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On Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:24:06 -0500, FERRANTE <...@yahoo.com
Will NBC cancel Jay Leno's show?
What low ratings could mean for the late night talk show host
Television
Scheduling The Jay Leno Show for weeknights at 10 p.m.must have seemed
like "a savvy business move" at the time, said Joe Flint in the Los
Angeles Times, seeing as it would allow NBC to substitute a "low-cost
talk show for expensive scripted dramas." But Leno is a "weaker
lead-in" for local NBC affiliates' 11 p.m. newscasts, and stations in
places like Baltimore and Kansas City are getting "shellacked in the
ratings." Now they may be "forced to consider their own program
alternative for the 10 p.m. hour."
They shouldn't bother, said Jeff Bercovici in AOL's Daily Finance.
Rumors are that Jay Leno's show is likely to be "one of the first
casualties" if NBC is taken over by interested buyer Comcast. NBC has
lost "a third of its 10 p.m. audience compared to last season," and
the end of this season will almost certainly see Leno's new show
cancelledif "he even makes it that long." The network needs to find a
way to bring viewers back, and "tepid late-night-style talk is not
going to do the trick."
Don't count out Jay Leno just yet, said Walt Belcher in the Tampa
Tribune. His show attracts "enough 18-to-49-year-olds to not be a
disaster," and stands to make NBC about $300 million a yeareven after
subtracting "Leno's $30 million salary." Sure, the ratings are low,
but "broadcast network viewing is down across the board." Maybe we
should listen to NBC executives and give Leno another couple of months
to prove himself"a better time to check his pulse would be at the end
of December."
http://www.theweek.com/article/index/101812/Will_NBC_cancel_Jay_Lenos_show#
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