Look, NBC, I know your fall slate didn’t do as well for you as you might’ve hoped, but what in the hell are you thinking by giving Jay Leno the 10 PM timeslot for five – count ’em – five days of the week?
According to Bill Carter’s article, the idea for this concept came from the NBC chief executive, Jeff Zucker, so if it fails miserably, he’ll be the one to take the blame. But I just have this horrible feeling that it won’t fail. This will no doubt be a dream come true for those members of the American population who just can’t seem to stay awake ’til 11:30 to see Leno’s notoriously mainstream comedy stylings, and if it succeeds, then it will give the other networks carte blanche to start killing off their own scripted series in favor of a cheap-to-produce talk show.
While this decision has no doubt been in the works for quite some time, I feel certain that it was rushed to a conclusion as a result of the threatened SGA strike. It’s a horrifying move on NBC’s part, however, and I fear for the state of television.
