On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 11:40 AM, donz5 <[email protected]> wrote: > NY Post: > > http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/tv/leno_next_yyQLPJwW2QFgidzoQ0wSLO > > Deadline Hollywood: > > > http://www.deadline.com/2010/07/tonight-show-has-its-lowest-rated-quarter-since-late-show-debuted-on-cbs/ >
What is new here is the Posts' reminder that Leno costs NBC much more than Conan did at the Tonight Show: "The reality is starting to sink in at NBC that Leno is not only getting fewer viewers, but that his show is costing the cash-strapped network between $10 million and $15 million more a year than Conan's show did. Leno's higher salary -- $30 million per year vs. Conan's $15 million -- plus the cost of his bigger production staff is pushing the show into the red, according to insiders." I hope this gets picked up more, because of all the dick moves by NBC in January, the dickest was probably the claim that Conan was losing money on the Tonight Show for the first time in human history. Of course the only way that could possibly be true is if they were counting the cost of constructing the new studio as first year costs against first year revenue for Conan, which nobody except a dick accountant trying to smear feces on a rival would do. But now it becomes clear that, if Leno only does as well as Conan did, he will actually lose more money (actually, probably just not make as much money) than Conan for NBC. They had a cheaper host who did a cheaper show that attracted a younger audience and decided to dump him in favor of the more expensive, older host who is now getting a rating that both NBC and Leno defined as humiliating failure. Again, as I noted earlier, comparisons between Leno and Conan are imperfect - particularly until we pass the point in Conan's show where Dave went public with the extortion attempt. But just in terms of absolute numbers this is bad and getting worse for NBC and Leno. -- 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
