All that said, there is something wildly exciting about this news, and there is no reason to assume that The Jay Leno Show, as the new project will likely be called, will not be successful on a number of levels. (Among other benefits, Friday night television may finally come alive.) NBC will reportedly save hundreds of millions of dollars in program development and production costs, and there will certainly be inventive new opportunities for advertisers in this plan. The idea of having a star-studded talk and variety show available as an alternative to dramatic programming (especially crime dramas) is not without its appeal (especially to those viewers who do not have insatiable appetites for crime dramas). Many years ago, when one of NBC’s competitors was as mired in last place as the Peacock has been of late, I suggested to its programming chief that a primetime talk show might be an effective alternative to its anemic scripted slate at least two or three nights a week. Said chief stared at me as if a third eye had suddenly appeared in the center of my forehead. Apparently I was ahead of my time.
There is much online chatter about how NBC’s affiliates will maximize this change. It appears that some of them may consider moving their 11 p.m. local newscasts to 10 p.m. and expanding them to one hour, and then run Jay Leno at 11 p.m. and The Tonight Show (with new host Conan O’Brien) at midnight. Others may choose to schedule repeats of old NBC sitcoms (such as Friends and Seinfeld) at 10 p.m., followed by their local news shows, Jay Leno and Tonight. The possibilities appear to be many and varied.
Another upside: If Jay Leno is a hit, its success may finally lay to rest the broadcast networks’ fears of showcasing “old” people as stars of their shows. After all, Leno will be pushing 60 when his new show makes its debut. Accordingly, baby boomers who suddenly find themselves on the receiving end of age discrimination, especially in the media and entertainment worlds, would be foolish not to support this experiment, at least at the start.
On the downside, if and when Leno runs out of gas, or if the viewing public for some reason chooses not to embrace his new show, NBC is going to find itself in an even more difficult position than it is at present. It is unlikely that the network could effectively revert back to scripted fare at 10 p.m. after working so hard to alter audience expectations and behaviors.
Come September, NBC will be producing and scheduling an unprecedented amount of nightly talk and variety programming. In most markets, The Jay Leno Show will (after a brief break for local news) be followed by The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Last Call with Carson Daly. That is a lot of talk and variety to sustain on a daily basis, and at first blush there would seem to be a sameness to it all that could prove tiresome. What a shame that there isn’t an African American or Hispanic host included in that lineup, not to mention (shudder) a woman! Even when a broadcast network excitingly breaks new ground it seems that some things never change.