Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

Remember the phrase the generation gap? Well, if you’re 18 to 49, you – according to the Neilson ratings – and taking a close look at the demographics -  enjoy watching Conan. And that makes advertisers happy. That’s just the age group they want to sell to. You are their “target” audience. They would prefer if you were female because that’s who apparently makes the buying decisions. You might even decide to watch Letterman for a week. But it’s a fact, that when Leno had the Tonight Show, he was #1 for over fifteen years. Conan takes over and he pretty much tanks in the ratings losing the less desirable to advertisers 49+ folks, like me. I liked Conan on his old show. I only occasionally tuned in to Letterman. I’ve only watched Conan once since he took over for Leno and I find the show unbalanced as in I need to fast forward to get to any of the good parts. As a OTR driver, my wife used to tape every Tonight Show with Leno, for me to watch in the truck. She is not taping Conan.

Now for the longest time I didn’t watch the Tonight Show after Johnny Carson retired. But as one who never watched MASH, Seinfeld or NCIS until long after they first aired, my wife taped the reruns and the shows grew on me. That was the case with the Tonight Show with Leno. I was angry when it was announced Conan would replace him. I thought it was and is a bad decision. Maybe over time Conan will grow on me. He’s going to have to get rid of that annoying Andy Ricker and relocate the band back over to camera left (how “television” of me) where they used to be prior to their move from NYC to LA. I’m very OCD about that. His bit “In the Year 2000″ – now updated – “In the Year 3000″ has definitely lost something, but at least is still backed up by La Bamba’s high falsetto.

Formerly of SNL – Saturday Night Live – Jimmy Fallon took over Conan’s old NBC time slot. Have you watched the show? He’s OK. I don’t like the house band – The Roots. I don’t expect them to last. They’re scary and look positively bored. Actually, I never heard of them nor know of their music. Fallon still has to find his groove as his talk show mojo has yet to settle in to where Conan was. It took me a long time to focus in on Conan and his shtick, but when I did, I got it and watched it most of the time. But Leno was still my favorite. Then they gave him the boot. The whole transition was very premature.

But, this Monday at 10pm – prime time – Jay is back on NBC. A new show. An experiment. Might work – might not. There has never been a show on five nights a week at the same time slot in prime time. Jay will still do 160 gigs – his standup -  on the road while doing his new show. His old announcer, John Melendez, formerly “John the Stutterer” on Howard Stern, has been bumped down to the writing staff. Leno claims there will be no studio announcer for the new show. He also promises it’s not going to be another Tonight Show. That remains to be seen, but frankly, I wish it was the Tonight Show, just the way he used to do it. You knew from night to night what you were getting -  consistent balanced laughs.

I don’t care if advertisers are not interested in my business. I’m not interested in many of their products. I never drink Budweiser, my dog doesn’t eat Alpo, and I pretty much buy all my “stuff” at Wal-Mart. What I do care about, at the end of the day, when I’m in the bunk of my truck, and I want to be entertained, is being able to watch Jay Leno. I like his humor, his style, his timing – I like his “bits” and I enjoy his sidekick band leader Kevin Eubanks. Jay has a connection with his audience that Conan, Fallon and Letterman just don’t have. I’ve been waiting for Leno’s return ever since he left the Tonight Show, and my wife will have a fresh package of VHS tapes – harder and harder to find these days – ready to go Monday night at 10pm, for me to take on the road. For previews and more information about the new show, follow this link: http://www.thejaylenoshow.com/

Photo credit: greghalbert.com