In this photo released by CBS, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor discusses her new book with host David Letterman on the set of the "Late Show with David Letterman," Tuesday, June 23, 2009, in New York. (AP Photo/CBS, Jeffrey R Staab)
There are some startling changes in late-night TV ratings.
David Letterman whipped Conan O’Brien last week by 800,000 viewers. It was Letterman’s largest margin of victory over NBC’s “Tonight” show since 2000, when the CBS host returned from heart surgery.
Letterman’s “Late Show” has won two of the last three weeks when both he and O’Brien competed with original programming. Letterman was a longtime second-place finisher to “Tonight” when Jay Leno was host.
NBC says they’re happy with O’Brien since he’s delivering a younger audience, which advertisers pay extra for.
Last week the median age of O’Brien’s audience was more than 10 years younger than Letterman’s.
Agree totally. Leno was at the top of his game and people were watching him consistently. Leno is funny, Conan is not and his humor is “one note” bordering on sophomoric humor.
When Leno returns at 10, I may DVR it and watch it at 11:30 just because he is funny and I laugh whenever he tells a joke. Even the promos that NBC is runing for Leno’s show are funnier than Conan’s best moments.
NBC can spin it all they want but they have to be feeling more than a little panic as they watch the ratings noise dive. I can only imagine that it may get worse once Jay Leno’s new show premieres in a couple months. I was a loyal Tonight Show watcher until Conan took over and I have since switched to Letterman. Conan just comes across as weird and not funny to me.