Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Conan O'Brien: Premature coronation

Calling Conan O'Brien "the new king of late night" in a press release after his first week on the air was perhaps not the wisest move NBC could have made, something NBC late night chief Rick Ludwin acknowledged in a press conference at the Television Critics Association summer tour today.

"I think it was premature," said Ludwin, as quoted by the TVMoJoe blog. "We were very proud of the show (and its ratings). And there were those who had predicted that Conan wouldn't be broadbased."

If he had the chance to do it all again... would he?

"No," he said, later adding that NBC is "not disappointed in Conan's ratings at all."

"He is winning 18-49, [adults] 18-34 and [adults] 35-54," said Ludwin, according to Broadcasting & Cable. "We're winning in all the demos that the advertisers want to buy."

At a conference earlier in the week, CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler ribbed the rival network, "saying that while CBS was feeling bullish about their 10 p.m. dramas opposite the new Jay Leno show this fall, NBC will 'declare victory [for] whatever ratings he gets, so it really doesn’t matter.'"

2 comments :

  1. Anonymous said...

    LOL @ NBC and their bullshit.

    I always want to think otherwise, but his words about winning the demos that advertisers covet, makes me wonder how much the people involved with these shows care about the actual quality of the programs instead of just about how much money the shows make.

    I guess the networks are like any other huge corporation, out to make as much money as possible and everything else falls to the backseat. I forget all this sometimes.

    Santiago R.

  2. Anonymous said...

    Guess they got that whole "new king of late nite" label from George Bush and his "Mission Accomplished" sign.

    - Octobrain