On Sat, Oct 3, 2009 at 9:41 PM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Sat, Oct 3, 2009 at 2:33 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> OTOH, the Dave Affair must >> have set off at least a yellow light for NBC, as it illustrates the >> potential danger in putting so many eggs in one man's basket. Whatever >> his faults as TV entertainer, Leno is by all accounts a good guy who >> is maybe literally the last person to be caught up in any kind of >> scandal - but what would happen to NBC if Leno had a personal or >> health problem that required taking him off the air immediately? If >> NBC didn't have a back up plan before, I suspect that they started >> putting one together Thursday. > > I don't think CBS expected what they got from Dave on Thursday. So to > say that NBC is relieved because they don't expect anything like that > from Jay is a stretch. If there is a scandal, it will blindside > everybody, including NBC, just like Dave's confession did. I > understand the concept of NBC being risk-adverse and Jay being > reliable and somewhat square but the context has been relying on a 10 > PM talk show 5 nights a week in lieu of scripted programming, not how > likely Jay is to be a problem versus other talk show hosts. > > You make a good point about a backup plan. The competitive advantage > of topicality is lost if the Leno Show has to broadcast reruns for any > length of time and Jay has been stubborn about not having guest hosts > (except for Katie Couric once on an April Fools' Day).
I don't think NBC is relieved that Jay has not been banging his assistants. I mean that when a network relies so heavily on literally one man, not just for programming (33% of weeknight primetime) but an even larger percentage of their profitability, then the downside is huge if, for any reason, he is not able to perform. Leno could need a bypass operation, or get the shingles, or have any number of health or personal problems that make him unable to come to work for a week or more. I imagine the back up plan is to bring in some of the SNL "Talent", but that could easily run out of gas real quick. My point is that NBC has been focusing too much on the marginal profit advantage of relying on Leno, and not enough (at least, not openly) on the risks of concentrating their risk so much on one person. Dave's little problem this week might serve to illustrate just one of many possible threats that could wipe out their carefully planned profit margin. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
