Tuesday's is the last show in Jay Leno's prime-time experiment

A TV era ends Tuesday. A brief, unfunny, little-watched era.

Also ending: a longer, more successful era. "The Tonight Show" era.

JAY_LENO.JPGJay Leno's final prime time show airs Tuesday. He returns to late night on March 1.


Tuesday, 9 p.m.

WDSU-Channel 6

"The Jay Leno Show" departs prime time after a final episode scheduled to air Tuesday night at 9 on WDSU-Channel 6.

Fittingly, live coverage of the Saints homecoming parade might extend into that hour, in which case "Leno" passes into history without New Orleans as a witness.

Of course, Leno himself will be fine, returning to "The Tonight Show" on March 1.

Conan O'Brien, who helmed "Tonight" for just a few short months, has noisily departed NBC for points unknown, though his most likely destination is a late night show on the Fox network.

Given the outcome, the Leno-in-prime-time experiment failed in every way.

The way it failed largest was in further tarnishing NBC's brand, but who cares?

O'Brien's pride is wounded, but he's rich and funny and will not be off TV very long.

To me, the way all this hurts worst is its further reduction in the mystique of "The Tonight Show, " which apparently only matters to mostly me.

I was raised on Johnny Carson and "Tonight, " which lately seems a long time ago.

Even the Leno years (part 1) sustained the "Tonight" myth, because the show came from trailing "The Late Show with David Letterman" to winning late night. (Nationally. Here, Letterman wins.) Leno's "Tonight" (part 2) may do that again, but it feels like his foray into prime time, and the ugly aftermath of O'Brien's departure to restore Leno to "Tonight, " ends the show's mystique forever.

"The Jay Leno Show" is leaving NBC's schedule, and Leno gets "Tonight" again, because the network's affiliates couldn't stomach the ratings hit their late newscasts were taking from Leno's lead-in.

The hurt wasn't felt by WDSU, whose 10 p.m. newscast ratings didn't take the plunge that other NBC affiliates did.

November 2008 to November 2009 in the Nielsen overnight ratings, WDSU's late-news ratings were basically flat. That's surprising -- but a loyalty endorsement of the station's news product from its viewers -- given that the overall local lead-in audience at 9 p.m. was down nearly 30 percent, according to a ratings summary provided by the station.

O'Brien's "Tonight" also underperformed for WDSU, down 40 percent year-to-year compared to Leno's ratings in November 2008 (though he did hold on to almost all of Leno's viewers in the key 25-54 demographic).

So, the local NBC affiliate isn't unhappy with Leno's "Tonight" reprise.

You could argue, and NBC partisans have, that O'Brien's ratings tipped the "Tonight" halo plenty on their own.

In time O'Brien's ratings would've improved. O'Brien's "Tonight" had "Leno" as a lead-in, too, which didn't help. We'll never know.

I do know that my "Tonight" fixation now seems aged, quaint. The show's legacy clearly doesn't matter much to its caretaker, NBC, or little much to anyone else.

Clearly, it mattered to O'Brien, and he said so, over and over till the end.

But ...

"'The Tonight Show, " when I was a kid, that was Johnny Carson's show, and it was kind of like what old people watched, " said stand-up comedian Louis C.K., who's in his early 40s, during the January TV Tour in Hollywood. C.K.'s real last name is Szekely, which is kind of pronounced C.K. He was at the TV Tour to promote a new FX comedy, due in April. His work hasn't killed me in the past, especially the HBO sitcom "Lucky Louie."

But his resume makes him a kind of a comedy demi-god. He's written for "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "The Chris Rock Show" and "Saturday Night Live." He's done stand-up specials for HBO and Showtime.

C.K.'s deconstruction of NBC's late-night mess, which ranged all the way back to David Letterman's loss to Leno in the "Tonight" derby after Carson's departure, demonstrated that even in the world of stand-up comics -- who used to venerate "Tonight" for its star-making power -- "Tonight" is now ancient history as a kind of shrine to shtick.

C.K.'s comments came when NBC's late-night mess was still unresolved, and while O'Brien was still trying to hold on to "Tonight, " but I think they offer insight into the current fractured state of late night, and the impact recent events will have on the players.

"Conan had 'Conan, ' C.K. said. "Nobody really called that 'Late Night' anymore. That's how much he had made it his. That was 'Conan, ' and I don't know why you'd want to give that up to host 'The Tonight Show, ' (which is) just this old (bad) thing.

"I mean, who cares? Let Jay have it, you know?

"Conan gave me my first job. To me, that's a sacred thing. Conan took a shot with me before anybody, before there was any proof I could do anything "¦ and I love the guy and I think he'll end up somewhere else, and he'll go back to doing 'Conan.'

"It's hurting him inside because he wants to be the host of 'The Tonight Show, ' and it's a little presumptuous for me to tell Conan that his dreams are misguided, but they are.

"They are. I'm certain of that."

. . . . . . .

Dave Walker is a TV columnist for The Times-Picayune. He can be reached at Read more at



Tuesday, 9 p.m.

WDSU-Channel 6