I'm the first to call out the NY Times when they fumble, so I wanted to note today's "Debate Over Effects of Leno’s Show" by Bill Carter for doing a good summary of the current Leno situation. We've covered most of the points before, but hey, the NY Times has to let things percolate before weighing in.
The Current Leno Situation
1. Law & Order:SVU ratings downturn because of the move to a 9pm slot. I've written that this is the one specific show ratings slide that Leno can share blame for.
2. Erosion in Tonight Show ratings perhaps caused by Jay at 10. My opinion is that it's more due to Jay being out of the Tonight Show than him being in at 10pm.
3. By itself, The Jay Leno Show's done close to or better than NBC's public ratings expectations, so far. By the end of the season Jay will almost certainly do better than what NBC had on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays last season, plus based on NBC's current track record, what they'd have put on Thursdays (Southland or not).
4. Wait until Jay's competition is in reruns. Will be interesting to see the changes on weeks that ABC and CBS are in reruns. Still more than a month away from any reruns though.
5. Gripes from potential 10pm show producers, both anonymous and not. Understandable, but newsworthy?
6. Quite a stretch blaming the cancelation of Southland on Jay, relying on the goofy "too gritty for 9pm" excluse. My opinion is that Southland's fate is the first of many Ben Silverman clean ups we'll see from NBC. This can't be laid on Leno, Southland should never have been renewed.
7. Local NBC affiliates have kept quiet, so far. The fact that no one in the TV media has been able to pry a quote out of an affiliate is interesting. NBC's iron grip? or something else?
8. Hey, ABC's not doing so well at 10pm either! I've got a post coming up this week on this.
9. It's too early to tell. Indeed.
I already put this in the worrying post, but from Futon Critic:
Leno vs. 10 o’clocks from last season rundown – The top 2 Lenos are only below 2 of last season’s shows: ER which is over & SVU which is now on par with them. M: Leno on top. Tu: SVU>Leno but this season’s Leno>this season’s SVU. W: Leno on top. F: Leno on top. Thursday’s the exception.
It’s sad how NBC killed SVU :/
As long as NBC makes a profit, even if its a dollar profit, that’s what is most important. Who cares if there’s no one left to watch.
Audiences? Who needs them???
Sad, really. NBC use to have so many great shows. Now, I don’t even care what’s on NBC. I never watch more than a few seconds, the time it takes to flip channel. Leno is a joke. I’m sure NBC makes money out of it but like sheesh said ‘Who cares if there’s no one left to watch. ‘ I’m sure that is what NBC thinks this days.
It’s already been seen that people that used to watch NBC, that aren’t Leno fans; aren’t flocking to CBS or ABC shows.
So i doubt the Leno ratings will get better during re-runs. It’ll flutuate as usually, but they won’t be getting cbs, abc viewers.
Easily the worse network for me, I only watch SVU and Heroes.
Jeff Gaspin says that people(referring to his critics I guess) need to stop “making proclamations that we’re doing this for cost reasons,” But at the same time he insists that “We’ll make money at 10 o’clock this year, I guarantee.”
What if, in NBC’s single-minded goal “to make money, guaranteed”, they keep on losing and driving away the little audience that they have left. Developing quality programming and nurting good shows that will bring in viewers and generate goodwill towards a network- that has a price to it.
Like I said; What is the point of making a meagre profit when there is no one left to watch?? Networks are supposed to bring in audiences, not drive them away.
Yes, every single thing in US today is not aimed to make money.
> Yes, every single thing in US today is not aimed to make money.
LOL, whine b**ch moan kvetch. You working for free at your “job”? How much volunteer work you doing each week?
Funny how the people who moan the greatest about “things aimed at making money” are generally the last ones to refuse to accept pay (or to donate all such pay to, oh, charity).
Michael Moore owns a multi-million dollar penthouse in NYC. Yeah, capitalism hasn’t done one damned thing for his fat, money grubbing a$$.
Text cannot convey the power of my derisive sneer…
.
The local late night news is really taking the hit from Jay, I’ve seen it’s down more than 15 percent.
“Funny how the people who moan the greatest about “things aimed at making money” are generally the last ones to refuse to accept pay (or to donate all such pay to, oh, charity).”
That makes no sense and is so far from true, I don’t even know where to start.
It is all because of “The Jay Leno Show” that NBC is losing in late night ratings to CBS and ABC. If NBC canceled the jay leno show right now, maybe things will be back to normal. However, I really like it that David Letterman is back in the #1 late night slot. David Letterman has not been on top of the late night ratings since 1995. So,this is the biggest thing ever!
The key here is the locals; if the lead in has really been suffering, then Leno is a failure. If the local stations can’t afford to buy programming to run during the day, or are forced to run even crappier crap, or to cut local sports, or to cut news down to 2 shows a day. The 11/10 news is the lifeblood of those stations. Any macro calculation is short sighted.
NBC surely you don’t mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmZOH6QU_uw
“Michael Moore owns a multi-million dollar penthouse in NYC. Yeah, capitalism hasn’t done one damned thing for his fat, money grubbing a$$.
Text cannot convey the power of my derisive sneer…”
Nor can it hide your lack of higher education.
“Southland” should never have been renewed”.
The show averaged 7.4 million viewers over it’s first 7 eps, and saw a rise between episodes 6 & 7. The show caused a lot of news regarding it’s plot lines, bleeped profanity, and characters. All publicity is good publicity as they say
Granted, it had to find it’s feet, as do most shows, but I think season 2 would have been really good.
And being a John Wells show, could have grown into a huge hit, with big potential international purchasing. If Southland shouldn’t have been renewed last season, then Heroes and Chuck shouldn’t have been renewed either.
I don’t blame the Leno move for SVU’s woes, at least not all of them. I used to watch SVU a few years ago and tuned into the last few episodes of this past season and was surprised how amateurish the show had become. Part of the ratings decline is probably just series rot from being on so long.
Meanwhile, in other news, NBC has one real chance of a new breakout hit with Community and they are blowing it with a time slot change.
In this economy a dollar not spent is a dollar earned. NBC has lost any ability to draw large crowds so large ratings are in their past not their future. Leno saves money and allows some to be made. It is a smart move for NBC. The idea of getting good programs to watch on NBC is no longer believed by most viewers. Maybe a sale and a clean sweep of the suits at NBC is the only thing that might change anything. New coaches often turn around weak teams, and NBC is absolutely a weak team. The fact that nearly a third of the population of the country has abandoned NBC because of political anger against the network certainly does not help.
It seems the former executive that purchased shows from his own company that mostly were losers is having a continued effect on ratings even after his leaving. New faces at the network could change this over time.
Elie, Conan was losing viewers before Jay premiered on September 14th.
Gavin, Southland’s last episode got a 1.9 in the demo- that’s cancellation worthy.Chuck’s last episode got a 2.4. Heroes’ 2009 finale got a 3.0. You can’t compare how Chuck and Heroes were doing last season to Southland.
Southland’s last episode got a 1.9 in the demo WITH Very weak competition (One being a rerun of FlashPoint) >.< Renewing that was surely a questionable decision at best. Personally I found the *bleeps* annoying. They knew they were filming for TV so what's the point of that? Don't get me wrong my wife and I both watched and enjoyed the show but I really think blaming Southland's cancellation on Jay is like Blaming the last Ice Age on Dinosaur bottom burps.
Michael, I forget about the demos, I live in the UK where viewers are monitored, and I forget about your 18/49 18/34 demos. My bad. I still think Southland deserved a chance to grow, based on how many hit shows NBC has.