The Jay Leno Show is a "closely watched cost-cutting experiment by NBC," according to Reuters, and it seems to be bottoming out, apparently. The show lost 7 million viewers on its second night and a solid percentage of the 18.4 million viewers on the debut show on Monday may have only been there to hear Kanye West's apology.
The New York Times said, "Mr. Leno saw his audience fall off about 15 percent from his first half hour to his second Tuesday night. That would be good for any late-night hour but it is usually not a good sign for 10 p.m. network shows."
There have been other critics. The Associated Press included a few...
Robert Bianco of USA Today slammed it as a "cut-rate, snooze-inducing rehashed bore."
The Associated Press' Frazier Moore identified "the biggest difference between Leno's new show and his old one: With his fade-out at 11 p.m., the local news began."
The Los Angeles Times' Mary McNamara called the show "a strange, shallow puddle of comedy."
"This is the future of television?" she wrote. "This wasn't even a good rendition of television past."
Though the second night's show had only 10.7 million viewers, it remained the number one show of the night, and, compared to the average 5.2 million viewers Leno had in his 11:30 p.m. Tonight Show slot, maybe he's not doing so bad.
On the other hand, he is still Jay Leno being Jay Leno and telling Jay Leno jokes, and I suppose the idea of his new show already fading slowly is not news. Let's move on.
Leave a comment