It's an argument as old as 2010 itself: Jay Leno VS. Conan O'Brien. The situation came to a head earlier this year during January's "Late Night Wars", when NBC and Leno booted Conan from his spot at the helm of The Tonight Show following the unmitigated disaster of The Jay Leno Show. Ever since, Team Coco's been watching Leno's ratings, ready to gloat at a moment's notice. Join us in some of that gloating below, my gentle Examiner readers...
Earlier this year-- and you may not have heard about this-- NBC effectively booted Conan O'Brien off The Tonight Show to make way for returning "champ" Jay Leno, who had moved to primetime to helm the disastrous The Jay Leno Show. The move irked every Conan fan in the world, and ever since then, "Team Coco" has been waiting and watching to see if Leno's ratings would be any better than Conan's were-- which was apparently the reason behind NBC's decision to put Leno back behind the Tonight Show desk. Now that the year's almost over, we've got some good news, and some bad news.
On the good news side of things, there's this: Leno's actually doing far worse in the ratings than Conan was when he was given The Tonight Show. According to Nielsen ratings in the most popular, coveted demographic in television-- the 18 to 49 demographic-- Leno's ratings are down 23%. That seems to fly in the face of NBC's logic concerning Conan's ratings, and on the surface appears a great reason to snarkily mock NBC, Leno, and their stupid mistake.
But, wait, there's bad news: Leno's ratings are actually up 12% overall from what Conan's were at the same time last year. To put this very simply-- and, in articles where Jay Leno fans may be reading, simplicity is key-- Leno's doing better on The Tonight Show than Conan O'Brien was...just not with the right people. The 18 to 49 demographic is the Holy Grail of television programming, and when one has a hit with that demo, one can count on smooth sailing going forward. Being more popular overall with nursing home patients and retirees isn't exactly setting records in NBC's earnings department.
So, as we said: Good news, bad news. There's reason to gloat, Team Coco, but not reason to be obnoxious about that gloating. And if you happen to be against David Letterman-- and, really, if you prefer Leno to Letterman, you deserve a swift and merciless beating-- Leno's beating him by a solid 22% in the ratings, which is a far cry from the powerhouse figures that Letterman was putting up early in this particular ratings war. It's sad news, that, because it indicates that the masses prefer Leno to Letterman. Then again, this is the same country that worships contestants on American Idol, so we shouldn't be surprised.
Stay tuned for more Leno VS. Conan news, ratings news, interviews, funny videos, reviews, and more from Comedy Examiner HQ in the near future! If you've got something to say, you can feel free to add your comments in the section below. While you're deciding what comment best suits your glorious opinion, let's take a moment to look at a commercial for what's sure to be the best latenight show, debuting in November:
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