Quote:
Originally Posted by Red
Leno lost 10% of Carson's viewers. Conan lost 55%.
Situations are much different. Conan bombed and there was nothing there to suggest that he would double his viewership anytime soon. His ratings kept getting worse, not better.
Leno was no Johnny Carson, everyone knew it. Losing 10% of viewers was seen as success more than a failure.
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But when Leno took over the tonight show he didn't have Johnny Carson sticking around and having a show on 1.5 hours earlier to compete with! If that were the case nobody would have been watching the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" because everyone was use to Johnny Carson for the past 30 years and would still watch him on another show instead. When Carson left it was Leno or Letterman.
People have been use to watching Jay Leno for the past what 17 years and if they enjoyed watching his tonight show its obvious they would continue to watch his new show earlier. If Jay didn't have his "Jay Leno Show" then that would have given Conan's tonight show a much better chance to survive.