The Jay Leno-Conan O’Brien feud has left many people with their eyebrows raised, especially NBC. In 2004, NBC made the decision to turn “The Tonight Show” over to Conan O’Brien starting in 2009. For many people, this was a significant change considering Leno has been the show’s host for 17 years (Gabler, 2010). The real question that has to be asked, which pertains to the specific topic of this matter, is do college students even care?
Let’s talk quickly about why Conan O’Brien was removed as the host of “The Tonight Show.” The biggest and most obvious reason O’Brien was paid off by NBC to leave “The Tonight Show” was because he wasn’t pulling the same high ratings that Leno was pulling when he was on the show. In NBC’s mind, O’Brien was the perfect predecessor to Leno because he was the new, cool-kid-on-the-block that would attract an audience in the 18-34 demographic--which is NBC’s target demographic. Unfortunately for O’Brien, his ratings as “The Tonight Show” host were much lower than what NBC expected, which led to O’Brien leaving “The Tonight Show” with $45 million (Gabler, 2010).
Now we will go back to the question at stake; do college student’s care? “I haven’t heard much about the feud and I could honestly care less. I watch ESPN and 24, that’s it,” said John Fitzsimmons, a University of Tampa student. Another response about this issue was, “I thought only old people watched ‘The Tonight Show.’ I’ll ask my grandmother what she thinks then get back to you,” said Charlie Simone, also a University of Tampa student.
The college consensus shows that students could actually care less about what’s going on between Leno, O’Brien, and NBC. Late night comedy shows aren’t appealing to the younger generation as much as they did when Leno took over “The Tonight Show” 17 years ago. If this is true, this may pose a significant problem for NBC and its affiliates. If O’Brien, a likeable witty icon, couldn’t carry the show on his shoulders, who can? The obvious answer to that question is Jay Leno, but Leno isn’t going to be around forever. The reality of the matter is that NBC will have to figure out what the younger generations are attracted to and strike before another network does.
Works Cited:
Gabler, Neal. "Jay Leno triumps over what's cool." The Los Angeles Times 23 Jan. 2010: n. pag. Losangelestimes.com. Web. 24 Jan. 2010.
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I like this quote -- “I thought only old people watched ‘The Tonight Show.’ I’ll ask my grandmother what she thinks then get back to you,” said Charlie Simone, also a University of Tampa student. -- and thought it could have gone higher up in the story.
ReplyDeleteRemember what I said about no need for "Words Cited," work that attribution into your story. -JH