 "Photo: Image courtesy of NBC")
After Jay Leno’s departure in May from “The Tonight Show,” people were optimistic for “The Jay Leno Show” in hopes that his new primetime show would be different. However, nothing changed.
In his new show, Leno uses the same exact set-up for his new show; monologue, guest appearance and interview, music performance and he uses the same jokes, including “headlines” and “jay-walking” which became semi-popular on “The Tonight Show.”
The only things that are different are the theme song, which includes pictures of a younger Leno and his precious cars. Another obvious change, the time change.
For some odd reason I have always been a fan of Leno, but after being assigned this piece, I began to look critically at his show. I noticed that his jokes were not funny.
It’s funny how your perspective changes when you view things with a critical eye. From the sounds of things, NBC may be the one to blame, as Leno was apparently a lot funnier when he was doing stand-up.
During the premiere, I kept anticipating some major changes, but I was more entertained by my British Literature homework than Leno.
However, during the first episode an appearance from Kanye West (following his rude interruption of Taylor Swift at the VMAs) was the “climax” of the show. Although, I kept holding onto that little bit of hope that something would spark my interest and find that change Leno said would happen. Nevertheless, I was wrong; “The Jay Leno Show” is a huge disappointment.
Luckily for the premiere week of “The Jay Leno Show,” Leno was not competing with the new fall line-up, but all that changed.
On Thursday, Oct. 1, Leno’s show hit an all-time low, recording only 4.96 million viewing. With the new time slot, Leno is competing with CBS’ “The Mentalist,” “CSI: Miami” (and NY) and ABC’s “Private Practice.” Each night following the premiere week, Leno’s ratings dropped 35 percent when he was previously No.1 in the 11:30 time slot.
According to Tim Goodman, a blogger for SFGate, NBC believes that even if people go back to their favorite dramas, at some point they’ll want a break and Leno provides the best option.
NBC also thinks that Leno will be on 46 out of 52 weeks while dramas get 22 episodes before going off the air for a short period of time.
Unfortunately for Leno, a majority of Americans will choose their precious dramas over the Leno’s mediocre show. If Leno is worried about his show (and his ratings) he needs to shake things up a little bit to keep the attention of his current viewers and bring more people in.
Personally if I had the choice I would watch Conan O’Brien the new host of “The Tonight Show” 90 minutes after Leno, because I know there will be laughs during his show.
Maybe Leno made a huge mistake switching time slots all because he wanted his own show, or maybe NBC was just being cheap and wanted to do a little experiment with Leno, ultimately bringing him and his show down the drain.
Be the first to comment on this article!