Posted: Tuesday 15th September 2009 at 11:28pm by Paul
The Jay Leno Show made its debut on NBC last night – 17.7 million people watched it. Leno has faced some negative reviews of the opening show though, as critics thought it was lazy of him to stay with a very similar format to The Tonight Show (for example Headlines is featured on the new show, as it was on The Tonight Show).
The Associated Press reporter Frazier Moore said “the biggest difference between Leno’s new show and his old one: With his fade-out at 11pm, the local news began”, and The Los Angeles Times said it was “a strange, shallow puddle of comedy”.
The first show did have it’s viewer draws – including Kanye West’s appearance to explain what happened at the MTV VMAs (the infamous moment when he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech) and to apologise for what he did.
In addition to Kanye West’s appearance, Jerry Seinfeld was interviewed and music came from Jay-Z and Rihanna (with Kanye performing with them).
The official website for The Jay Leno Show has now fully launched – it includes video clips (US only), full episode streaming (US only), photos, exclusives, message boards, etc.
If you saw the show, please let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post.
The Associated Press – “Leno show reaches 17.7 million viewers”
The Los Angeles Times – “‘Jay Leno Show’ stays on familiar ground”
Posted: Friday 7th August 2009 at 12:17pm by Paul
The impressive ratings for the Late Show With David Letterman continue for another week, in the latest set of statistics released. Ratings from AGB Nielsen say the Late Show has held the lead over The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien for a fourth consecutive week.
NY Daily News notes this “marks Letterman’s longest ratings win streak since 1995″ and overall “Letterman had 3.38 million viewers to O’Brien’s 2.63 million” in the latest week to be announced in these new figures. The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien does still hold the lead for the 18-to-49 year old bracket though.
NY Daily News – “Inner tube: David Letterman beats Conan O’Brien for fourth week”
Posted: Thursday 16th July 2009 at 10:29pm by Paul
More people have been watching the Late Show With David Letterman than The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien recently. The recent viewing figures show Letterman is winning the ratings war with Tonight by a significant amount overall.
The New York Times says “On Wednesday [when Paul McCartney was a guest on the Late Show], Mr. Letterman had 4.4 million viewers to 2.5 million for Mr. O’Brien… Last week, Mr. O’Brien attracted 2.8 million viewers, below the previous low”.
However, they also say “The story among younger viewers, especially those between the ages of 18 and 34, continues to be much better for Mr. O’Brien. He was up 26 per cent in that group from Mr. Leno last year, though down 7 per cent among viewers between 18 and 49″.
The recent high-profile Late Show moments will no doubt have helped boost the ratings – the Sarah Palin joke “controversy” for example, and Sir Paul McCartney on the show last night.
The New York Times – “Letterman Is on a Roll, and Conan Posts a ‘Tonight’ Low”
Posted: Thursday 25th June 2009 at 11:08pm by Paul
We previously posted how the Late Show With David Letterman was drawing in more viewers for the week of 8th June, and how it was almost at level-pegging in the ratings with The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien. Well, it now seems the Late Show is doing even better in the current set of ratings to be released.
The Tonight Show is now behind the Late Show in the ratings. This is the first time the Late Show had more viewers than Tonight since 2005. The Live Feed reports “The “Late Show” drew more viewers than the “Tonight Show” in last week’s ratings — the first time the CBS program has pulled a larger audience for a full-week average since 2005″.
The Associated Press says “It was Letterman’s first win during a full week of all-new broadcasts since December 2005, when Oprah Winfrey was his guest on the CBS late-night show. Letterman was perhaps given a ratings boost from lingering controversy over a wisecrack that targeted the family of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin”.
The Live Feed – “‘Late Show’ outdraws ‘Tonight’ for first time since ’05″
The Associated Press – “Letterman’s ‘Late Show’ beats the ‘Tonight Show’”
Perez Hilton – “Conan O’Brien Is Losing The Ratings Game!”
Posted: Thursday 25th June 2009 at 11:48am by Paul
All of this Sarah Palin controversy has done little to dent the Late Show With David Letterman – in fact, it’s made it even more popular.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting “for the week of June 8… “Late Show” averaged 3.67 million viewers, while “Tonight” posted 3.77 million. For “Late Show,” it was the closest competitive position to “Tonight” since December 2005, Nielsen said”. So it looks as though the ridiculous “Fire David Letterman” movement isn’t getting its wish – no surprise really.
I would have posted more up about the “Fire David Letterman” protests but I would rather just ignore the whole thing and wait for normality to return, instead of giving these “protesters” free publicity. The “Top Ten Things Overhead at the ‘Fire David Letterman’ Rally” Top Ten on the Late Show earlier this month was pretty hilarious though (click here if you haven’t seen it).
Los Angeles Times – “Spat with Sarah Palin doesn’t hurt David Letterman’s ratings”
Posted: Saturday 13th June 2009 at 6:37pm by Paul
Whilst I was on vacation, The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien made its debut on NBC. The first show – on 1st June – saw Conan take over the franchise of The Tonight Show from Jay Leno.
The first show opened with a video showing Conan getting ready to start The Tonight Show only to realise he forgot one important thing – he forgot to move from New York to Los Angeles where The Tonight Show is filmed. The Tonight Show is housed in a studio in the Universal Studios lot.
In the video, Conan couldn’t hail a cab in NYC so ran from New York to Los Angeles passing through various points across the country on the way – including Las Vegas – but when he arrived in LA he forgot he left his keys in his NYC apartment, so he plowed the door to The Tonight Show studio with a mechanical digger.
Other highlights of the first show included Conan doing a Universal Studios tour in the Universal tour tram, where he took the tram outside of the lot and caused mayhem, and guests Will Ferrell (who arrived in style and even sang a special song for Conan) & Pearl Jam.
Some of his first words on the show were “I think I’ve timed this move perfectly. I’m on a last-place network, I moved to a state that’s bankrupt and The Tonight Show is sponsored by General Motors”.
Something to note about The Tonight Show – it keeps a very similar theme tune to Late Night With Conan O’Brien with some tweaks. Click here to watch the opening titles.
The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien has been a hit in the ratings – Variety says its first week ratings “proved to be even bigger than expected in key demos” and that it “averaged a 2.3 rating in adults 18-49″ which outdid the ratings of CBS’s Late Show With David Letterman. Jimmy Fallon – host of Late Night – saw big ratings for his show on the debut week of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien. The Tonight Show saw Late Night With Jimmy Fallon get record ratings.
Variety – “O’Brien off and running on ‘Tonight’”
Times Online – “Conan O’Brien makes a hairy start as new ‘Tonight Show’ host”
Official website for The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien
Click here to watch videos
