“Leno” Ratings Dip on Second Night, But Remain Hefty

William Johnson
TELC 445.001
September 17, 2009

“Leno” Ratings Dip on Second Night, But Remain Hefty

NBCs experimental 10pm strip series, The Jay Leno Show, is seeing ratings that are quite high despite the fact that the second ever show saw a decrease in its viewership. Author Bill Carter contributed a possible reason for this decrease, which took place from the first half-hour through the second half-hour as being a great issue because Jay’s show is a lead-in to most late local news coverage across the different NBC affiliates.
Many people still do not grasp the enormity of what NBC is attempting with having Jay Leno present comedy every night in primetime. This type of move has rarely happened in which a primetime television strip show (a show that’s on television five times in one week, presumably Monday through Friday) has such a prominent place in the schedule of a network as I just mentioned. Aside from having to properly structure the schedule in favor of maximizing ratings, thereby maximizing advertizing revenue during the week of sweeps, you have to contend with making new programming and content more often than you do for a primetime drama, with no more than twenty-four episodes.

This is what makes the show such a challenge and why people are looking to it with such wonder. Given that it costs less to pay for a host and a band than for actors, stages, sets and the like, the show is at the advantage of not costing much at all, no matter how far ratings might slide, still providing a benefit to NBC. The question one has to wonder, though, that if this experiment succeeds, will this signal an ultimate change in primetime television given that its ratings have suffered numerous hits due to numerous factors allowing people to watch that programming either on-demand, online or through digital video recorders? Will other networks follow the same suit after a while?