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January 14, 2010

Benji Tunnell: NBC's late-night move lame

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Thu Jan 14, 2010, 07:01 PM CST

Jay Leno’s move to prime time smacked of desperation. It was a mad stab at trying to please everyone while still cutting costs and turning around a struggling network. It was bold, it was risky and it had no chance of succeeding.

Now, NBC’s decision to move Jay Leno back to 10:30 p.m. Joplin time has alienated affiliates and angered its marquee stars.

The prime time move never really had a shot at being successful. Ill conceived and poorly thought out, NBC was simply trying to placate its two stars of late-night television without having one of them bolt for a competing time slot.

Now, after Jay Leno’s five-night-a-week debacle has devastated the ratings and the health of both NBC’s 9 p.m. hour and the rest of the post-news programming block, NBC not only runs the risk of losing a key player in the late-night wars, but may have mortally wounded a franchise that has survived host changes, competition and even Leno himself: Conan O’Brien.

The problem, and one which network executives refused to admit, is that Leno isn’t funny.

Leno owes more to the devoted audience of Johnny Carson, willing to stick with their late-night fixture even after their king had moved on, than to any “talent” he possesses.

It’s sad, really. O’Brien is the one paying the price for Leno’s lack of originality.

O’Brien was — much like his predecessor (and rightful heir to “The Tonight Show”) David Letterman — a trailblazer. He pushed the envelope and tried many cutting-edge comedy bits, and many succeeded. He built an audience because he wasn’t afraid to risk himself for the joke.

It was a style that was going to be a difficult fit anyway for the audience that now would be his, one that was babied and weaned on the milquetoast and banal. But with Leno weakening the lead-in audience with his woefully sad attempts at humor, the network hemorrhaged potential viewers and diluted O’Brien’s audience — which bolstered the overall ratings of Letterman.

In addition, Letterman is followed by the savvy and equally risky Craig Ferguson, who has slowly and methodically built a cult following, much the same way a younger O’Brien did when he replaced Letterman. O’Brien is saddled with the Leno-like Jimmy Fallon, a man who’s success has always remained a mystery to me.

It may be too late to save this situation. NBC has said that it wants to move Leno back to the 10:35 time slot for half an hour, pushing O’Brien back into direct competition with Jimmy Kimmel on ABC and giving Letterman a half hour head start on him.

O’Brien has smartly refused, leaving the network trapped in its own quagmire. NBC now faces the task of not only rebuilding that hour, but trying to repair self-inflicted wounds to the once-mighty late-night franchise without creating more competition. In this, they will fail. And rightfully so.

If O’Brien bolts, they will be stuck with Leno and Fallon, the bland leading into the bland. O’Brien will be left without a home. And Letterman will continue to reap the rewards of such foolhardy lack of foresight.

In the end, all may survive, but most will be weakened. And the legacy of Steve Allen and Johnny Carson, foolishly entrusted to a marginally talented stand-up hack, will forever be tarnished.

Address correspondence to Benji Tunnell, c/o The Joplin Globe,

P.O. Box 7, Joplin, MO 64802 or benjitunnell@gmail.com.

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