Memo To NBC - Considering how terrible the rest of your shows are, you might as well keep this on. NBC stands for the Not-ready too Broad-Cast Corp. Jay is the best you got, keep him @ 10. I am trying to watch this now because Jay is pulling out the stops.On a recent show, Jay actually showed an Unemployment Line in LA, with Jay in it holding cards. The cards read NBC - WTF. NBC really has not supported Jay in this effort very much.This show is really pretty much the same Jay Leno as was on the Tonight Show for all these years. Trouble is we need improvement & sadly it is not here. I wish it were but the reality is this is no better & no worse than the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. NBC couldn't promote a hooker in a Brothel, & did an extremely poor job promoting this show.Riddle - How do you tell that a Late Night Talk Show Host is going downhill? Answer - They are telling another lame Sarah Palin/GW Bush joke.Since every late night host has done this recently, well, no one is any good any more. That is a sad fact of life. Go out & get a Carson DVD set because these folks today don't measure up.Historic Note - After CHEERS LAST CALL, most of the Cheers cast was on a live Broadcast of The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno from the Bar in Boston the series was based upon.. To me, this was the best episode ever of Jay Leno's Tonight Show and was better than the actual Cheers last call. This to me is when Leno was putting an edge on his shows, but that was in the early 1990's.Post Script- Leno is back @ 11:30 & TNT will soon feature Conan against him. Leno has had some sharp lines lately. He is right back in his comfort zone. Late night ratings are down though, & I am not sure that adding more shows will help.

Jay's monologue seems to have suffered in the transition from "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" to this new show. The jokes aren't as funny and there are a lot more duds. Did he lose a lot of writers? Also, it seems like he doesn't have enough material to fill five hours per week anymore, and he can't get the guests he used to get. I've been a fan of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" since the very beginning when he took over from Johnny Carson, but this new show seems so padded and unfunny that I finally dropped it from my recording schedule a few days ago.It wouldn't be so bad if he just did one hour per week, because then he'd have enough good material to fill the hour.

I believe that Jay has talent, but I do not believe that there is a valuable tradeoff for taking, at least, five potentially great shows out of contention, just to redo the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, during primetime - and yes, I realize that this show is somewhat different, yet essentially, to this viewer, the same.Truth be told, we have gone to other stations (including cable stations), as a result of NBC's decision to force Jay on us, during a valuable prime time slot. I think that this exacerbates the traditional networks' problem; driving away valuable viewers - losing further market share to the cable stations.My advice: Stick with the formula of innovation, through a variety of programming. The early years of TV invoked the fewer choices rule, but that was not damaging because there were no other video entertainment choices. Today, this is a dangerous, and heavy handed, approach, which has bottom-line consequences for the networks.If NBC has some creative challenges, do not give up shows that can bring new viewers, like "Southland", and delay others like "Chuck" but also, consider picking up unwanted gems from other networks, like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The Steer of Mediocrity returns with HIS OWN show. I guess he felt THE TONIGHT SHOW wasn't good enough. After all, it was one of the most popular franchises in television history, and Jay, when he took over, continually beat Letterman in the ratings (after Hugh Grant's appearance post-blow). Leno announced his "retirement" a few years back... but it was for a 2008 exit. Conan O'Brien was the next in line as Tonight Show host and now has taken over the 11:30 slot: his college slackers grew up, got jobs and can't do those late-nighters so these are "assured" ratings. Then NBC does what I still can't believe... gives Jay Leno a show EVERY NIGHT at 10 pm, a slot usually reserved for a different hour-long-drama. Jay's new vehicle is much like the old one except the set looks more like an airport lobby than... whatever it was before (big blue city motif, or something). Kevin Eubanks, the bandleader with an awesome looking guitar, still laughs at Jay's monologues (shortened stand-up routines) more than Ed ever laughed at Johnny's (if you can believe it) and instead of live skits happening before the interviews, the interviews sort of happen between pre-taped bits, all which suddenly appear without much of a segway as this is supposedly a "comedy show" as opposed to a "talk show". The desk is gone and Jay now sits with his celebs on easy chairs. His interview style remains as dull as ever (Jay always seems like he's merely waiting to meet each celeb at a local bar afterwards for a REAL CONVERSATION). I always felt he was more at home/comfortable when subbing for Johnny. Anyways, we'll see how long this turkey gobbles. And my theory as to why NBC would want to knock-off its own Tonight Show by having ANOTHER ONE happening an hour and a half earlier is... they want Leno to "die off" on his own accord. "He built this ship himself so if it sinks, we'll have no guilt about it" they MIGHT be heard to say. Iceberg anyone?