This past September I wrote a blog about the premiere of the Jay Leno Show on NBC.  I had planned on tracking the late night giant and reporting back be it good or bad.  Mainly to keep advertisers informed of national trends and how it effects local marketing and media and should impact their local marketing strategy.  NBC had a lot riding on this new format for primetime television... here's a refresher on why the network felt this move would be a great success: 

1-The Jay Leno Show was less expensive to produce.
2-NBC had hoped to attract new and retain current audiences with less re-runs.
3-Build a good solid audience for local evening news.
4-Reduce the use of TiVo on network primetime programming.
5-NBC was really pushing for a break out hit! 

If you haven't heard already (which I doubt) each of the above items 1 through 5.... well, let's just say they didn't exactly pan out for NBC and Jay.  So much in fact they have decided to move Jay all together, after the evening news and starting from scratch on his old time slot (which for now will be filled with Law & Orders, Dateline, and the like).

One of the primary reasons for the shift (other than the writing which is another subject entirely)- local advertising professionals and news affiliates. There are some seriously jaw-dropping declines in the 10pm news hour across the nation.  For example, KVCB in Las Vegas has reported a loss of nearly half of its audience since the switch in programming. And recently, Broadcasting and Cable Magazine conducted a poll with dozens of affiliates across the nation asking them to give Jay a letter grade on how they felt he lead into local news.  The result was unanimous "D's" and "F's". Affiliates were of course unhappy with the low ratings but they also fully understood the direct effect on advertisers and their local media strategy. 

So, unfortunately for NBC and Jay this idea of "Changing the Face of Primetime Television" was a bad move.  All parties involved are for the most part unimpressed and frustrated, including, I might add, Conan O'Brien (see link for Conan's statement: http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/conan-o-brien-quits-tonight-show--911 ).

For now we don't know what the landscape will look like for NBC primetime television. 
We can only hope that Jay redeems himself in a more appropriate time slot, Conan finds a new "home", NBC can pull together great content for our viewing pleasure and build evening television back up for local advertisers.

It's quite a tall order but I've got my fingers crossed!