NBC made an announcement that may make viewers wonder where their beloved Law & Order franchise will land next fall.
In an effort to save Jay Leno for NBC once his Tonight show stint is over, and reduce costs associated with producing higher cost prime time shows, Leno will be given a 10:00 PM prime time slot for a daily talk show. It will likely butt heads with show like CSI Miami, CSI NY and a host of others.
The New Your Times also reports that SVU may move to a 9:00 PM time slot in the fall, but does not make any comment about the mothership Law & Order. Presuming Law & Order survives into season 20, I assume a 9:00 PM time slot is likely for that show as well.
My opinion – if it means anything – is that this is a risky gamble for Peacock network, which could find itself being viewed as the pea-brained network if the change doesn't work. Leno’s draw isn’t that great for the Tonight show, and moving Leno to 10:00 PM likely won’t bring in the number of viewers that shows like Law & Order and SVU currently draw. Of course, maybe NBC doesn’t care, because it won’t cost as much to produce Leno’s show as it would for a drama, so lower viewership may not mean much to them. But, I still think they would like to make money, and I’m not sure Leno has the draw that will do that for them.
The bigger risk is for the NBC shows airing at the 9:00 PM slot which will have to face popular shows like CSI, Fringe, The Mentalist, etc. I can only watch one show at a time, and my DVR can only record so many shows while I’m watching at the same time. I am sure that many others have the same problem. As long as my beloved Law & Order finds a place somewhere, I will find a way to watch, but I can’t say the same for other viewers. I can tell you one thing, I’m not a fan of Leno, so NBC likely will be losing me at 10:00 PM next fall.
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I heard the news last night when Keith Olberman announced it. My first thought was about the Law and Order franchises, especially the mothership. They've been angling to get rid of this show for a while and now they'll just let it go.
ReplyDeleteSVU faces a bigger problem though. The subject matter of this show will have to be toned down for the nine o'clock hour, which will render it toothless. The Wolfe must be livid. I for one will cease watching NBC programming if the mothership is cancelled. I can always catch my comedy shows on Hulu.
I got to say this move by NBC while financially sound on paper is more likely to drive people to explore other options on either the networks or on cable. I've already been exploring other programming all of which are edgier and better written.
I feel very sorry for Conan O'Brien. He's been a good soldier waiting for his turn and now he'll have to retool his show, most likely negating a move to the west coast since it's stupid to have two talk shows on the west coast on the same network. Ack what a mess.
MissKittyFantastico
If NBC kills Law & Order over this, people will leave the network in droves. I know I would.
ReplyDeleteI think the people at NBC are acting desperate. This is a crazy move on their part and I think it will not hold up very long.
I don't think that will end up canceling either the Mothership or SVU. I think that they will either move them up a timeslot or they will put them on different nights. I think that this is rather strange since just last week L&O had like 13 million viewers which is really good for NBC. I hope that they keep both on the air. ATL&O let us know if they announce anything.
ReplyDeleteOk, putting them on different nights would be useless, sorry that was stupid for me to say, I think that they will just move them up or back a slot.
ReplyDeleteI honestly hope that they don't cancel Law and order svu for leno. Because that's not a mistake, that's actively screwing yourself over.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is CBS just received an early Christmas present. I can't think of a CBS scripted show that is not preferable to Jay Leno. Horatio Caine is even funnier than Jay Leno.
ReplyDeleteI heard this and thought it was the most stupid thing I've ever heard. NBC is still just a bunch of screw ups!
ReplyDeleteleno is hilarioius, but 5 million a night won't cut it @ 10pm, but i think jay would draw 6-8 million with an earlier slot such as 10, but on rerun nights, nbc could be in the low 2 millions.
ReplyDeletehopefully if the mothership is dropped, it would go to another broadcast network and not TNT or something in cable just so we could get 18-22 episodes.
NBC is so fucking stupid. If they had any sense at all they would leave things are they are, and let Leno leave. Now what's going to happen to the OG Law & Order?
ReplyDeleteThis move from a business standpoint may be correct at this point. NBC knew that ABC was all set to cancel Nightline to bring in Leno and put him on directly opposite Conan (with Kimmel moved back to 12:35 AM), so that put the kabosh on that and at the same time cut NBC's costs in prime time.
ReplyDeleteAs for two "L & O's" on NBC, it is quite possible the original goes to 9:00 PM on Wednesdays or Fridays (Leno will be a new show on Fridays, and that may actually help NBC on Fridays to where it can actually run good shows and not crap then) while "SVU's" season 11 premiere gets delayed until January 2010 and airs on Sunday nights at 10:00 PM ET/PT after the NFL season concludes.