I dunno what to expect from Jay Leno's new show, which debuts tonight. I like Jay, both in terms of what I've seen of him onstage and off, though elements of his Tonight Show left me cold. I liked his monologues and when he had on a guest he truly liked, the conversations were a lot of fun to watch. I didn't like his reliance on "correspondents" or on the many bits that were devoted to the premise that there are a lot of really, really stupid people out there.
(For the record, I don't like it when Letterman does that, either — usually in some spot involving Rupert, the clueless deli owner around the corner. To his credit, Dave seems to have cut way back on Rupert lately, but he has resurrected what may just be the most childish recurring stunt ever on a talk show, which is to spray water on unsuspecting pedestrians. When I was eight, a kid down the block used to think the funniest thing in the world was to hide near the lawn sprinkler control and when people walked by, to suddenly turn on the H2O and douse them. It's the exact same bit and it hasn't gotten any cleverer.)
Back to Jay. An awful lot of folks out there seem to be rooting for his new show to fail. Those complaining it's taking work away from writers and actors are, I think, exaggerating the impact. Leno is hiring Writers Guild writers — 22 at last report, and rumor has it that some of them are getting paid quite well. They're also being hired year-round, as opposed to being around for 22 episodes and then sent home, and there will be union actors on the show, as well. That may not yield as many jobs as five nights of CSI-type shows in the same time slots, but it's an awful lot more than most reality and game shows have created. There are hours on prime time TV that employ no WGA writers, one or two AFTRA members as hosts…and that's it. There are also hours that take filming and all the production jobs and dollars to Canada, and Jay's show isn't doing that, either.
You also have people who never liked Jay on The Tonight Show…and I suppose they're not going to like him any more at 10:00. Since he's promising lot of "correspondents" and Jay Walking, I may not, either. But let's give the guy a chance. It is at least an attempt to put comedy on in prime time and how often have we gotten that, lately?
By the way: There's a live streaming webcam on Jay's set. You can tune in at any time and see what's happening there. Right now, a lot of folks seem to be walking around aimlessly. I hope that won't be a regular segment on the program.