NBC’s O’Brien WRONG Choice
Conan O’Brien’s ratings are dropping faster than car sales. The premiere of the Tonight show with Conan scored a 7.1/17 share. The “Tonight’s” numbers since late last week, have been well below Leno’s overnight average during the first three months of this year (4.1 rating/10 share). Letterman’s numbers have even beat Conans on occasion.
OK was it a good idea for NBC to replace Jay with Conan? When you start up a new radio station or TV show you will have good ratings. People want to try you out. Then they decide, very quickly, if you’re worth it and either stay with you or go back to what they had before. Jay was like a pair of comfy slippers. Letterman is like a new pair of comfy slippers, you know they’ll feel great after awhile. Now, NO Jay, so you can bet that David will start the uphill climb in the ratings. Conan on the other hand, seems like a Cartoon Character. That old saying keeps popping to mind whenever I see him on the Tonight Show…”Never hire a boy to do a mans job.”
NBC said that they look forward to Conan grabbing a younger audience. This may be true. But how young? I can see 12 – 20 year olds liking Conan but how many of them really watch TV at that time of night or watch TV for that matter? Given the fact that young people today are forced to “grow up” at lighting speed, was it a good choice to put Conan in that slot…NO.
Relating this to the big screen, NBC you’ve hired a Cartoon Character to try to fill an Academy Award role. NBC…”Hey, Get Off My Lawn”
Bryan Cox
Check out the NEW Voice Demos at Cox Marketing
June 11, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Yep, not even 15 year olds enjoy watching gravestones sit in a cemetery, a more pleasuable experience than watching the first attempts Conan’s made. Maybe they’ll try drying painr next.
June 11, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Yep, I fear it’s going to be Chevy Chase all over again. Remember when he tried helming a variety/talk show? You didn’t miss much. Chevy tried really hard to attract an audience, but they saw him as more of a physical pratfall/slapstick cartoon character than a host, and that’s exactly the problem that Conan O’Brien has to deal with now.
June 11, 2009 at 5:50 pm
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June 16, 2009 at 6:04 pm
There is so much unsatisfying ‘dreg’ left by late night TV that it makes one wonder how the medium will survive … then there are ‘Personality’ laden bright spots like “Craig Ferguson” on the Late Late … He who reminds us that real people are out there that can entertain if given leeway to do so …