The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien reversed its ratings decline and managed to squeak by with a win over The Late Show with David Letterman this past Wednesday night. Apparently, he even blew Letterman away in the coveted 18-49 demo.I've never understood the appeal of The Tonight Show, but NBC has pretty much built the ultimate juggernaut of late night talk shows with it that nobody can seem to topple. On the other hand, when Letterman first moved to CBS he dominated the late night ratings for the first few years. With that in mind, I still think Letterman can turn this into a win before his current contract expires in 2012. And even if he doesn't, he deserves to.
Of course, the big elephant in the room is Jay Leno's upcoming 10 PM talk show. With such a lead-in, Dave's show could take an additional hammering in the ratings. Only time will tell.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-12-2009 @ 9:56AM
pnut166 said...
"when Letterman first moved to CBS he dominated the late night ratings for the first few years">>>>Uhh, no he didn`t. He sqeaked by, not "dominated", Leno for the first six months.
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6-12-2009 @ 10:24AM
Jimmy said...
Watching day-to-day ratings is pointless unless you wear a suit for one of the networks. Get back to me in six months.
P.S. Lead-ins only matter for people who aren't smart enough to know how to change a channel (Jay's demo, apparently).
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6-12-2009 @ 11:14AM
Pat said...
Conan will never be able to carry that time slot. He is a freak with annoying hair. He isn't funny. I can't stand him. I have to read or go to sleep now. Jimmy Fallon would have been a much better choice. Carson was the best at that hour. His comic timing was superb. It has gone down-hill since he retired.
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6-12-2009 @ 12:29PM
EbonyDad said...
I disagree. I think NBC was very smart to put Conan in the time slot. Conan already had a built-in audience. He appeals to younger people, and he has an opportunity to build an larger audience over a longer period of time.
Letterman will be at this at least for another 4-10 years. His audience will age with him. When Letterman leaves, CBS will have to find someone who can either pick up his audience, or pick someone who will lose Letterman's audience and start fresh.
NBC made a smart choice for the long run. Unless Leno sabotages Conan. Yet, I am not sure he will, as Leno's older audience will go back to him and be happier that it is in an earlier time period.
6-12-2009 @ 2:02PM
MarcDom7 said...
"He is a freak with annoying hair."
What are you, an eight-year-old?
7-17-2009 @ 7:24PM
Roger said...
I agree with Pat and also think that Conan is a loser.
My wife and I have gained an extra hour of sleep during the week because we will NOT watch him!!!!!!!!!!
We are looking forward to the day (night) when NBC wises up and replaces him.
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7-29-2009 @ 9:47PM
cindy said...
" I will tell you why your ratings are going down the john. Its because all us hard workers raising familys counted on analog tv to take us away to a peaceful relaxing place before we had to get up the next morning to bust our humps to bail out thoes idiot car manufactures. Then the government crams dtv down our throats , i pick up channel 36 and maybe channel 30. I no longer can get channel 24 WHICH HAPPENS TO BE MY FAVORITE CHANNEL.[ whats up with that ].Almost all of your viewers cant pick you up any more without cable, and why would people with cable want to watch local channels when they have 1400.00 totaliy useless channels to choose from!. I WANT MY NBC. thank you.
cindy
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