Last Night, Jay Leno Tortured Millions
Kanye West wasn't the only person who squirmed thanks to the primetime premiere of The Jay Leno Show. 17.7 million people tuned in for the unfunniest hour since on network TV since Bush's last State of the Union.
Final numbers will be in later this afternoon, and we're not going to bore you with all the ratings mumbo jumbo, but the 10pm show was up 70% compared to Conan O'Brien's premiere and 38% from Jay Leno's exit from The Tonight Show. Though it's not fair to compare an 11:35 and a 10 pm show, that's not a bad showing, and many a weekly drama would be happy with such a debut, but considering Leno is expected to do this every night of the week from now until nuclear winter, it's going to be a long road. Let's see how he does once the novelty has worn off and the universal chilliness from critics has sunken in.