NBC's Restraint on 'Leno' Ratings: A Teachable Moment

Quote of the day, from Jeff Gaspin, Chairman, NBC Universal Television Entertainment, regarding the debut of "The Jay Leno Show" on Monday: "It's great to launch this innovative new show with such strong initial sampling, but we realize this is just one night and that we're going to build our business in this time period with ratings that will level out over time. Our focus is on delivering a great show and developing a consistent comedy viewing habit at 10 p.m. over the long haul."

Translation: "You're not going to get to bitch-slap us all over again for proclaiming anybody the 'new king' of anything after one night, like we did with Conan O'Brien."

Smart guy, that Gaspin. And also smart of NBC to include the 25-54 demographic prominently in its press release, since Leno figures to do markedly better by that older-skewing measure over time than among adults age 18-49, the standard that NBC and other networks usually tout.

Here was the tale-o'-the-tape breakdown on Monday for Leno:

Total viewers: 18.4 million

Adults 18-49: 5.3 rating

Adults 25-54: 6.4 rating

And one afterthought on some of the reaction to the program that's been dribbling in: My guess is some of the people criticizing the premiere hadn't actually tried sitting through an entire episode of "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" in ages, except perhaps for his final episode. Frankly, "Same show, different time" would have nearly sufficed as a review, but where's the fun in that?

Finally, I must confess to being a trifle amused (and more than a little terrified) about the comment posted on my review by someone seemingly obsessed with the size of Leno's feet.

His feet? Really? I mean, sure, he looked like he was standing on a symbol from "The Da Vinci Code," but his feet?