TVSquad

NBC made a huge mistake in saying Leno would be gone almost 3 years before it would happen. Now they have little choice but to put Conan on at 11:30. While the majority of posters on this sight equate Leno with lameness, they clearly aren't part of the Neilsen family. I suspect CBS can't wait for the change.

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Ah, Letterman. How many nights did I stay up to watch you. Back when your show felt so low budget that you could have sworn that NBC didn't even know that the show was on the air!

And then you went to CBS. A giant theater, fancy schmancy Top 10 List graphics...

You were better when you were low budget.

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What do you mean "even Nightline"? With Koppel it regularly won in the ratings against all comers. In case you haven't noticed, this is an election year which means more people are paying attention to the news. Its no shock at all that Nightline would be holding its own now.

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Excluding Nightline, because I also think their ratings are an election year fluke, the common denominator is that the L.A. shows are beating the N.Y. shows. I refuse to believe that people are tuning in to Leno because viewers find him so hilarious. They're tuning in for the guests. And that's where the L.A. based shows have the advantage. They have virtually the entire universe of stars in their back yard.

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What Letterman's viewers lack in quantity, we make up for in taste and intellect.

Until Les Moonves complains, the ratings are a moot point.

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Letterman is by far the better interviewer, but the comedy writing in between the interviews is so bad they should eliminate it completely. "Will it Float?" Who gives a damn?

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The answer is simple Leno represents the vanilla pablum that soceity has chosen to endorse. Letterman has more intellect, broadcast savvy and creativity in his left pinky but Leno does the giggle, suck up don't offend anyone stuff that people seem to be comfortable with. It's a shame.

All one has to do is look to the awards and see consistent abscence of Leno's name.

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If they think Conan's ratings are bad now, wait till that idiot Fallon gets on the show.

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The show just ordered another shipment of blue cards. Letterman is not planning to go anywhere.

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i prefer leno always have. letterman just seems boring.

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Why didn't you list Craig Ferguson in your "tags" links? You listed 9 things, he should have been #3.
Watch him; he's on his way, skyrocketing upward in popularity. I say if you put him on earlier, it would not be long before he beat Letterman AND Leno; both of whom I like. But you gotta admit: Ferguson's the best. Ferguson doesn't need cue cards. Ferguson is the funniest person I know of. He's brilliant.

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The writing on Letterman isn't always terrible. It's just that they've made the stylistic choice for all of their jokes outside of a bit to be not funny. It's an interesting choice, not one I'd pick, but whatever.

Seriously, get rid of the stupid "ooh, what will the new sound effect be" idiocy, get rid of the random "weird sounds happening that clearly even Dave doesn't find funny" and get rid of the self-referential garbage.

Maybe even get new writers.

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Letterman gets all the respect so I don't think he needs the ratings that Leno pulls in, who gets zero respect. I hope that Leno moves to ABC -- where he will still win the night. Conan is just not right for the tonight show and I will just be anxiously awaiting Leno to have a late night talk show of his own again and get the respect that he deserves. By the way, if you guys have not caught Craig Ferguson -- he is hilarious, not surprised but elated that he is beating conan.

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Wasn't Letterman in repeats all last week?

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Terrible shows, movies and music albums are always beating superior products in ratings/sales. This is nothing new. Letterman is/was/will be far better than Leno.

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Craig Ferguson is the one to replace Letterman. He's the funniest host on TV. Great wit, works without a net and has a very good interviewing style. My one grip with his show is that he doesn't spend enough time with his guests.

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I love Letterman, although admittedly more because of familiarity than how funny it is. Conan is funny but incredibly repetitive. For the life of me though, I do not understand why people watch Leno, it's not funny, the interviews aren't much good, I just don't see what it has going for it - other than being on before Conan.

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i can trace the point when leno passed letterman. in april 1993, david was ahead. i was watching the night that leno gave a heartfelt and tearful statement directly to the camera, of how much he loved his dad and mom, both of whom died within a month of each other. leno showed human warmth and sensitivity. i felt it and apparently middle america did. red states love leno.

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Hahahha Red States love Leno. Well that says it all doesn't it.

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