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Originally Posted by Cowperson
In an interview with the New York Times, NBC Universal Sports chairman Dick Ebersol said Leno was being returned to late night because of "an astounding failure by Conan," ratings-wise, on "The Tonight Show."
The other reason was that Leno was apparently too successful in his new slot, killing local newscasts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?nav=hcmodule
Cowperson
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I'm reading that article, and I can't find anywhere that it states that Leno was 'too successful'. Did you get that from another article that you didn't link to? What it does say is this:
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However, on Sunday, NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin had told a couple hundred members of the press that the network had to move Leno out of his 10 p.m. time slot after TV station executives started threatening to preempt the show in large numbers. Their rebellion was stoked by the November sweeps ratings, which showed how much damage Leno's show had done to their late local newscasts.
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Doesn't sound like success to me. Although I've said before, Leno met his ratings expectations that NBC had announced; it's just that those expectations were so low that it was basically conceding the show as a failure for its timeslot before it even aired. But I've never seen anything suggest that the affiliates would have been happier with lower ratings on the Leno show.