say Jon Stewart has. The new Tonight Show is absolutely unwatchable. I used to watch Conan when he was up against Tom Snyder and then Craig Kilborn. But I found Craig Ferguson to be more consistently funny.
I don't know why I don't watch Craig Ferguson more. He's really funny and has a great rapport with guests, like Letterman does.
Craig Ferguson reminds me a bit of Leno, actually because he comes across with that nice guy/regular Joe kind of personality. But Leno never got too edgy though. Ferguson is always making jokes about being a recovering drug addict and stuff.
I still watch Letterman. He was on auto-pilot for a while, but something about the last presidential election woke him up. He seems to say what's on his mind more lately and in some ways is sharper than ever. They really need to put the Top Ten List to rest at this point.
Any idea if Leno's ratings have given Conan a boost? It's weird because they go from national to local, back to national (talk-news-talk). I'd love to know if the lead-in lasts through the local news.