The Great Jay Leno Experiment

Is this really going to work? Do people want to see Jay in prime time every week night? Well, maybe. He was definitely popular at 10:30 (cst), but there may be a very different audience at 9:00.

Now, I like Leno. At least I liked his monologue and his skits like Jay Walking, Found On EBay, and Dollar Store Bargains. Loved headlines every Monday. Ask the audience - No. Does this impress Ed Asner? Nope. But for the most part, his stuff was pretty good.

I turned off the tv once he got to the guests, unless he was having a really intriguing guest. And he could definitely lose the musical guests as far as I was concerned.

He says that his show will be heavy on the skits and light on talk and music. That's good. He might actually keep his audience, which is the whole point, since he has promised to deliver big numbers to the evening news waiting in the wings each night.

I saw him on the Bill Maher show last week, and he has grown out his hair. Really long. Not bad, though, I kind of liked it. Makes him look a little edgy. We'll see if he keeps it for his show, which begins in mid-September. Maybe he thinks it will attract a younger crowd, and it probably can't hurt. This may be his achilles heel - if an audience believes that he is a comic for a certain demographic and therefore not cool, the ones not in the club will most likely turn somewhere else for their 9:00 entertainment.

This has never been tried before, so far as I know. NBC is putting its eggs in one guy's basket, and he had better deliver or they'll probably pull the plug pretty quickly. At least they should. I'm torn and not sure what I will do. I'm pretty much a Law and Order devotee, and I have become accustomed to seeing L&O, then watching the evening news. Not having L&O at 9:00 will throw me for a loop. I'll give Leno a chance, though. He seems like a nice enough guy and if he can deliver the goods on a consistent basis, he might just make it.

I give his chance of succeeding more than one season....60/40.

What do you think? Will you give him a shot or are you over Leno? What do you think his chances are of succeeding? Please comment and let us know.