On Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 7:09 AM, Bob in Jersey <[email protected]>wrote:
> > Back on Saturday (10), Mark Jeffries replied to Greg Diener: >> >> Meanwhile, you may've noticed in the comments section that there are >> actually people calling for broadcast Fox to pick Leno up [SNIP] >> > > Another is Greta... > > > http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/2013/08/12/fox-broadcast-should-hire-jay-leno-on-february-7-2014-of-course-no-one-is-asking-me/ > I had to stop reading the comments on the Greta Blog after the first few because I saw I was leaking IQ points and do not have much to spare. But I did enjoy these two (I have a dyslexia that ruins my spelling, so I am not one to judge, but I would have thought Fox commenters would at least be able to spell the word "white" in an Obama-bashing sentence): - "I sometimes wonder why they are letting him go. Is it because he is not 'left' enough? Though, nothing NBC does surprises me. Since they now own the weather channel, they have been pushing 'global warming' down our throats." - "probably Jay is being let go because of Obama insistence; for Obama does not like the joke lines Jay lets go with that ridicule Obama, his administration and the whtie (sic) house." Greta specifically notes she is suggesting Fox broadcasting to pick up Leno, and Fox has always made a big deal about the distinction, and there is no doubt that if in some strange universe Leno did do a late night show at Fox, half his go-to jokes in every monologue would be making fun of Fox News, but people still seem to make this some kind of political thing. I actually did not realize that Leno was the late-night comic of choice for the political right - when did that happen? Is it because of his friendship with our former Governor? I have always thought Leno's personal politics were somewhat to the left of Dave's, though it is true that Dave has drunk the kool-aid of all that, you know, science, that supports climate change. There is room to second-guess what NBC is doing with the Tonight Show, but I don't see the point in approaching it with the question "why is NBC replacing Leno?". They have been fair transparent with their thinking about this. We know why they are doing it: 1) Leno's contract and budget is based on an earlier TV era when the Tonight Show was a gushing cash oil well. NBC cut Leno's salary from $25M to $15M recently, and will save millions more by switching from Leno to Fallon, who will make something between $8M and $12M ( http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2013/03/26/jimmy-fallon-could-double-his-payday-with-tonight-show-move/) - let's call it $10M. There was probably a time when that extra 45M in savings was rounding error at NBC late night, but in the current environment that is a meaningful part of their profit margin on the show, and they want it. 2) Leno is current time slot ratings leader, but he and his audience are aging, and ABC has a rising young competitor on against him. Even if Leno could win his slot for the next three years, NBC thinks they are bleeding young viewers who are establishing late night viewing habits that will stick with them for the rest of their lives, making it harder on Fallon to win them back whenever he would take-over. So the question is not: "Why is NBC replacing Leno?", but "Are NBC's reasons for replacing Leno correct?" That remains to be seen (check in on Fallon's rating in the demo relative to both Leno's now and Kimmel's in 2 years to find out), but I think NBC is making a better decision now than they did the last time around. And if Jon Stewart was hosting the 12:35 show at CBS right now, I think you might see similar pressure on them to pull the trigger on Dave. -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
