Leno and Letterman now in close race for Late Night domination
After huge first week back, Leno's 'Tonight Show' drops back down to earth
Jay Leno used big names like Sarah Palin to fuel his strong return week ratings, but he's fallen to earth a a bit in his second frame back.
NEW YORK (AP) — After a smashing return, Jay Leno appears headed to a battle with David Letterman for late-night television supremacy.
The Nielsen Co. says Leno averaged 5.6 million viewers last week, his first back at NBC's "The Tonight Show" following the ill-fated prime time experiment. Letterman had 3.7 million at CBS. Leno took advantage of curiosity over his return and a strong lineup of guests, including Olympic stars and Sarah Palin. It was a half-million more than he averaged his last season at "Tonight."
It's been much closer the second week. Through four nights, Leno is averaging 4.3 million viewers and Letterman has 4 million.
Considering Leno usually beat Letterman by a million and a half during their last season of competition, that's a sign of erosion for NBC's late-night franchise. Letterman consistently beat Conan O'Brien after O'Brien took over last year.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.News From Our Partners
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupBugKiller Of course Leno's numbers are better than Conan's were.
March 13, 2010 at 9:03PM EST Reply to CommentLeno doesn't have that black hole of suck, LENO as a lead-in.
TEAM COCO BITCHES!!!