The Jay Leno Show
Sept 14, 2009 21:44:44 GMT -7
Post by CAwasinNJ on Sept 14, 2009 21:44:44 GMT -7
Watched the new Leno show. Frankly there's not a lot to see here. Here are a few thoughts.
The show still starts off with a monologue. Ok, fine. But Jay's still explaining the jokes. Hint Jay, if you have to explain it, it's not funny. How many years have you been doing standup and you still haven't learned this?
We still get the same white bread sketches. Sorry, the car wash singers fell flat. You needed something much better for the premiere.
Ok, finally a change. No desk for the interviews. Coulda knocked me over with a sledgehammer.
Whose dumb idea was the CGI monitor they used for the remote from Oprah? That's the kind of cheesy crap that belongs on third rate public access shows, not a national primetime show. It looked HORRIBLE. Whoever came up with that should be fired.
The phony Obama interview was pretty standard. They did get one really great line in about "tort reform", but I'll bet half the audience didn't get it.
And the Kanye West interview. That had to be one of the most painful interviews I've ever seen. Now I understand this was last minute and there was zero prep, but it was still a disaster. I think Jay could even sense that given how he prefaced introducing Kanye and stating that the whole thing was last minute. Again, not something that should have been on the first show, but there really wasn't a lot of choice. I feel bad for Jay and NBC because there was no way they could have won that battle.
And then the old standby Headlines (which I still think Dave did first but....)
So what's my verdict? The things they could control should have been better. The bad part is that for all the hype NBC was giving that this wasn't going to be "The Early Tonight Show", it didn't meet the expectations that they were claiming. And no it wasn't exactly like "Tonight". It was "Tonight with Fake Glasses and a Funny Nose." I don't think they're fooling anyone here. But then again, Leno's "Tonight" did reasonably well in that timeslot. Against serious competition at 10/9c, I just don't know. I don't think they'll match even their 11:35/10:35c numbers with the milquetoast product they showed in the premiere.
My rating: C
The show still starts off with a monologue. Ok, fine. But Jay's still explaining the jokes. Hint Jay, if you have to explain it, it's not funny. How many years have you been doing standup and you still haven't learned this?
We still get the same white bread sketches. Sorry, the car wash singers fell flat. You needed something much better for the premiere.
Ok, finally a change. No desk for the interviews. Coulda knocked me over with a sledgehammer.
Whose dumb idea was the CGI monitor they used for the remote from Oprah? That's the kind of cheesy crap that belongs on third rate public access shows, not a national primetime show. It looked HORRIBLE. Whoever came up with that should be fired.
The phony Obama interview was pretty standard. They did get one really great line in about "tort reform", but I'll bet half the audience didn't get it.
And the Kanye West interview. That had to be one of the most painful interviews I've ever seen. Now I understand this was last minute and there was zero prep, but it was still a disaster. I think Jay could even sense that given how he prefaced introducing Kanye and stating that the whole thing was last minute. Again, not something that should have been on the first show, but there really wasn't a lot of choice. I feel bad for Jay and NBC because there was no way they could have won that battle.
And then the old standby Headlines (which I still think Dave did first but....)
So what's my verdict? The things they could control should have been better. The bad part is that for all the hype NBC was giving that this wasn't going to be "The Early Tonight Show", it didn't meet the expectations that they were claiming. And no it wasn't exactly like "Tonight". It was "Tonight with Fake Glasses and a Funny Nose." I don't think they're fooling anyone here. But then again, Leno's "Tonight" did reasonably well in that timeslot. Against serious competition at 10/9c, I just don't know. I don't think they'll match even their 11:35/10:35c numbers with the milquetoast product they showed in the premiere.
My rating: C
