CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said NBC’s decision to program the now-ailing The Jay Leno Show in primetime was “misguided” and though it allowed her network’s 10 p.m. dramas to generate more ad revenue, “it had a negative impact on the business.” She had more harsh words for NBC, which has yet to announce definitively what will happen to the future of Leno or Conan O’Brien.
“Ultimately there is no substitute for developing great programming, working with great talent and getting your programs on the air,” argued Tassler, who spoke to the nation’s TV critics today in Pasadena, CA. “Our creative community was somewhat bruised by (Leno). As it was taking place, a lot of people were put out of work. A lot of people saw this as having a pretty negative impact on our business right now. I think it was misguided and our business is thriving right now. We are enjoying success with new hit shows, as is ABC, as is Fox. Leno was an experiment that obviously did not work.”
In other news, Tassler said Charlie Sheen’s ongoing legal woes shouldn’t affect production of the network’s top-rated comedy Two and a Half Men. Sheen was arrested Christmas Day on suspicion of felony menacing, domestic violence and other charges. He will return to Colorado to face the charges next month. “We’re being very sensitive to the fact that it’s a very personal and very private matter for Charlie,” she said. “It has no impact on the network. His show is proceeding along with its regular production schedule and has had no impact. Right now, it’s business as usual.”
Tassler didn’t beat around the bush when she answered a question about whether the organ transplant drama Three Rivers has been officially cancelled. “Unfortunately we’ve all known each other long enough that when something is on hiatus, its code for something else.” But she acknowledged the network still has plenty of new series to program, including 18 more episodes of the actioner Flashpoint and 13 episodes of the new drama The Bridge, an Aaron Douglas starrer about a cop-cum-union rep. “We had a terrific fall launch,” she said. “A lot of our shows are working so we had more content than we had real estate.”
More from the winter press tour:
Throw Sheen in the clink!
I can’t believe Two and a Half Men is still on.
In all honesty, Leno is a huge success. I was looking at the top 20 shows on TV right now. Some of those shows only average about 8.7 million viewers, but they are still top 20. Leno is averaring about 5.3 million viewers a night. Sure, he is not a top 20 show, but people are still watching his show. I love his show, watch the news after him and go to bed. Anyhow for the price that it costs NBC to make a Leno show and the price it costs the other networks for a scripted show, I bet Leno is more profitable.
You are right. Leno is bringing in the same numbers he did on TTS. Conan on the other hand is only bringing in 2.3 mil, way down from when Leno had TTS. This has been good for Lettermen because his numbers are going up cuz of Conan. What does that tell you??? Leno should have never been pusshed out of TTS.
Uhh, Jay Leno chose to leave and then changed his mind once it was too late. Then he blackmailed NBC to either give him a job, or he would go to another network and compete with Conan. And now somebody is going to be out of a job, probably Conan. But sure, Leno is a great guy.
Huh? Low-rent sit-coms with schoolboy sex jokes (they use Two and a Half Men as the example in the article) are supposed to be “great” entertainment that people are working their guts out to produce? Give me a break. Leno is a nice prime time break from police/medical procedurals that are all copies of each other (literally – 3 different CSI, 2 different NCIS, 4 different L&O, etc.), reality TV that isn’t, moronic sit-coms and fake news magazines. Network TV is all lowest common denominator stuff anyway – I admit, I enjoy it. But don’t pretend one kind of crap like Charlie Sheen is “better” than another kind of crap.
It is a disgrace to pay Charlie Sheen almost 1 million dollars an episode for that silly sit com. Take a look at “Modern Family” and “Glee ” for quality comedies. How dare Ms Tassler comment on the Leno/Conan decisions, when her network produces the most boring programs. I mostly watch quality shows on ABC, Fox and Cable. I have never been a CBS viewer, except for “60 Minutes”. Even though Mr Sheen’s violent behavior is a private matter, he has a history of druge, prostitutes and abuse. For CBS to reward his “acting” with so much money is what “bruises” the television community!!!!!!
