Off the Press: The Jay Leno Show Effect

By Adam Wright

(Disclaimer: This article was originally written and published in my weekly column TV Done Wright in  The Aquinian campus newspaper at St. Thomas University)

As I reported on TVDoneWright.com late last week, NBC has cancelled the police-drama Southland. The cancellation came before the 2^nd season premiere even made it to air.

So why would a network cancel a show that they order a 2^nd season, before it even makes its sophomore debut?  Sounds crazy right?

Wait, it does get better.

According to reports, the main reason for pulling the plug was that the show was “too dark and gritty for broadcast television, especially in the 9 pm ET timeslot.” This decision was made after a screening of the first few episodes of season two.

This explanation is ironic for many reasons. First off, a network approves every script before the episodes are produced. NBC read the script and gave it the green light, so they knew the content. Secondly, mention of its timeslot makes this story worth writing about.

You see folks, last season Southland was on Thursday nights at 10 pm ET on NBC. However during the summer, the network made the decision to give Jay Leno a new show, five times a week, at 10 pm ET. This meant that every show that was in the timeslot would be shuffled… or worst.

Season two of Southland was scheduled in for Friday nights at 9 pm ET. And before it got its first airing in its new home, it got the axe. It got the axe because of the timeslot, which the network gave them.

In other words, NBC screwed themselves.

The Jay Leno Show now occupies one-third of the primetime schedule on NBC. And Southland isn’t the only victim of this move. “The Jay Leno Show Effect” has hit hard all over the network’s schedule.

Law & Order: SVU was the #1 drama on NBC for the past few years. It was in the Tuesday 10 pm ET timeslot and dominated it. But since it moved to its new home Wednesday nights at 9 pm ET (in the US.), the ratings have plummeted. Despite being what I think is one of its best season in years quality-wise, it’s finishing fourth in that timeslot, behind Criminal Minds, Modern Family, and Glee.

So the top rated drama on the network has dropped to fourth in its timeslot.

Next victim, ironically, is the man who took Leno’s old job. The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brian has also suffered from this move. Now with The Jay Leno Show airing every night, with new guests, there’s a battle to book the stars now. If Leno lands a big name guest, that takes away from Conan, who’s getting his whopped by David Letterman’s The Late Show.

By the way, The Tonight Show’s ratings have dropped since Conan took over for Jay Leno.

Finally, the ones taking the biggest hit from “The Jay Leno Show Effect” are the scripted shows of NBC. Remember when the network had great dramas like LA Law, ER, and The West Wing? Remember the comedies like The Cosby Show, Seinfeld, Frasier, and Friends? This was back when NBC was the top rated network, and not in last place out of the big four.

For the past few years, NBC has been struggling to develop new dramas. The list of failed attempts is large, and one could blame the networks strategy.

But how does giving The Jay Leno Show five hours in primetime per week help them? Remember, that’s a third of their schedule. And the ratings haven’t been impressive for Leno and NBC.

The worst (or best?) part of this story, things will only get worst for the network. Southland is just the first to get cancelled on NBC this season, but more will follow. But no matter how bad The Jay Leno Show does in the ratings, they have no “Plan B”. They went all-in to save money from producing scripted shows.

Southland was the first casualty…but who’s next?

Posted by Adam Wright on October 14, 2009. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry