Wanted to move this out of the Chuck thread and discuss this here.
This is a huge gamble on NBC's part. It basically means they're giving up on developing much new scripted material because they really, really suck at it. Or at least they suck at marketing the good stuff they have (why does Life have to be up against Lost? I don't get it).
What most people don't know is this could signal the end of network affiliations. Most affiliates could give a hoot about the first two hours of prime time. They care about the late news lead in (in Phoenix, this is the 9pm slot). That's what drives ratings. Or at least that's the common theory. Ch. 12 has won the 10pm book something like 53 times in a row without much help from the 9pm slot -- you can literally see people jumping from CSI or whatever to Ch. 12 news in the ratings. But it's an anomaly compared to most markets.
With Leno as the late news lead most affiliates feel like NBC is cutting the throats of the affiliates who have nurtured their crappy lineups all these years. Add to the fact that NBC has dumped millions into Hulu and bought stations in markets where they already had affiliates, and you have folks like the Boston NBC affiliate who threatened to not run the Leno show until NBC lawyers showed up at their door to twist their arms.
You want the that lead-in to be in the 8+ category (at least by the old standards before LPMs). Leno, to my knowledge, has never had more than 3 million viewers. He will have to more than double his average audience for affiliates to be happy with this.
If Leno pulls a Chevy Chase, and I suspect he will, even with all the stars in Hollywood lining up to help him, none of this will matter. Resume your normal programming. But if he succeeds, expect all the other networks to follow suit. Why? Because it's so much cheaper to throw millions at a talk-show host than throw multi-millions into show development, cast, cast renogitations, etc. It would take probably a month of Leno 5-days a week to approach the cost of one Lost episode.
Just food for thought. It could be worse. It could be more reality programming. I guess.
This is a huge gamble on NBC's part. It basically means they're giving up on developing much new scripted material because they really, really suck at it. Or at least they suck at marketing the good stuff they have (why does Life have to be up against Lost? I don't get it).
What most people don't know is this could signal the end of network affiliations. Most affiliates could give a hoot about the first two hours of prime time. They care about the late news lead in (in Phoenix, this is the 9pm slot). That's what drives ratings. Or at least that's the common theory. Ch. 12 has won the 10pm book something like 53 times in a row without much help from the 9pm slot -- you can literally see people jumping from CSI or whatever to Ch. 12 news in the ratings. But it's an anomaly compared to most markets.
With Leno as the late news lead most affiliates feel like NBC is cutting the throats of the affiliates who have nurtured their crappy lineups all these years. Add to the fact that NBC has dumped millions into Hulu and bought stations in markets where they already had affiliates, and you have folks like the Boston NBC affiliate who threatened to not run the Leno show until NBC lawyers showed up at their door to twist their arms.
You want the that lead-in to be in the 8+ category (at least by the old standards before LPMs). Leno, to my knowledge, has never had more than 3 million viewers. He will have to more than double his average audience for affiliates to be happy with this.
If Leno pulls a Chevy Chase, and I suspect he will, even with all the stars in Hollywood lining up to help him, none of this will matter. Resume your normal programming. But if he succeeds, expect all the other networks to follow suit. Why? Because it's so much cheaper to throw millions at a talk-show host than throw multi-millions into show development, cast, cast renogitations, etc. It would take probably a month of Leno 5-days a week to approach the cost of one Lost episode.
Just food for thought. It could be worse. It could be more reality programming. I guess.
