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re: I'm watching Seinfeld for the first time...
Posted on 2/14/16 at 7:43 pm to abellsujr
Posted on 2/14/16 at 7:43 pm to abellsujr
Hopefully the OP forgives me for causing this derail. Conan's Tonight Show remain remains a fascinating chapter in TV history.
100% spot-on.
Of course, but you can't bring that up without also bringing up that no other Tonight Show host had to deal with their damned predecessor doing an ill-conceived variety show at 10pm, which NBC cancelled five hours of high-rated primetime programming to plug in. The reality is that Conan had about three months to build his audience. He was doing OK during the summer, but once The Jay Leo Show premiered in the fall it had a cascading effect on the local news and Conan. It harmed everything, leading the affiliates to revolt. But here's the thing...
Actually, Conan did do Fallon's numbers in the demo (which is all advertisers care about.) In fact they both debuted with the very same number: 3.8. Of course, premieres are higher than average, and Fallon's average performance in the demo is something like 1.1, and he's considered dynamite at that figure. Conan was in fact above that for his debut summer and of course during that last crazy month - Conan's finale got ridiculous numbers that I don't believe Fallon ever touched (though again, that's an outlier episode). And during the infamous fall period where everything went to shite? Conan's average was about what Fallon's is now. ( Source)
Don't blame yourself for thinking otherwise though. Once they made they decision to reinstate Leno, NBC waged a PR campaign to paint Conan as a ratings failure, so as to have a cleaner narrative. They spun his numbers one way during 2009, and quite another once things got nasty.
The issue really wasn't about Conan's numbers. It was about Jay's. But for complicated reasons, Jay couldn't go away, and Conan could. Calling Conan an "astounding failure" (as that a-hole Dick Eberosl, serving as NBC's hatchet man, did) was just an easier way to explain it to the public. Many still believe it.
quote:
It's really NBC's fault for pushing Jay out the door and not giving Conan a smooth transition. I think he would have been more successful had Jay gone out on his own terms at that time and I think he was set up to fail. It was a situation that he couldn't win, IMO.
100% spot-on.
quote:
Unfortunately you don't get as much time to bring in the numbers before getting the ax, especially on network TV. These are different times than the days of Cheers and Seinfeld.
Of course, but you can't bring that up without also bringing up that no other Tonight Show host had to deal with their damned predecessor doing an ill-conceived variety show at 10pm, which NBC cancelled five hours of high-rated primetime programming to plug in. The reality is that Conan had about three months to build his audience. He was doing OK during the summer, but once The Jay Leo Show premiered in the fall it had a cascading effect on the local news and Conan. It harmed everything, leading the affiliates to revolt. But here's the thing...
quote:
I don't think he would have ever brought in the numbers that Jimmy does.
Actually, Conan did do Fallon's numbers in the demo (which is all advertisers care about.) In fact they both debuted with the very same number: 3.8. Of course, premieres are higher than average, and Fallon's average performance in the demo is something like 1.1, and he's considered dynamite at that figure. Conan was in fact above that for his debut summer and of course during that last crazy month - Conan's finale got ridiculous numbers that I don't believe Fallon ever touched (though again, that's an outlier episode). And during the infamous fall period where everything went to shite? Conan's average was about what Fallon's is now. ( Source)
Don't blame yourself for thinking otherwise though. Once they made they decision to reinstate Leno, NBC waged a PR campaign to paint Conan as a ratings failure, so as to have a cleaner narrative. They spun his numbers one way during 2009, and quite another once things got nasty.
The issue really wasn't about Conan's numbers. It was about Jay's. But for complicated reasons, Jay couldn't go away, and Conan could. Calling Conan an "astounding failure" (as that a-hole Dick Eberosl, serving as NBC's hatchet man, did) was just an easier way to explain it to the public. Many still believe it.
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