Conan is the man now, dog.
Conan O'Brien's move up an hour to the premiere late-night slot on NBC was a smash for the network Monday night, delivering the best ratings for The Tonight Show in four years. But with excitement dropping for the second show, ratings dipped almost 30 percent.
Monday's show tallied a 7.1 rating and 17 share (huge numbers for a late-night talk show) as America tuned in to see the tall redhead debut at 11:30 p.m. and replace long-time Tonight host Jay Leno. By comparison, David Letterman's Late Show garnered a 2.8/7 that evening.
Last night was a slightly different story, however. Despite a tongue-in-cheek shout out from President Obama, Conan and company drew a 5.0 rating and 12 share. That's still up from Leno's average, but it remains to be seen how the country will respond to Conan as their new early-ish bedtime partner. It appears viewers went back to Dave after the initial hoopla, as Letterman grabbed a 3.0 rating.
Meanwhile, NBC yesterday announced that the primetime The Jay Leno Show will debut on September 14, which should give him about a week's head start before new programs debut. All eyes will be on Leno as he defies recent tradition and takes his talk show to primetime five days a week.
Have you tuned in to Conan's new show? What do you think so far?
Comments (21)
As in the case of Jack Paar, who got a weekly prime-time hour on late Friday evenings [10pm(et)] in the fall of 1962 after HIS NBC late night show ended [and flourished for three seasons before easing into occasional specials after that], Leno intends to keep his nightly "franchise" going in prime-time...without viewers tuning in and saying, "Oh, HIM again", before switching to something else. I honestly believe Jay has a chance to make something of that nightly 10pm(et) hour without wearing out his welcome. He knows what people want.
..and so does Conan. He's to NBC's late night schedule as Steve Allen was over a half-century ago {"Gosh, what's he gonna do next? Can you BELIEVE this??"}. I seem to recall that Conan had a rough time on "LATE NIGHT" during its first six months before viewers "found" him [then the critics], and understood what he was doing. If NBC is as patient with him now, everyone will be rewarded.moreless
1st three episodes were good..the rest were average..
I love conan i have watched his show in the past and will watch in the new time slot. Best talk show host on tv.
Conan's no Johnny Carson, but neither was Jay Leno.
I watched night one but didn't tune in after that.
I gave him a chance and my chance is gone now. Not even going to bother turning it on anymore. His ratings are showing it too. Dropping 30% on Tuesday and 15% on Wednesday. I wonder what Thursday's ratings will hold.
I love you Coco Christopher.
I love Conan! This is his time to shine man!!! I wish Leno hadn't really screwed NBC over as he is (why couldn't they give him Carson's time slot lol just kidding)
I'm pulling for Conan, though would have wished for a stronger debut-week guest list...
Big fan of Conan and i thought the show was great, although i agree that andy richter should not be there he just kind of makes it akward.
liked conan, but please please somebody get rid of andy richter, or at the least shut down his mike. His fake laughter at anything conan says makes me want to puke ...
Conan is great but Leno is greater.
I liked what Letterman said, he did not know the Tonight show had term limits lol and Dave's mom called him asking what happened to Leno
The show is great..only change i dont like is andy richter joining and kind of replacing max weinberg..hopefully max gets more air time..lol
I've thought Conan was the best late night talk show host for years, so my opinion is pretty biased, since I'm already somewhat of a fan. But I thought he did marvelously. His first show was pretty rocky, but last night's was great.
I've really loved the opening episodes of Conan's new show!He's not trying too hard, and still has his trademark laid-back, spot-on, self-ironic humor that makes Conan Conan! =)Looking forward for more!!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz don't care! Leno is gonna bomb hard!
Conan has been GREAT! He seemed much more comfortable Tuesday night versus Monday night, where I think he was nervous given the pressure of being the first episode and all. He needs to take the desk out for a drive, though, and scope out the LA sites.
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Does he have a Top Ten list
I missed Monday night, but caught the show last night. It was great. Conan's Rodeo Road shopping spree was hilarious. Tom Hanks was witty, and helped keep the energy level high. Green Day rocked the house!
Now if they could only do something about poor Jimmy Fallon on Late Night. He's a fish out of water. Weak!