Jay Leno - Shows, Projects, and News
12-10-08, 06:14 AM
#52
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Wow, I'm with the poster who said that now we don't have to worry about DVR conflicts with NBC at 10 p.m. Not really a late night fan, and of those currently on, I prefer DL. So CSI Miami, Eli Stone, CSI NY and Numb3rs are safe...
EDIT: Forget what I said about Eli Stone, already toast.
EDIT: Forget what I said about Eli Stone, already toast.
12-10-08, 08:38 AM
#54
DVD Talk Limited Edition
It's astonishing how far NBC has fallen where they can't even afford to program a full schedule. It used to be the gold standard with shows like Cosby, Cheers, Seinfeld, Friends, etc. Now they want to follow the likes of netlets FOX and CW by cutting back hours, even days, of programming. Sad. Just sad.
12-10-08, 09:37 AM
#55
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12-10-08, 10:02 AM
#56
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I think that assuming that Leno will manage to pull in 5 million viewers at 10 PM like he does at 11:30 is a mistake. Getting those numbers when there's no competition (except Letterman) is one thing. Getting those numbers when there's plenty of competition from scripted shows is another.
Still, I like Leno and I hope he does well.
Still, I like Leno and I hope he does well.
12-10-08, 11:31 AM
#58
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Good for Leno. Always liked him better than Letterman & especially Conan. Letterman always seems bitter & Conan isn't that funny to me. Don't see why Leno's show will be any different than the Tonight show other than the name. Why mess with what works?
How is Leno screwing Conan? Will people that stay up for Jay suddenly go to bed earlier? No, they'll stay up to the same time they normally do. If anything, Conan could get more of an audience from Tonight show viewers or people that don't normally stay up until his 1-1:30am. If anyone is going to screw Conan, it will be Letterman since some Tonight Show viewers might now switch over to CBS since Jay isn't on.
How is Leno screwing Conan? Will people that stay up for Jay suddenly go to bed earlier? No, they'll stay up to the same time they normally do. If anything, Conan could get more of an audience from Tonight show viewers or people that don't normally stay up until his 1-1:30am. If anyone is going to screw Conan, it will be Letterman since some Tonight Show viewers might now switch over to CBS since Jay isn't on.
12-10-08, 11:54 AM
#60
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I love this move. I can't stand Conan which makes 11:35 easy for me (no more switching between Leno & Letterman depending on guests). If Letterman has decent guests I'll watch & if not I get more sleep. I'll love watching Leno & will tape any 10pm dramas I care to watch.
12-10-08, 06:01 PM
#63
Senior Member
It seems like this should get good ratings when everything else is reruns.
12-10-08, 06:02 PM
#64
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Not live, but live-to-tape (like how TS is - minimal, if any, edits/cuts). One of the articles I read yesterday said it would be taped a couple hours before airing (it was either 2 or 3, I can't remember).
12-10-08, 08:35 PM
#65
DVD Talk Limited Edition
I enjoyed this story...
CBS boss Les Moonves challenges Jay Leno to ratings duel
NEW YORK - CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves challenged Jay Leno to a ratings duel when the late-night talk show host moves his NBC show to a prime-time slot of 10 p.m. next fall.
"I will bet anybody who would like to bet that 'CSI: Miami' on Monday night at 10 o'clock will beat Jay by a lot. Remember that. By a lot," Moonves said Wednesday at an investor conference hosted by UBS.
Moonves said CBS was winning the ratings war on four of the five weeknights in the 10 p.m. time slot, with its shows such as "Without a Trace" and "CSI: NY."
The network also benefits from selling those shows to syndication, to overseas markets and on DVD.
"They are sold in 12 different ways," he said. "We think taking the third competitor out of the marketplace will make us even stronger in terms of all those areas."
Leno, for his part, said Tuesday that he didn't expect his nightly show to beat any other 10 p.m. show in the beginning, but would benefit from running at least 46 weeks of the year, including when other shows are in reruns.
NBC has taken a pummelling this season with lacklustre new dramas such as "My Own Worst Enemy" and "Knight Rider" and a disappointing third season for "Heroes." It is seeking to pare down the costs of producing scripted shows.
Last week, NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., laid off about 500 employees, or about 3 per cent of its work force, as part of a plan to trim $500 million next year.
"Network television is all about having hit shows. We have hit shows every night of the week," Moonves said. "It remains a good business, and when the advertising markets come back in full force, it will be extremely effective for us."
NEW YORK - CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves challenged Jay Leno to a ratings duel when the late-night talk show host moves his NBC show to a prime-time slot of 10 p.m. next fall.
