This is a particularly horrible idea
NBC Expected to Give 10 P.M. Show to Leno - NYTimes.com
This is sort of like saying, “Well, we have a nice car already, but we already promised to buy another one and keep it in the garage, so let’s just keep the older car in the kitchen.” How do you not have a 10pm slot? Unless you’re Fox or CW.
No, this is a smart response to the changing media environment. Within the next five years, a) entertainment will become even more niche and “long tail,” and b) “appointment” viewing of entertainment shows in real-time will be dead (or, finish dying), due to TiVo, Hulu, and the like. And c) those shows will get more and more expensive to produce, with diminishing returns. Leno solves all that: a) cheaper to produce, and b) topical, therefore has a prayer of attracting an “appointment” (real-time, non ad-skipping) - and maybe mass - audience. The idea that, over the next decade, people are still going to watch some hour-long drama at 10 p.m. like ER or Law and Order is unrealistic.
I hate Leno and won’t be watching but he has a large audience and Peter is 100% correct that from a financial standpoint, this makes perfect sense for NBC.
You know what? I thought this was the dumbest idea ever at first, but this is an excellent, excellent point. Sure, you me and everyone we know hate Leno, and will likely not watch, but credit to NBC for the foresight to shake up a safe model for something that may keep them alive going forward. This is exactly the type of move that the Book, Music and Print Media industries have resisted for years, and now we all laugh at them for their resistance to change.
It sucks for Conan, and it sucks for fans of episodic television dramas like me, but I can’t hate the move. I just hope that, if this is the direction they choose to take, someone also figures out a way to deliver high quality shows like Friday Night Lights to viewers without taking up a valuable prime time slot.
