Leno Beats Letterman Again; Nbc Quick To Call It A Trend

NBC’s “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” has beaten CBS’ “Late Show With David Letterman” for the second time in five weeks and finished No. 1 for the third time in five weeks (including one tie).

For the week of Aug. 7, Leno soundly outdistanced Letterman with a 5.0 rating/14 share to a 4.4/13, according to A.C. Nielsen Co.’s preliminary national numbers.

Though NBC executives were quick to call the ratings news a “trend,” “Late Show” brass dismissed that idea, noting that Letterman has outdistanced Leno 94 weeks since moving to CBS.

“To call it a trend after two wins is pretty bold,” “Late Show” executive producer Robert Morton said.

Leno’s victory comes right after a week in which he tied Letterman for first place. And the week of July 10, Leno beat Letterman, powered by Hugh Grant’s appearance on Leno’s show shortly after the actor’s arrest.

The week of Aug. 13, Leno tied Letterman in adults 25-54 but lost out to Letterman in adults 18-49 and adults 18-34.

And for the first time, Leno beat Letterman every night, with both airing head-to-head and both in all original shows.

Morton attributed his show’s performance to its weak CBS lead-in.

“We’ve accepted the fact, and hopefully it will be temporary, that we are at a major disadvantage being on this network because the lead-ins are so weak,” he said.

But NBC West Coast president Don Ohlmeyer shot back: “Nobody was saying two years ago when (Letterman) came on and CBS was No. 1 that that had anything to do with his ratings; they just said how popular he was. Suddenly it’s somebody else’s fault, it’s primetime’s fault, it’s Westinghouse’s fault.”

Morton said there were no plans in the works to change “Late Show,” though Letterman said in a recent summer press tour that he thought the show could be better.

“Just because there’s been a wave of negative press and it seems that people are looking at us a little differently I don’t necessarily believe the machine is broken,” Morton said.