"I will bet anybody who would like to bet that 'CSI: Miami' on Monday night at 10 o'clock will beat Jay by a lot. Remember that. By a lot," Moonves said Wednesday at an investor conference hosted by UBS.
Moonves said CBS was winning the ratings war on four of the five weeknights in the 10 p.m. time slot, with its shows such as "Without a Trace" and "CSI: NY."
The network also benefits from selling those shows to syndication, to overseas markets and on DVD.
"They are sold in 12 different ways," he said. "We think taking the third competitor out of the marketplace will make us even stronger in terms of all those areas."
Leno, for his part, said Tuesday that he didn't expect his nightly show to beat any other 10 p.m. show in the beginning, but would benefit from running at least 46 weeks of the year, including when other shows are in reruns.
NBC has taken a pummelling this season with lacklustre new dramas such as "My Own Worst Enemy" and "Knight Rider" and a disappointing third season for "Heroes." It is seeking to pare down the costs of producing scripted shows.
Last week, NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co., laid off about 500 employees, or about 3 per cent of its work force, as part of a plan to trim $500 million next year.
"Network television is all about having hit shows. We have hit shows every night of the week," Moonves said. "It remains a good business, and when the advertising markets come back in full force, it will be extremely effective for us."
12-10-08, 08:57 PM
#68
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Has anyone heard exactly how many shows a season and/or year Jay will do? Is it the 22-24 weeks a year model, or more like 'The Daily Show', for example, where they do shows for a month or two, then a week-long break?
12-10-08, 09:53 PM
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Short term, it could work -- but audiences could quickly tire of talk show overload (Letterman, Leno, Conan, Kimmel, Fallon -- not to mention Stewart and Colbert). By fall NBC will be running promos for a three hour block of talks shows. The celebrity-plugging-their-blank pool will get shallow real quick (especially when your own network has very little to plug).
The other problem NBC is neglecting: there are no lead-ins to prop this. Heroes is faltering. Tuesday? Does SVU move down an hour and take on The Mentalist and Dancing with the Stars? Wednesday? L&O? 30 Rock has never been a ratings winner, outside of the short-lived bump this season. Friday, forget it.
The other problem NBC is neglecting: there are no lead-ins to prop this. Heroes is faltering. Tuesday? Does SVU move down an hour and take on The Mentalist and Dancing with the Stars? Wednesday? L&O? 30 Rock has never been a ratings winner, outside of the short-lived bump this season. Friday, forget it.
Last edited by Adboy151; 12-10-08 at 10:08 PM.
12-11-08, 01:18 AM
#71
DVD Talk God
I'm very skeptical this show will make much money for NBC. $50M salary for Jay in addition to production costs and staff that he needs to hire. I can't imagine this will make any type of dent into the ratings Monday-Friday and be profitable.
12-11-08, 08:20 AM
#72
DVD Talk Limited Edition
No wonder NBC/Universal is in such trouble with multi-million dollar blunders like this.
12-11-08, 09:53 AM
#74
DVD Talk God
Conan talked about this on his show. He said he has known about the deal for a while and is very supportive of it. I couldn't tell if he was being genuine or toeing the company line.
12-11-08, 10:51 AM
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Leno's prime-time move just another uninspired NBC idea
NBC would like you to believe that its strange scheme to install Jay Leno in a weeknight show at 10 p.m. is a bold stroke of prime-time genius. Don't fall for it. With this move, a once-dominant network is waving the white flag of surrender.
By asking Leno to take the ball and run with the 10 p.m. slot Monday through Friday, the beleaguered Peacock is essentially admitting that it no longer has the resources, the innovative know-how or the brainpower to produce quality late-night dramas.
So sad. So pathetic. This is NBC, after all — the network that gave us cutting-edge 10 p.m. shows such as "Hill Street Blues," "St. Elsewhere," "ER," "Law & Order" and "Homicide: Life on the Street."
What's next — infomercials at 9?
This, of course, will be something completely new for prime time — a network airing the same show every night at the same time. And there are advantages for NBC. First and foremost, it prevents Leno from bolting to another network. Think of how embarrassing it would have been for Leno to set up shop at, say, ABC and then beat up on incoming "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien every night.
Easy on NBC's wallet
Most of all, it's cheap, cheap, cheap. Even with the gargantuan salary NBC undoubtedly had to fork over to keep Leno in the fold, it costs much less to put on a late-night gabfest than a quality scripted drama.
In this era of corporate downsizing, that's music to the ears of a numbers-crunching bean counter.
Earlier this week, NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker hinted in a news conference that this kind of move just might represent the future of network television. "Can we continue to program 22 hours of prime time?" Zucker wondered. "Can we afford to program seven nights a week?"
