LOS ANGELES (YBH.ME) - Network TV land has not been a truly happy place since the advent of cable cutting into audience share. Tivo, and the audience ability to skip commercials, means ad dollars are bleeding away, not to be readily replaced. The gold rush of easy pickins’ is over, and now the survivors are fighting for scraps.
NBC Flip Flop Angers Leno
Still, those scraps are considerable, and creating a prime time line-up which will generate revenue and keep folks planted on the couch, tuning in to one network for the evening, is a necessity. NBC took a 17 year-long mainstay at 11:35, changed the time slot to 10 p.m., and kissed money and audience loyalty good bye when they moved Jay Leno’s show four months ago.
Now they are sorry, and they want him back, but only halfway. He’ll be in at 11:35 and out at midnight, with Conan O’Brien’s show to follow, and Jimmy Fallon in the very wee hours, per usual.
Leno’s monologue Friday indicated he wouldn’t allow changes in his guaranteed 2 year contract without a fight, and the payout for reneging on Jay and Conan is truly enormous, something NBC can ill afford.
Jay’s jokes were witty and more biting than his high road, above-the-fray usual, among them “I know NBC won’t cancel us, they only do that if you’re Number 1″, and “NBC stands for Never Believe Your Contract.” Meanwhile O’Brien joked , “NBC will put me and Jay in a cage match with sharpened sticks, and whoever wins the fight gets to leave NBC.”
With just Jay, Conan and their management in a room, the NBC brass has successfully negotiated to change the schedule due to huge pressure from their affiliates, whose local news ad earnings are being decimated without a strong lead-in at 10 p.m. So now it’s Jay at 11:35 with his monologue, a couple of guests, and over to Conan.
Will Jay Leno stand for it?
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Laura spent years as a Hollywood story analyst, did a big 180, and is now an entrepreneur focused on web marketing and analytics. She's also a mom of one.Laura Glendinning article archive.
