The Jay Leno Show

I have just finished watching portions of the first two episodes of Leno's new talk show. I have seen Leno live and he is much funnier than he ever has been on TV. His new show will primarily appeal to older Americans who wouldn't dream of watching a Comedy Central Roast and think David Letterman -- the true king of late night TV -- is too edgy or incomprehensible. I figure the earlier time slot for Leno's new show is for the sake of aging Baby Boomers who are long gone by 11:30. Leno's monologues are tepid, and the whole format strikes me as odd. Maybe he should do a variety show, like Ed Sullivan. Or he could do a revamp of The Midnight Special, only at 10 p.m. If you can stay awake long enough for Letterman, that's the show to watch.

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.

I think that Jay is the Best thing since sliced bread !! I missed him and am glad to see him back. The big controversy in my circle of friends, is not whether Jay's show is a success, there is no question about that, We want to know, What have you done to your hair Jay? Part it on the right side, like you did before, It just looks a lot better. And for those of us that are keeping track of that slowly disappearing bit of black hair that you have left, it shows up better when you part it your hair on the right. A big Hey, to Kev, He is pretty neat !! The idea of having just one guest seems to give more time to talk. Keep up the good work, I love the show.

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 watched this in its debut last night expecting the same thing as when he hosted the Tonight Show-and I was right. He did his same jokes, such as headlines, and his same style with the monologues and interviews and skits, which was a good thing. I liked his interview with Jerry Seinfeld, who was quite possibly the perfect first guest. This could be a good sign of things to come. I missed him while he was gone this summer. NBC did the right thing in keeping Leno after he decided to leave The Tonight Show. This seems like a good prime-time talk show, and I hope it lasts for a while. It is basically Leno's Tonight Show with a different set. Yes, Kevin Eubanks is back with him. The band is now called the Prime Time band.

*** out of ****