Sheen deserves many 2nd chances
They “reward” him because his show is a hit and he’s the most popular actor on the show. Income in the entertainment industry is based largely on revenues generated by product. Quality has nothing to do with it.
Really Nina? What has CBS done in terms of scripted, “great” programming? Let’s see…THREE CSIs, TWO NCIS and another one in the works, Criminal Minds(and another one in the works?) Ghost Whisperer and it’s older clone Medium. CBS can be on at any night, at any time and I’ll always be overwhelmed by a feeling of deja vu. Give me an effing break. I enjoy the CSIs and Criminal Minds, but let’s not pretend that CBS has a foothold on “great programming”. Kudos to you for giving a very lazy and dumb viewing population exactly what they want.
I got utterly bored with procedurals a few years ago, and after the third season where CBS cancelled *all* of their new shows (many of which were great, but now I feel was wasted my time in viewing due to the premature cutting), I quit watching CBS. I was so angry! I still am – and this article explains why. And honestly, I have not watched CBS in over two years, and I do not miss it in the slightest. Why would one miss boring, dumbed-down, interchangeable clone shows? If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.
Regardless of not being a big fan of most CBS dramas (I do love HIMYM and BBT), I certainly can’t disagree with NT’s overall point.
“Medium” is actually a fairly good show and is only on CBS now because it was one of a number of NBC’s scripted shows that got axed to make loads of room on the sched so that Leno could prove that droves of people don’t really want to watch talk shows in primetime.
But I’m much more annoyed that NBC axed “Life” to make more room on the sched. Life was actually a wonderful, quirky, interesting, well written, brilliantly acted cop show, which admittedly made it a rarity among cop shows. And yes, all those CSI/NCSI/L&O color-by-number shows are horrible excuses for scripted dramas. If we were in a just world and genuine talent and quality were rewarded with ratings, “Life” would still be on the air, “DollHouse” would not be being cancelled, and “Chuck” would already be a lock to get a fourth season.
And absolutely none of that changes the fact that NT was actually being charitable in merely saying that it was “misguided” of NBC to let Leno push them into handing over five hours of prime time sched to him every week. She could’ve said “stupid” and still been right.
keep Leno! dump the news!
dump Charlie Sheen
The cheap programming like 2&1/2 Men and copies of copies of popular shows like L&O are just a few of the reasons people are willing to PAY more for HBO and SHOWTIME to get BETTER content. It may take a few more years.. but on their present course.. the networks and their existing model are going to turn into the Medicare version of TV in the future..
Nice hindsight. Everyone knows Leno was a mistake. This woman has a network that has done spectacularly well with my parents and grandparents demographic and that I have no interest in, so by all means, she is a genius.
And yet she is running a major network, and you are not.
Sweetie, there are plenty of incompetent people in high power jobs/positions.
Misguided?! Ya think? NBC ensured that they POed a while lot of people off, and made sure that they took it out on Leno. I certainly would *never* watch late night chat while to sucked up valuable scripted TV slots. I realize the super young (18-22) market is coveted (Why? I have more buying power than ever, and I’m nearly twice that range), but a network without programming for adults is not a network.
Where did you pull 18-22 from? The most coveted demographic is 18-49.
Leno in prime time was a horrible mistake from the very start. Everybody was very well of this, even as dysfunctional as the NBC brass has been, I’m sure they were also very well of this. It’s just they couldn’t let Leno or Conan leave to ABC/Fox. At least..not when they were at the top of their game.
I’m sure their worst case scenario was that Conan’s or Leno’s luster would be diminished to a point that if they let either leave to a rival network, it would be less of an impact. It would make sense if NBC ditched Leno, since Conan is doing pretty well (and will only do better as time goes on). Leno lost enough luster that it wouldn’t be as huge an impact if he left to rival network.
The troubole is, Conan is NOT doing well. He’s not funny, the ratings are significantly down, and, worst, he seems very, very uncomfortable with many of the guests. It’s very off-putting. I’d not miss Conan a bit if he went away. I’d suggest to NBC to try and steal Craig Ferguson – he’s smart, funny, intersting, and by far the best nighttime show host.
