Viewers Like Leno's New Show More than the Critics Do

The much anticipated "Jay Leno Show" has aired a couple of times now, and the critics don't seem to like it much. Regular people, though, seem to be tuned in to this earlier version of the "Tonight Show." Fourth-rated NBC won its time slot with 17.7 million watching Mr. Leno. That's the biggest prime time TV audience since the finale of "American Idol" back in May. Whether he can keep this audience remains to be seen, but the program does offer a healthy alternative to cops, lawyers and doctors at 10 pm.

Frazier Moore of the Associated Press said "the biggest difference between Leno's new show and his old one: With his fade-out at 11 pm, the local news began." The Los Angeles Times' Mary McNamara wrote that the show was "a strange, shallow puddle of comedy." She added "This is the future of television? This wasn't even a good rendition of television past." The New York Times' Alessandra Stanley whined, "The future of 'The Jay Leno Show' is likely to look almost exactly like 'The Tonight Show' past. So much ink has been devoted to describing how Mr. Leno's new show would depart from his old one that it was startling to see how little difference there was."

Of course, Mr. Leno received no favors from NBC in its hyping of the program. It was going to be something new but also familiar, something groundbreaking but traditional. What Mr. Leno always intended to do was the same thing he's done since taking over from Johnny Carson, just earlier. Mr. Leno has never been a hit with the critics, so none of this should come as a shock.

Having booked Jerry Seinfeld as his first guest may have helped with the first night's ratings, but having Kayne West on right after his disgraceful behavior at the MTV Video Awards made the whole thing start to look like an episode of "Oprah!" Mr. West apologized for his boorish action (taking Taylor Swift's moment from her along with the microphone during her acceptance speech), and then, Mr. Leno asked what Donda West, the rapper's late mother, would have thought of the incident. One hopes this Dr. Phil moment remains a singular event.

The struggle for the program in the future is going to be the same that "The Tonight Show" has, being funny 5 times a week. "Saturday Night Live" has proved time and again that it's very difficult to come up with 90 minutes of material every week (usually one can switch off after the Weekend Update segment and miss nothing). Mr Leno's show will continue to be popular with viewers so long as he can put out a couple of gems every week. He did it at 11:30 for years. Just don't expect the critics to like it any more than they do now.

© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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