NBC day: Al Roker to Jay Leno — plus Padma
NBC is building an edifice on the back lawn of the Langham hotel in Pasadena, home of the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour. The second of the broadcast networks (after CBS) to present its fall schedule, NBC will gather its own talent plus stars from its cable partners there for a party tonight. Generous NBC is sharing time today with NBC Universal cable networks including Bravo, USA and Syfy. First up, at 8 a.m., was a “Wake Up With Al” breakfast for Al Roker’s new Weather Channel series. I can’t report on that because, seriously, 8 a.m.? Also on today’s schedule:
Panels on new NBC shows “Community” (a sitcom about community college with Joel McHale and Chevy Chase); “Trauma” (about paramedics); and “Mercy” (about nurses, rushed onto the schedule when “Parenthood” was bumped to midseason because of Maura Tierney’s health issues.
A “Top Chef: Las Vegas” lunch with host Padma Lakshmi and judge Gail Simmons, including a live Quickfire Challenge pitting three “Top Chef: Chicago” veterans (Fabio, Antonia and Ryan) against three newbies from the Vegas cast.
Q&A’s with cast and creators of USA’s new “White Collar” and Syfy’s “Stargate Universe” and “Alice.”
A final panel with Jay Leno, who takes over NBC’s 9 p.m. slot each weeknight this fall.
Gail, can you ask Zucker, or whoever NBC sends, what the bottom threshold that they will suffer is as far as Leno’s ratings go, and how long they’ll give him (as if they’d answer)? I know his show will cost a fraction to produce compared to some erstwhile 9 p.m. CST shows such as L&O, ER, NYPD Blue, etc., but do they expect it to get anywhere close to the ratings those shows got? And how long will local affiliates go with no ratings lead in to their 10 p.m. news (although I guess one could argue that’s what’s happening now with a 4th place network)?
Sorry, typo, whomever.
Al Roker is hilarious to me and far funnier than Jay Leno! I am glad he is getting his own show!
Well, I liked Jay Leno alot and will either watch his show or DVR it. Conan hasn’t hit his tride yet and is aimed toward a younger audience than me and Jimmy Fallon is a complete failure as far as I’m concerned.
Any information on Caprica, Gail?
In its promos for Jay Leno, NBC’s been teasing us with past clips of “Headiines” and “Jaywalking,” two of my favorite segments when he hosted the Tonight Show.
I know no show can survive on those two elements alone, but I hope he uses them a lot during the five nights he’s on. I’d tune in for that alone. Headlines and Jaywalking, plus its offshoots, made Leno funnier than David Letterman was at times.
I’ll wait and see what other “comedy” ingredients NBC will mix into Jay Leno’s show. What we don’t need is a carbon copy of the Tonight Show or Late Night. People who like that stuff can get plenty of it after the 10 p.m. news.
If Jay Leno has fresh, cutting-edge comedy, plus Headlines and Jaywalking, the show could be a sleeper hit for NBC. At least it would give me a reason to watch during the week.
I quit even trying to watch Leno for one reason: I don’t think he is funny. Not even a little bit.