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If you're a Jay Leno fan, NBC just gave you an extra hour and a half of sleep. If you're not a Jay Leno fan, NBC just cut you out of about 23% of their primetime schedule. That's because today NBC announced that comedian Jay Leno has cut a deal to do a show, suspiciously like his current "Tonight Show" in primetime at 10 PM. And here's the kicker, five nights a week. That means next fall, Jay Leno will be the King of NBC.
A few months ago all of us in TV circles were wringing our hands wondering why NBC was being so dumb letting Leno getaway. How would they survive? And what would poor Jay do, rambling around that big garage stocked with expensive classic cars, dreaming of past late night glory?
Well now we know.
Broadcasting and Cable covered today's press conference and highlighted NBC's financial motives:
It will also save NBC Universal about $13 million a week in programming costs, enabling the network to abandon scripted programming at 10 p.m., an hour where viewership has been steadily dropping.
"Part of what is great about this is it allows us to concentrate all of our development (in the 8 and 9 p.m. hours)," said Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBCU and UMS. "We're really excited about being able to concentrate that firepower."
Time Magazine's TV critic James Poniewozik thinks this is all part of a bigger plan of downsizing by NBC:
Leno would relieve NBC of the responsibility to program at 10 p.m---a time when network hits have been few and cable networks have stepped in.
NBC, like the other big networks—and other big media, including
newspapers and magazines—simply has to learn to get smaller. Think of
it as de-leveraging, network-style. In an environment of cable, fewer
viewers per network and less easily-found revenue, mounting big-budget
entertainment three hours a night is less and less viable.
Some of those 10 PM cable shows Poniewozik refers to are shows like "Leverage," "Nip/Tuck," "The Closer," "Rescue Me," "Mad Men," and "The Shield."
It's not like NBC hasn't tried this before. During the big magazine show boom of the late 1990's, they programmed the news magazine "Dateline" five nights a week. In addition, there was "20/20" and "Primetime Live" on ABC three nights a week and CBS had "60 Minutes II" and "48
Hours." Like now with Leno, magazine shows were seen as
cheap alternatives to those nasty scripted programs that require
temperamental actors, pesky writers, power grabbing producers and show runners that want creative control. But viewers eventually got tired of the same old thing and that's when "Survivor" and the reality show boom began.
It remains to be seen if that happens to Leno, but he does have an advantage: a built in audience that will probably follow him to primetime.
Spare a thought for poor Conan O'Brien though. It's kind of like Prince Charles being teased with the idea that his mother Queen Elizabeth might abdicate and give him the thrown. Well she ain't goin' anywhere and now we know neither is Leno. O'Brien's got to be just a tad upset that instead of being heir apparent to the late night kingdom, he's now been relegated to the royal children's table.
Personally, I've never been much of a late night watcher. I've always thought Leno was funnier before he took over the "Tonight Show," and I can only take Letterman in small doses, though I've developed more of a tolerance for him in recent years. Jimmy Kimmel seems too much like every guy I never wanted to date in college and Conan O'Brien? Howdy Doody in a suit.
Who Are The Other Winners and Losers?
Winners
NBC: They keep Leno, they don't have to program 10 PM with those aforementioned pesky creative types and they get to save a whole bunch of money. And no matter how many viewers Leno draws, NBC is going to be able to spin the move as a success. If he gets two more viewers than he does at 11:35 then he'll be "the biggest hit since primetime was created." If he lands in the basement, NBC can bide their time and try and make up some viewers when the scripted shows are in reruns.
Jay Leno: He gets to stay where he's comfortable and he might pick up some viewers who are usually asleep at 11:35. After all, those "Dirty, Sexy, Money" and "Boston Legal" viewers have to have somewhere to go.
David Letterman: Dave now