By installing Leno, with his lukewarm humor, at 10 p.m. weeknights, NBC essentially chops five hours off the 22. Whew, that was easy. Where else can we cut?
But perhaps it's asking too much of NBC — a company wrestling with budget deficits and layoffs — even to attempt to develop quality hit shows. This is a network, after all, that in recent years, has failed miserably at that mission, aside from a minor breakthrough here or there.
The fall season, for example, has been a stupendous embarrassment. An ill-conceived remake of talking-car drama "Knight Rider" sputtered and stalled. A pre-Thanksgiving variety special hosted by Rosie O'Donnell was a wretched stink bomb. The one-time marquee hit "Heroes" experienced a creative brain cramp and plunged in the ratings.
And do we even need to get into the train wrecks that are "My Own Worst Enemy," "Crusoe" and "Kath & Kim"? Just call it must-flee TV.
Things have gotten so bad for the Peacock that, earlier this week, "Newsday" columnist Verne Gay questioned whether NBC might be "the General Motors of network TV."
And looking ahead to midseason, it doesn't appear to be getting any better. NBC has announced that it will air its tired Donald Trump vehicle, "The Apprentice," in excruciating two-hour blocks. It will also offer yet another dance-competition show, along with a dating series from Ryan Seacrest called "Momma's Boys" and a hidden-camera prank show hosted by Howie Mandel. Remember, this is the network that gave us "The West Wing" and "Seinfeld." Sad, just sad.
On second thought, maybe it's not such a bad idea to air Leno five nights a week in prime time. Obviously, holding NBC programmers responsible for coming up with something fresh, innovative, and original is like trusting children to handle explosives.
NBC would like you to believe that its strange scheme to install Jay Leno in a weeknight show at 10 p.m. is a bold stroke of prime-time genius. Don't fall for it. With this move, a once-dominant network is waving the white flag of surrender.
By asking Leno to take the ball and run with the 10 p.m. slot Monday through Friday, the beleaguered Peacock is essentially admitting that it no longer has the resources, the innovative know-how or the brainpower to produce quality late-night dramas.
So sad. So pathetic. This is NBC, after all — the network that gave us cutting-edge 10 p.m. shows such as "Hill Street Blues," "St. Elsewhere," "ER," "Law & Order" and "Homicide: Life on the Street."
What's next — infomercials at 9?
This, of course, will be something completely new for prime time — a network airing the same show every night at the same time. And there are advantages for NBC. First and foremost, it prevents Leno from bolting to another network. Think of how embarrassing it would have been for Leno to set up shop at, say, ABC and then beat up on incoming "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien every night.
Easy on NBC's wallet
Most of all, it's cheap, cheap, cheap. Even with the gargantuan salary NBC undoubtedly had to fork over to keep Leno in the fold, it costs much less to put on a late-night gabfest than a quality scripted drama.
In this era of corporate downsizing, that's music to the ears of a numbers-crunching bean counter.
Earlier this week, NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker hinted in a news conference that this kind of move just might represent the future of network television. "Can we continue to program 22 hours of prime time?" Zucker wondered. "Can we afford to program seven nights a week?"
By installing Leno, with his lukewarm humor, at 10 p.m. weeknights, NBC essentially chops five hours off the 22. Whew, that was easy. Where else can we cut?
But perhaps it's asking too much of NBC — a company wrestling with budget deficits and layoffs — even to attempt to develop quality hit shows. This is a network, after all, that in recent years, has failed miserably at that mission, aside from a minor breakthrough here or there.
The fall season, for example, has been a stupendous embarrassment. An ill-conceived remake of talking-car drama "Knight Rider" sputtered and stalled. A pre-Thanksgiving variety special hosted by Rosie O'Donnell was a wretched stink bomb. The one-time marquee hit "Heroes" experienced a creative brain cramp and plunged in the ratings.
And do we even need to get into the train wrecks that are "My Own Worst Enemy," "Crusoe" and "Kath & Kim"? Just call it must-flee TV.
Things have gotten so bad for the Peacock that, earlier this week, "Newsday" columnist Verne Gay questioned whether NBC might be "the General Motors of network TV."
And looking ahead to midseason, it doesn't appear to be getting any better. NBC has announced that it will air its tired Donald Trump vehicle, "The Apprentice," in excruciating two-hour blocks. It will also offer yet another dance-competition show, along with a dating series from Ryan Seacrest called "Momma's Boys" and a hidden-camera prank show hosted by Howie Mandel. Remember, this is the network that gave us "The West Wing" and "Seinfeld." Sad, just sad.
On second thought, maybe it's not such a bad idea to air Leno five nights a week in prime time. Obviously, holding NBC programmers responsible for coming up with something fresh, innovative, and original is like trusting children to handle explosives.