For Jay and Conan,
a wealth of new material
Other shorts: Shocker: Nightly news viewership soars
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Jan 13, 2010
For Jay and Conan, a wealth of new material
For those who say that "The Jay Leno Show" and "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" aren't funny, they should give them another try. It turns out that endangering their jobs has really sharpened Leno and O'Brien's jokes. In the days since NBC approached both men about moving their programs, the network has become the target of their increasingly sharp-edged barbs. During last night's monologue, O'Brien said, "Welcome to NBC, where our new slogan is 'No longer just screwing up primetime.'" He went on to say, "When I was a little boy remember watching 'The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson' and thinking, 'Some day I'm gonna host that show for seven months.'" Monday night, O'Brien said that NBC is on track to lose $200 million with the Winter Olympics. "Folks, is it just me or is that story hilarious?" he asked. Leno, meanwhile, mostly ignored the controversy during last night's show, but on Monday he noted, "My people are upset. Conan's people are upset. Hey, NBC said they wanted drama at 10. Now they've got it. Everyone's mad." The other late-night personalities are getting into it, too. ABC's Jimmy Kimmel did his entire monologue in a Leno getup last night, and CBS's Craig Ferguson called the NBC executives "lying rat bastards." But CBS's David Letterman, who famously left NBC after being passed over for the "Tonight" gig, has had the most heated commentary. He's been doing a Leno impression for two days that the audience likes, and last night he poked fun at his long-sour relationship with the network, noting, "I got a call just before I came out here from NBC, and they said, ‘Look, look, we still don’t want you back."
Shocker: Nightly news viewership soars
Did Americans make a collective new year's resolution to tune back into the nightly newscasts? Something is certainly driving viewership to the broadcast networks, all three of which hit a season high last week. "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" drew its best numbers in almost four years, averaging 10.7 million total viewers, according to Nielsen. "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" saw its numbers rise for the third straight week, dating back to when Sawyer took over the anchor seat from Charles Gibson, averaging 9.4 million total viewers. That was the show's best viewership in 23 months. And "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" drew 7.1 million viewers, its best week in nearly one year. All together, the Big Three drew 27 million viewers, higher than they've averaged for quite some time. Though it usually takes months for nightly news viewers to change their patterns, the addition of Sawyer last month may have drawn more viewers to the nightly pool. Or Americans may have been tuning in for more information on the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack or the health care overhaul.
Radio gaga: Skarzynski lied about PPM visit
When word came Monday that Arbitron president and chief executive Michael Skarzynski had resigned over an apparent lie during his congressional testimony last month, the speculation machine went into overdrive. Did he exaggerate about the Portable People Meter's effectiveness? Knowingly offer incorrect numbers? Attempt a cover up? None of the above, it turns out. The truth is Skarzynski's misstep was much more pedestrian, and thus somewhat puzzling. He said that he "participated in a November 2009 training visit to a home of Arbitron panelists with other Arbitron personnel," explained Arbitron chief financial officer Sean Creamer yesterday in a Wall Street conference call. But in fact he did no such thing. "While Arbitron personnel did participate in a home visit in November 2009, Mr. Skarzynski did not personally participate. Arbitron sincerely regrets the misstatement and has requested that the committee correct the record in connection with the official transcript of the hearing." Arbitron has said that the rest of the testimony looks to be factual. What's bizarre is that this portion of the testimony was seemingly inconsequential compared to the other things that Skarzynski was asked about. That's caused a lot of head-scratching by media analysts today, wondering exactly what Skarzynski's motivation was and prompting them to call into question other statements made by Skarzynski during his one-year tenure at the radio measuring company.
Programming notes: ABC bankrolls 'Bachelor Pad'
When word first leaked that ABC was considering a spinoff of "The Bachelor" and "Bachelorette," one couldn't help but wonder how former contestants of the heterosexual dating show franchise would be mashed together; would Tila Tequila be choosing among them, perhaps? Turns out ABC's vision is less "Shot at Love," more “Big Brother.” The network has ordered “Bachelor Pad,” a reality competition that will feature 20 contestants from past seasons of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.” The show, which is expected to launch this summer following the finale of “The Bachelorette,” will have the contestants live together in a house a la “Big Brother,” complete with weekly challenges and evictions. “Bachelor” host Chris Harrison will also host the spinoff. Meanwhile, in other programming, ABC Family has ordered a third season of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and a second of “Make It or Break It,” each of which had their midseason premiere last week. “Teenager” was the No. 5 show on ad-supported cable last week among viewers 18-49, averaging 2.12 million, while “Break” averaged a series-high 2.7 million total viewers. Also yesterday, ABC said it will premiere “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” in which the chef will try to get people to eat healthier, on March 26. The show is from Ryan Seacrest Productions and Fresh One Productions.
Study: Beware, too much TV could kill you
Various studies have shown that watching too much TV can lead to weight gain, but it turns out the consequences can be even worse: you could die. Researchers in Australia studied 8,800 people over an average of six years and found that those who reported watching TV for more than four hours daily were 46 percent more likely to die than those who watch less than two hours a day, including an 80 percent greater chance they’ll die from cardiovascular disease. The study, led by researcher David Dunstan of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia, looked at folks who averaged age 50; over the course of the study 284 of the 8,800 participants died. The study found the main issue was sitting still for extended periods of time, meaning sitting in front of a computer or video games for hours on end could be just as problematic as watching too much TV. Dunstan says the reason isn’t because people aren’t doing enough exercise but because they’re losing out on large chunks of incidental movements like walking around or standing up. Of course, this begs the chicken-or-egg question: Are people sedentary because they watch TV, or do they watch TV because they're sedentary to begin with?
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