Hump Day

Jay Leno must have pictures of somebody hidden somewhere because there is no less talented millionaire in the world. And that includes the New York City doorman that won the lottery last year. I mean at least that guy could open doors.

It is absolutely inexplicable to me that NBC, under the "guidance" of Jeff Zucker, would hitch its entire primetime wagon to this guy. Not only will this move fail, it will also kill the one sure thing NBC has always been able to count on, Late Night Progamming. Brandon Tartikoff must be spinning in his grave. This is a classic example of network executives being too smart for their own good. They absolutely over thought the whole late night thing. They were winning in the ratings and had proven that they could find a replacement in the 12:30 slot. So why not keep Leno where he was and let Conan walk?

Don't get me wrong, Leno sucks, I would rather watch Katie Couric's colonoscopy on a loop than sit through Leno interviewing anyone. But he had the ratings. For some reason people find watching Leno comfortable, maybe it's because he steals bits from Stern, Paar, Leterman, Allen and they know what they are going to get. I'm not a Conan guy either but at least he comes up with new ideas. Leno's unwatchable, I had to turn the TV off, during Sunday Night Football In America With Bob Costas, Keith Obermann, Dan Patrick, Rodney Harrison, Tiki Barber and Peter King, when the aforementioned Mr. Costas was forced to interview Jay.

The first episode of The Jay Leno Show was a perfect example of why Leno is out of his depth in primetime. Having Jerry Seinfeld on the show would have been topical...a decade ago, Oprah Winfrey's ratings are off by almost 10%, and that whole "Interview with President Obama" thing was schticky when Not Necessarily the News did it on HBO with President Reagan...IN THE EIGHTIES! No, Leno is awful and if Mr. Zucker knows what's good for him he will pull the ripcord immediately.

Speaking of talentless hacks, that Kanye West interview last night absolutely fell into Leno's lap... and  yet he did nothing with it. I mean, Leno must have a horse shoe buried in that chin of his because Kanye is the biggest get out there, this side of Phil Garrido. Why not have Kanye grab the mic from Jay during the beginning of the show? Maybe have Kanye read his list of Video Music Award Winners.  Something, anything other than Serious-Jay interviewing Mr. West about his mom. Seriously? Who is producing this drivel?

If I was Conan I would punch Jay in the mouth because the Tonight Show w/ Conan O'Brien has a very short shelf life as long as it follows The Jay Leno Show. The irony is that the only thing that will come out of this primetime experiment will be a punchline. Somewhere Johnny Carson is smiling.

The Jay Leno Show is going to be responsible for killing two talk shows at once...not even The Magic Hour could say that.