Tonight, Tonight
Earlier this week I posted about the ratings drop for the new Conan O'Brien Tonight Show. Well, the latest numbers are in and NBC must be nervous. After years of Jay being in the lead, David Letterman has already caught up to and passed Conan.
It's early yet, of course. We really won't see full stabilization of the ratings for weeks, perhaps months. People are still sampling, and decide each night based on guests more than hosts. Also, on the plus side, Conan's demo is better (I'm assuming).
NBC probably felt they had to offer Conan the Tonight Show (as they did years ago) or he'd bolt when his contract was up, but in doing so, it meant breaking up a successful two-hour block. (Now they also have Jay's five hours of prime time to look forward to. It'll certainly be cheaper to produce than regular prime time, but what will advertisers pay for it? And what sort of lead-in will it give Conan?)
Years ago, NBC had a choice of offering Jay or Dave the Tonight Show. They made the right call, though it took a few years to find out. I don't think it'll take so long to discover if Conan's working or not. The main question is will enough new viewers cotton to his style so that they'll regularly tune in. Meanwhile, Dave just signed up till 2012, so he's not going away any time soon.
It's early yet, of course. We really won't see full stabilization of the ratings for weeks, perhaps months. People are still sampling, and decide each night based on guests more than hosts. Also, on the plus side, Conan's demo is better (I'm assuming).
NBC probably felt they had to offer Conan the Tonight Show (as they did years ago) or he'd bolt when his contract was up, but in doing so, it meant breaking up a successful two-hour block. (Now they also have Jay's five hours of prime time to look forward to. It'll certainly be cheaper to produce than regular prime time, but what will advertisers pay for it? And what sort of lead-in will it give Conan?)
Years ago, NBC had a choice of offering Jay or Dave the Tonight Show. They made the right call, though it took a few years to find out. I don't think it'll take so long to discover if Conan's working or not. The main question is will enough new viewers cotton to his style so that they'll regularly tune in. Meanwhile, Dave just signed up till 2012, so he's not going away any time soon.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:25 AM
2 Comments:
Conan isn't ready for the Tonight slot. He's still an acquired taste. Also, Jay isn't ready for prime time. So NBC is screwed. It's too bad Jay didn't go to ABC, since he could have won the late slot easily.
Conan needs to feud with a political figure al a Dave and Palin. A train wreck brings viewers
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