Jay-2
After watching Jay Leno's second effort, I heartily endorse and amplify LA Guy's critical review- dreadful. Its evocative of David Letterman's short-lived morning show (1980?) and Chevy Chase's short-lived late night talk show (1993?). Lots of awkwardness and unfunny bits. The "uninvited guest" piece is the worst sort of night club comic ("hey , doesn't it suck the way, you can't park n the dropoff area at the airport"- thats the whole joke) and his "Ten at Ten" segment (meant to suggest Letterman's Top Ten?) with live feeds of Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz was beneath even NBC's Today Show banality and Jay seemed to be deliberately ignoring the (admittedly feeble) laugh lines the two were trying to give him. Whats with the shout-outs from the crew and audience?- some attempt to connect somehow to the Great Heckling Incident of 2009?
Of course the fact that I think its horrible doesn't mean that they won't stick with -My tastes are clearly not the viewership's (i.e. I still don't get reality TV and why anyone would care) and something about about a dedicated small audience together with the low production cost might make financially attractive for NBC, but I'm guessing this won't make it. Four days a week, then three days a week, then the occasional special then gone, I'm thinking.
posted by New England Guy @ 6:16 AM
4 Comments:
And thats not to mention the tendentious interview with Michael Moore which was dull and unlikely even to rouse the most committed Moore partisan. The most interesting thing he mentioned was that he had lost 70 lbs on the Pritikin diet (which we'll have to take his word for)
New England Guy: Brace yourself - I think I read somewhere that NBC had given "The Jay Leno Show" a solid two year commitment.
L.A. Guy: I watched the debut last night on DVR. "Dreadful" might be a bit of an overstatement, but I think the reality might be worse: "Boring".
Explain to me how this is not simply "The Tonight Show" at 10PM? What, because he doesn't sit behind a desk? My god, that IS earth-shatteringly original!
A hit-and-miss monologue, that non-entity Kevin Eubanks, a WAY too long taped segment that didn't even include Leno (the singer guy from the end of "The Hangover"? Really? To lead off one of the most high-profile programming risks in TV history? REALLY??), a standard celebrity interview, and - to top it all off - wait for it, waaaaait for it... "Headlines", a bit as desiccated as the disappearing medium it mocks.
That 2 years is going to seem like forever.
I didn't watch the second show so don't have too much to add, though I see, as expected, the ratings dropped quite a bit. The question is when will they stabilize. I am shocked, though, that the official guest for their second show was Michael Moore. Surely they could do better than that. Of course, they can't have big names five nights a week (and the Jerry Seinfeld interview on the first night was dull anyway), but you'd think the first week they could.
The point is to produce five hours of prime time a week considerably cheaper than five scripted hours, so NBC can make a profit even on relatively low ratings. Is it really worth destroying a half century of prime time for this?
The headlines were the best part of the show- which is saying everything
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