WK     2-3   4      5      6       7             8          9          10
M:       5.7   4.3   4.9   4.7   4.6/1.3   4.3/1.3  4/1.2      4.6/1.2
T:         6.7  6.2   5.8   5.4   6.1/1.8    6.5/2.0 5.7/1.4   6/1.8
W:       6.2  5.7   6.2   5.2   5.0/1.5    4.7/1.3  4.6/1.4  5.2/1.4
Th:      4.9  4.9   5.2   5.0   4.4/1.6    4.7/1.7  4.6/1.6  4.8/1.6
F:        5.6  5.3   5.0   6.2   5.1/1.2    4.6/1.2  4.7/1.2  5.1/1.5
*AVE:   5.8  5.3   5.4   5.3   5.0/1.5    5.0/1.5  4.7/1.4  5.0/1.5*

WK      11         12             13         14          15
16        17         18
M:        4.5/1.4   4.7/1.3    4.7/1.3  4.8/1.5  5.8/1.6  3.2/.9
4.8/1.5  4.8/1.6
T:         4.9/1.9  DARK*    8.4/2.9   5.2/1.8   5.2/1.5  3.0/.9    6.4/2.2
6.2/1.9
W:       5.1/1.6   5.6/1.5   4.5/1.3    5.5/1.6   4.6/1.1  4.4/1.3  5.2/1.6
5.4/1.6
Th:      5.0/1.5  4.7/1.5   5.8/1.3    5.2/1.7    DARK   DARK   4.6/1.4
4.4/1.3
F:        3.5/1     4.8/1.4   5.8/1.9    5.6/1.4    3.7/1.1  3.4/1.0
5.8/1.4  5.4/1.4
*AVE:   4.6/1.5  5.2/1.5*  5.8/1.8    5.2/1.6    4.8/1.4*3.5/1.0* 5.3/1.6
5.2/1.6*

Viewership numbers for Conan this week don't seem to be out - the TV By The
Numbers guys say that Dave still beat him in eyeballs. But Conan really got
a Late Night War Bump in the demo, beating Dave most or all of the week.
Unfortunately (and this must really burn over at NBC) Leno did not get much
if any bump. In a week in which there was more buzz about Leno in the media
than any since his premier week, his viewership was down and demo rating
flat over last week (including, in the teeth of the media storm, his worst
Thursday demo rating ever). Actually, I report the demo rating rounded to
the 1st decimal, but Leno was down fractionally here too for the week.

Leno was against all regular, first run competition this week, with no
football, which may be the first completely "regular" week since Week 11
(week before Thanksgiving) when he finished 5 consecutive weeks averaging
4.9M viewers and a 1.5 in the Demo. In that sense, his 5.2/1.6, which is
only a tick down from the previous week, might be regarded as an improvement
over what he would have had if it had not been for the controversy and hype.

Looking at all 18 weeks worth of these numbers just reminds me again how
low-class NBC's claim this week that the problem was Conan's "failure" with
his Tonight Show Ratings really was. It is not just that the JLP provided
the worst lead-in to the late local news and Tonight Show in history, but
for the first time the Tonight Show followed another comedy talk show every
night. A significant fraction of the audience that likes this kind of
program must have felt like they already got their fix and either went to
bed after the news, watched Nightline or a Seinfeld rerun. When Leno returns
to the Tonight Show, he will not only likely get a stronger lead-in than he
gave Conan, but, whatever that lead-in, he will still be the first talk show
on NBC that night.

 I think we can now look back over this entire period and blame Zuck for
consistently being an asshole and a liar. And the lies and assholatry were
almost always designed to protect Leno and put Conan in the worst possible
light. I guess they thought they were being real smart when the signed Conan
to the Tonight Show 6 years ago, but their really problem began when the
time came and Leno was still strong in the ratings, and Conan was already
showing signs of weakness against Ferg. They got cold feet and wanted their
cake too - it is at that point that their lack of integrity caught up with
and doubled down on their lack of intelligence. More straightforward men,
persuaded that they were backing the wrong horse at 11:30, would have either
tried to convince Conan to wait another 2 or 3 years, or paid him off and
cut him lose then, rather than put in place a scheme designed to humiliate
Conan.
-- 
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

Reply via email to