Conan is actually doing pretty well. Not as good as Leno, but he’s pulling is weight and his ratings have been on par with Letterman. Also, he leads late night shows in the coveted 18-49 demographic.
Leno on the other hand may bring more ratings now…but most of his viewers are OLDER than 49. OLDER! So it makes no sense for NBC to take Conan over Leno. As time goes on Leno’s audience will only get smaller, while Conan’s will continue to grow. You always take young promising talent over veterans that are tipping past their prime. Kobe over Shaq.
Also..if you want uncomfortable.. it’s Leno interviewing guests without a desk…awkward as hell.
I agree, Ferguson is the funniest guy on late night t.v. he would kick letterman, leno and conans arses in the ratings.
Hahaha wow at you guys proclaiming Craig Ferguson the savior of late night. Thing is.. when Craig was head to head with Conan.. Conan demolished him in the ratings. DEMOLISHED.
And now he’s competing with Jimmy Fallon…and the ratings are very close. Against JIMMY FALLON! One of the most unfunny douchebag guys on the planet!
So no. Craig is not the way to go. If they were smart, they would get new late-night faces like Chris Rock or Jon Stewart.
I don’t think Conan can be considered doing pretty well when he is only pulling in 2.3 mil viewers and Leno was pulling in 5.6 and is now pulling in 5.3. Conan should be yanked and Leno should be back on TTS.
Nina Tassler
Keep Leno and dump Nina Tassler with Conan O’Brien. Yea Baby !!!
Get rid of Leno altogether he is not funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nina Tassler should be home doing dishes, dusting and baking brownies…leave the decision making to the men…
I think Nina’s comments about NBC and it’s decision to cut 5 hrs of original programing and air “The Jay Leno Show” 5 nights a week in primetime are somewhat unfair. “It had a negative impact on the business.” How many new networks have popped up in the past 10-20 years? CW, FOX, HBO, Showtime, TNT, AMC, F/X, Syfy, USA, A&E, ABC Family, I could on & on. The fact is, there’s more scripted shows being produced today than ever before and competition is that much tougher. I don’t blame NBC for trying Jay Leno out at 10pm. Didn’t there used to be many variety and talk shows in primetime in the past?
The smug assurances that “Leno in primetime was a mistake” and accusations in the same breath from commentators here that Tassler is writing in hindsight are so hypocritical as to set teeth on edge. There are millions of viewers enjoying the experiment; I am certainly one of them. I don’t fool myself into thinking Leno is cutting edge comedy. But I don’t particularly want that, either. He’s a comfortable old shoe. I don’t watch commercials, so I don’t care who advertises during the show, and to be honest, I don’t believe in “lead-ins”. I have a remote control channel changer. I’ve had one for twenty years and counting.
Good post.
And your lead-in point is bang on – trust me, if Conan was really a compelling personality, people would FLIP THE CHANNEL TO NBC and watch him. Is “American Idol” dependent on a lead-in? Is “Grey’s Anatomy”? Heck, even stuff like the “Today Show” or “Bill O’Reilly” on cable are *NOT* lead-in dependent…people purposely tune into those channels because they want to.
The fact that Conan’s ratings are down FIFTY percent in total viewers just proves that Conan is not an enticing personality.
When it comes to the local news, lead ins are very important. Even for network programming, it’s more important that some of you seem to realize. All you’re really saying is that it doesn’t apply to you. Perhaps not, but media organizations have spent millions studying this, and yes, lead ins make a huge difference.
Conan and Jimmy Fallon are 2 of the most unfunny people I have seen. They act like immature school boys. Leno is a LOT more funny than those 2. Conan should stick to comedy writing and being behind the scenes. He stinks as a talk show host. I’m shocked that NBC has kept him for so long.
As for CBS, the only shows I watch on there are Survivor, Amazing Race, Big Brother and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Well, I do like some of the sitcoms on CBS, but their drama shows are too boring.