Leno Roars To 1st Ratings Victory Grant Appearance Helps Boost Viewership Past Letterman’s

Ninety-eight weeks and a Hugh Grant indiscretion later, Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” finally has bested David Letterman’s “Late Show” in the weekly ratings.

“It’s a boy!” NBC Entertainment President Warren Littlefield exclaimed Monday after the national Nielsens had been delivered to a temporary NBC office at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Anticipating Leno’s first victory, NBC requested a rush order from the A.C. Nielsen Co., which usually doesn’t release national late-night ratings until Thursdays.

The results showed Leno with a 5.5 rating, compared to Letterman’s 4.7.

“Tonight” also edged the “Late Show” for the first time among advertiser-craved 18-to-49-year-old viewers.

Littlefield quickly phoned his congratulations to Leno and termed the results “divine.” It was an intended reference to prostitute Divine Brown’s much-chronicled intervention with Grant.

The British actor was arrested after picking her up while driving along Sunset Boulevard on the night of June 27.

Grant subsequently honored a previously scheduled July 10 booking on the “Tonight Show,” where promotion of his new movie “Nine Months” was still at stake.

“I did a bad thing, and there you have it,” he told Leno while a young woman stood outside NBC’s Burbank studios with a sign reading, “I would have paid you, Hugh!”

The July 10 “Tonight” had an 8.0 national rating, thumping “Late Show” by 3.7 points. The two combatants each won two of the remaining four nights, during which they both averaged 4.8 ratings. Grant is scheduled to appear on “Late Show” tonight, again honoring a previous booking.

“It’s not a fluke,” Littlefield insisted. “Did we have an event with Hugh Grant? You bet we did.

“But we’re in the game, and it’s a very competitive one. … From day one we said this is a marathon. And Jay looks as though he’s a longdistance runner.”

Littlefield championed Leno as Johnny Carson’s successor and then stood by the embattled comic when Letterman said he’d leave NBC if he didn’t get the top job.

In their maiden week of head-to-head competition Aug. 30-Sept. 3, 1993 Letterman’s “Late Show” on CBS crushed Leno by a 7.8-to-3.8 margin in the national Nielsens. In the nearly two years since, Leno’s ratings have inched up while Letterman’s have plunged.

“Tonight’s” performance has been aided in part by NBC’s resurgence in prime time while CBS went south in the ratings last season and lost long-established affiliates in large markets such as Detroit, Cleveland and Atlanta.

Through good times and bad, Leno has remained resilient and accessible to the media. He also has changed “Tonight’s” look and format, transforming it from a Carson-ian clone to a facsimile of a comedy club.

“Letterman’s not going against the same show he was 12 months ago,” NBC West Coast President Don Ohlmeyer told TV critics. “If you need any commentary about what’s happening in late night, it’s the fact that Dave’s going to be here. And you know how much he loves you guys.”

Letterman, who usually turns down interview requests, is scheduled to fly to Los Angeles for a Saturday morning session with TV critics. CBS also is promoting “Late Show” as “America’s 1 Late Night Entertainment!” in new print ads featuring the broadly smiling host brandishing a map of the United States.

The manic Leno isn’t likely to rest on his lone laurel. He won’t rest, period.

“Does Jay hate vacation?” Littlefield asked. “Yeah,” he answered. “He lives and breathes the job.”