• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

NBC Entertainment Exec To Jay Leno: Stop Making Fun Of Our Ratings

TheBigA said:
Good one tonight: Leno mentioned the rumor that he was being replaced by a younger host (cue the photo of Jimmy Fallon), fast forward to Letterman also being replaced with a younger host (insert the photo of Leno). Jay chuckled and said, "I like that one."
Click to expand...

It will never happen because of Dave's feelings toward Jay, and the fact that he'd be viewed as a traitor to his audience and to Conan, who he openly sided with last time around, but the real elegant solution to this would be for Dave to say "I have my personal issues with Jay, but the fact is, it's time for me to move on, Jay has been a winner more often in late night than I have, he's a good fit for CBS' demographics and I hate those pinheads at NBC more than I dislike Jay, so...I'm retiring the same day as Jay wraps up at NBC, and the following Monday, you'll find him here."

Amoebas will fly helicopters first, but it would be an elegant solution.
 
Replacing Leno before Jimmy Fallon loses his spotlight would be a smart choice for NBC. Let me make this comparison, a car comparison ironically. Leno is the old Mustang and Fallon is the Prius. The Mustang will still take you where you want to go and has proven itself as a great car over the years. But the maintenance costs are fairly high and the mileage is running. You're not sure how long it's going to last you and whether it'll be able to take you to new faraway destinations.

Fallon is the Prius. There's a big risk at first when buying it because of the initial cost of setup and insurance costs, etc. but there can be a big reward at the end as it will cost you less to maintain the car. It's a brand new car so you can take it to new and far places.

Sure, Leno has a few years of gas left in the tank and the network can get a few more years of solid ratings. But by then, Fallon would have probably lost his luster in getting the top-line guests and his popularity could potentially decrease as well. Fallon can probably get people buzzing about Tonight again if he is inducted in the spot by next year as he is very likeable across the board for the younger crowd and will grow new loyalty towards the Tonight brand. The problem with Tonight right now is not that young people are not watching the show, but rather that new viewers are not growing or relating with the brand. Leno's brand of comedy, let's say for example "Headlines" is seen as too safe to many young people now with most of the comedy coming from online video sources and viral sketches. The advantage that NBC sees in Jimmy Kimmel Live, for example, is not that he has the biggest ratings in the younger demographics right now, but rather that he has a growing number of people in that demographic that are developing a loyalty towards his show and his brand in a field that is getting increasingly older.

In the near future, an increasingly amount of ad revenue will come from the second and third screens (computers, tablets and phones), Fallon will ultimately be more successful in getting NBC those dollars tied into those deals due to his tech savvy audience. He is still marketable and seen even more favorably in the public's eyes now than Leno.
 
Or, you know, NBC could try to time it so they have a hot replacement ready when Leno's actually ready to retire.

What you suggest sounds like Conan 2: Electric Boogaloo, and that worked so well the first time around, right?
 
How about this as an alternate scenario:

NBC signs Jay Leno to a short two-year contract extension which keep him on "Tonight" until right before the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio (this will be the beginning of August, 2016).

Then Jimmy Fallon takes over the Monday after the Olympics end.

I think it will be a win-win for several reasons:

(1) NBC will still have Jay Leno for three more years, and he may well continue to be the top-rated late-night talk/variety show in total viewers and key demographics through that time.

(2) Leno will be 66 in 2016, and will probably not want to do a five-nights-a-week show after that. He would likely retire "on top".

(3) Meanwhile, NBC gets to use the promotional platform of the 2016 Summer Olympics (with the Games being in Rio, most of NBC's prime-time coverage will be live, which will likely mean a much larger viewing audience than the 2012 London Games, where all of prime-time was on tape due to the time difference), where Fallon's taking over "Tonight" can be relentlessly pushed.

In fact, if there is a five-or-seven minute "lull" between live events on some nights, the network could even sneak-in a mini-monologue from Fallon.

This way, NBC will have a good chance of avoiding a crisis; Jay Leno will likely leave "Tonight" still on top in the ratings; Leno will likely be able to walk-off into a reduced TV schedule (i.e. a once-a-week show or occasional comedy/variety specials) without any desire to keep doing a five-nights-a-week show; Fallon gets "Tonight" and probably gets to keep it for a number of years.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
How about this as an alternate scenario:

NBC signs Jay Leno to a short two-year contract extension which keep him on "Tonight" until right before the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio (this will be the beginning of August, 2016).

This way, NBC will have a good chance of avoiding a crisis; Jay Leno will likely leave "Tonight" still on top in the ratings; Leno will likely be able to walk-off into a reduced TV schedule (i.e. a once-a-week show or occasional comedy/variety specials) without any desire to keep doing a five-nights-a-week show; Fallon gets "Tonight" and probably gets to keep it for a number of years.
Click to expand...

I like it! It makes sense - perhaps TOO MUCH sense for Comcast, which seems determined to repeat the mistakes of the past.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
How about this as an alternate scenario:

NBC signs Jay Leno to a short two-year contract extension which keep him on "Tonight" until right before the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio (this will be the beginning of August, 2016).

Then Jimmy Fallon takes over the Monday after the Olympics end.

I think it will be a win-win for several reasons:

(1) NBC will still have Jay Leno for three more years, and he may well continue to be the top-rated late-night talk/variety show in total viewers and key demographics through that time.

(2) Leno will be 66 in 2016, and will probably not want to do a five-nights-a-week show after that. He would likely retire "on top".

(3) Meanwhile, NBC gets to use the promotional platform of the 2016 Summer Olympics (with the Games being in Rio, most of NBC's prime-time coverage will be live, which will likely mean a much larger viewing audience than the 2012 London Games, where all of prime-time was on tape due to the time difference), where Fallon's taking over "Tonight" can be relentlessly pushed.

In fact, if there is a five-or-seven minute "lull" between live events on some nights, the network could even sneak-in a mini-monologue from Fallon.

This way, NBC will have a good chance of avoiding a crisis; Jay Leno will likely leave "Tonight" still on top in the ratings; Leno will likely be able to walk-off into a reduced TV schedule (i.e. a once-a-week show or occasional comedy/variety specials) without any desire to keep doing a five-nights-a-week show; Fallon gets "Tonight" and probably gets to keep it for a number of years.
Click to expand...

Jay wouldn't be making this kind of fuss if he only wanted to stay two years beyond his current contract.

In this scenario, he does a five-year with FOX, that he might turn into 10 when all is said and done.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
(3) Meanwhile, NBC gets to use the promotional platform of the 2016 Summer Olympics (with the Games being in Rio, most of NBC's prime-time coverage will be live, which will likely mean a much larger viewing audience than the 2012 London Games, where all of prime-time was on tape due to the time difference), where Fallon's taking over "Tonight" can be relentlessly pushed.
Click to expand...
The London Games did better in the ratings than Beijing, which had Michael Phelps' chase live.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom