What up now, sucka?
NBC was dancing on tabletops last week when the first ratings came in for the new Tonight Show starring the recently promoted Conan O'Brien. The debut of O'Brien in the 11:30 slot resulted in the best numbers for the show in four years and trounced his competition--CBS' and David Letterman's Late Show.
NBC's dancing on tabletops has probably turned into drinking under tables with last night's numbers. Conan's numbers have been falling back to Earth since the big opening--and maybe tunneling even further.
Late Show with David Letterman pulled in a 3.4 rating (all households) versus The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien's 2.9. It's the first time Dave has beat Conan since the latter took over for Jay Leno last Monday. Even more significant is the fact that it's the first time Dave beat the Tonight Show in eight months. Is the viewers' honeymoon with Conan already over?
Letterman was the better man with Julia Roberts as the featured guest; Conan had a rare appearance from Eddie Murphy. But NBC did have one thing working against it: by airing game six of the Stanley Cup Finals (go Pens!), West Coast audiences were treated to boring local programming to account for the time difference. With weaker lead-ins, Conan's audience from the Left Coast could have suffered. At least that's the thought process (I'm a West Coast viewer and I know full well how to use a remote control).
NBC insists that it's more interested in the younger demographic, and will pay closer attention to those numbers when they're released later today. But NBC has a lot invested in Conan's new show and Jay Leno's primetime talk-show--to see the Tonight Show lose its grasp on number one so quickly has to be upsetting for the network.
Do you think NBC made a mistake by changing its late-night schedule--one of its lone bright spots--or is it too early to call? Also, is it coincidence that Dave beat the Tonight Show the day after he had the King of All Media--Howard Stern--on?
Comments (25)
Conan is a Sketch and parodi dude. not a stand up comedian.
hard to say conan and letterman are great
David Letterman is a "Old" man hypocrite. He is a "hasbeen." I do not understand how anyone would waste time watching him. Oh, and by the way, didn't he "Knock-up" his wife, similiar to the poor joke brought up about Palin's 14 yr. daughter? Poor choice OLD Man, GET OFF THE AIR!
CBS is reaching at the bottom of the barrel with Letterman the Hypocrite!
I cant stand conan. Just dont understand, what shows come on at ten on cbs and abc? i havent seen anything good on at ten in 30 years. Are you people talking about them stupid Crime shows?.
I guess NBC can get rid of their "NBC America's late night leader" montage they put on the beginning of the late night shows. They definitly got rid of that in less than a few months. Way to go NBC you were in last place in everything except late night now your in last place in everything. Don't you just love Jeff Zucker and the NBC team
Ratings are almost like watching the stock market. Conan was in the lead in the beginning because everyone was curious to see his debut on The Tonight Show. Now shockingly his ratings drop. Leno's debut at 10pm will spike the rating again because of the curiosity factor but whether he maintains those ratings everyday remains to be seen. This will really be a test to see how loyal Leno fans are because theres more tough competition at 10pm than at 11:30pm. NBC shouldn't panic just yet but if Leno's ratings drop after his 10pm debut then NBC might panic , make desperate changes and maybe some heads might roll. The bad economy has effected almost everyone and I think NBC's show changeup was a financial move. Its cheaper and easier to produce a variety show than a 1 hour tv drama series. Outside of that reason it doesn't make sense to change something that was working well.moreless
Conan's show was always uneven, and he doesn't translate well into Leno's spot. Jim Fallon is purely awful; Craig Ferguson simply eclipses him as an entertainer and as an interviewer. Leno is going to be canceled in short order due to competition from abc and cbs in that time slot. Pity, too; as I really like Leno. Letterman has always been Letterman, you know what you're going to get night after night. Usually a good show.
Conan has never managed to make me laugh and his style of humor has the appeal of a dead eel. I think that Craig Ferguson would have been a much better fit than Conan. I'm sure NBC felt that they had a slam dunk ratings wise when Conan took over for Leno. IMO, I don't see Leno's show fairing any better in the ratings but to Lenos's credit, NBC has said that they will be pleased if Leno's show comes in second in it's timeslot at 9pm. I for one will not give up my CBS shows just to watch Leno and I know others who feel the same way.
I'm not suprises at all. Conan just is not a good fit :(
NBC deserve that after what the did with there TV schedule
Rather read a book or watch a video zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I do love how we the network people still assume people watch one channel all night and don't know how to change channels. Its like they think people look at the read the TV guide and then choose a channel for the whole night. This is 2009 people can watch 200+ channels and change mid show when they get bored. The ratings system is the most backwards way of judging actual interest in a program.
Maybe NBC should look at the fact that they have pissed off many veiwers and many now refuse to watch the network
Conan suffering from the Leno suck zone, viewer demographic and such.
Interesting, Conan's ratings having been dropping every single week since the first week. He literally loses viewers every episode. I guess his humor doesn't translate as well as Jay Leno, whose show is like his entire monologue. I like Conan (and Letterman) but I believe that he has a cult full of fans, who like really love him and make it harder for people to get into "The Cone Zone" which is probably why people have been tuning into Letterman.I'm sure he'll rebound, probably needs a better monologue his jokes are not that great, but he's funny, but for older viewers he's kind of odd looking pompous guy. We'll see how his future turns out. Probably good I guess.
We only get David Letterman over here in NZ, and even though Im not a regular viewer, its not a half bad show, watchable if you have absolutely nothing else to do.
Its kinda dumb to say that NBC made a mistake in switching their schedule..Leno was stepping down and handed it over to Conan years ago but then changed his mind...its not like he was fired or demoted for no reason.
I have watched Conan EVERY night since he took over the Tonight Show and love it! But I think one thing working against Conan this week is The Colbert Report being in Iraq this week, as many of the same people watch both shows and it's a unique thing have Colbert performing there. The one downfall of Conan was shown in last night's episode with the focus group bit (old people don't understand his humor) and I know my own parents don't "get" Conan either. He appeals to a younger demographic which was why he was perfect for Late Night and it may have been too soon to move him up an hour. I do like being able to go to bed earlier now that he is on earlier, but NBC may have botched this like they do with pretty much all their programming these days. Also, they should have kept Conan in NYC and done the Tonight Show from there, LA is lame, which was a reason I didn't care for Leno much, even though he was a car guy (which appeals to me).moreless
Here's the reason, Conan And Leno Suck...
And Dave is slightly above sucking.
Conan deserves it. I feel bad for Leno though, because the same thing will happen to him at 10. Who's gonna watch Leno when there's real shows on CBS and ABC?
The same will happen to Leno. Can he beat CSI MIAMI,Numbers and other top rated shows, I think not, LENO lays a big egg and Dave will continue to beat Conan as well
I think it is great that Nbc is getting beat already in this talk show crap. I can't wait for Leno to bomb in primetime!
good night for dave!
I concur with brain05. Go Pens indeed.
I just think it's way awesome that you managed to work "go Pens!" into your article. They are all I really care about right now. WOOOOOOO