NBC pulls plug on Jay Leno show's prime time experiment
| Pasadena, Calif.
NBC has confirmed that as of Feb. 12 鈥� coinciding with the debut of Vancouver Olympics coverage 鈥� talk show host Jay Leno has been given a pink slip for his Monday-to-Friday, 10 p.m. time slot.
Sunday morning, at a press conference in Pasadena, Calif., NBC/Universal鈥檚 chairman of television entertainment, Jeff Gaspin told reporters that all three of the peacock network鈥檚 late-night hosts are taking the weekend to consider the offer now on the table, namely that Mr. Leno retake his 11:35 berth, while Conan O鈥橞rien shifts to 12:05 A.M. 鈥� retaining his title as host of 鈥�The Tonight Show.鈥�
In this new scenario, Jimmy Fallon will move to 1:05 A.M.
As for what the network would drop into the newly-vacated 10 p.m. slot for all five nights of the week, Mr. Gaspin offered little more than speculation that the network might regain two hours of dramas and a mix of news and reality shows.
For now, he adds, NBC is going 鈥渂ack to basics.鈥�
Losses of $200 million
Both he and President of Prime time Entertainment Angela Bromstad declined to analyze what has been called one of the costliest mistakes in broadcast network history other than to say the network 鈥渕ust be ready for change,鈥� according to Ms. Bromstad. Losses to NBC have been pegged at topping $200 million.
But media watchers say there are important lessons in the prime time experiment, both in what it says about the future of the broadcast television model and the evolution of viewer behavior.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not necessarily true that a variety show couldn鈥檛 work at that hour,鈥� says Robert Thompson, founder of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. 鈥淭he problem in this case was that the Leno show was not very good.鈥�
The five-nights-per-week, inexpensive alternative is one we will see again, he says. 鈥淭his particular one just didn鈥檛 work,鈥� he says.
Beyond that, he points out that while NBC hyped the idea as the beginning of a widespread repudiation of the 60-year-old broadcast television model, 鈥渋f you are a network with a bunch of hits on your hands, the old system can work perfectly well.鈥�
End of the late-night talk show?
Compelling storytelling is the bedrock of any form of media, says Paul Levinson of Fordham University.
鈥淭he delivery system doesn鈥檛 matter,鈥� says the author of 鈥淣ew New Media.鈥� What carries the day is a well-told story: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what people will show up to watch, whether it鈥檚 a complicated, continuing storyline like on ABC鈥檚 'Lost,' or something like CBS鈥檚 'NCIS' procedurals, where there are new stories and characters every week.鈥�
The challenge is the same, he adds. 鈥淔or every Homer and that kind of riveting story in ancient Greece,鈥� he says, 鈥渢here were probably hundreds we don鈥檛 know about but that nobody found interesting.鈥�
While fundamentals might not change, however, Mr. Levinson is quick to point out that formats can and do. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e witnessing is the death of the late-night talk show format as we鈥檝e known it since the '50s,鈥� he says.
Audiences, especially younger ones, expect much edgier material and have far more options from the internet to DVDs and cable in which to find it. While many have suggested that Leno might have succeeded at 10 p.m. if the show had been sharper or more political, 鈥渢hat probably would not have been possible,鈥� Levinson adds.
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