Leno's Return: "Same Jay, Different Desk"

(CBS)  Jay Leno's back at the helm of "The Tonight Show," and to the battle for late-night TV supremacy.

Leno returned to "Tonight" Monday, ending the disastrous NBC experiment of putting him in primetime and Conan O'Brien in his "Tonight" spot.

By the time Jay Leno walked onto the "Tonight Show" stage with a spoof of Judy Garland's famous line as Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," -- "There's no place like home!" -- it was, says CBS News Correspondent Ben Tracy, almost as if he'd never left.

Howard Stern Skewers Jay Leno

"I'm a little bit nervous," Leno joked. "Not because it's my first night back. Because I know Dave (late-night rival David Letterman) and Oprah (Winfrey) are watching!"

Critics say the "Tonight" "sequel" played a lot like the original version.

"It's the same 'Tonight Show,' with the same Jay and a different desk," observes TV Guide Senior Editor William Keck.

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On his show, Letterman kidded, "My name is David Letterman, same time, same host."

"Now, it comes down to the jokes. It comes down to who's going to do the funnier Tiger Woods jokes," Keck says.

Leno wasted no time on those, saying, "Gatorade has officially ended their relationship with Tiger Woods. Apparently, he was seeing at least five other sports drinks."

Leno's act may not have changed, notes Tracy, but his first place status has: NBC lost half of the "Tonight Show" 's ratings when they moved Leno out. Now, Letterman is number one."

"Creatively," says Hollywood Reporter Senior Online Editor James Hibberd, "(Letterman) rose to the occasion, and the question is whether he can maintain that going into this new fight with Jay Leno."

Both shows are banking on big-names for an extra boost.

With the late-night race expected to be more competitive than ever, Tracy says, NBC executives can only hope the audience will tune out the drama of the past seven months and tune in for the comedy.

Leno and O'Brien got into a protracted on-air feud on their respective shows when NBC announced O'Brien was being booted off "Tonight" in favor of Leno - a feud Letterman also frequently weighed in on.

[truthinnews]

Jay Leno is infinitely funnier than Conan O'Brien! Leno's humor is not sophomoric. I'm SO glad that Leno is back at 11:35. At 10:00, he had to reign in the humor too much. AND now, Law & Order, NBC's most successful franchise (20 years for the original, and 2 very successful spin offs) can take its rightful place back at 10 pm. In some small way, the world makes sense again.

[watchdogtexas]

Can we get rid of all of these so called reality shows, and bring back the real shows like Mary Tyler Moore, Dallas, Chears, MASH, Hogans Heros, etc. Are there any actors that can come on late night TV and be funny and entertaining. I think the art is dead.

There is nothing entertaining on TV anymore.
Reality TV just dumbs down society.

[scarlett123]

I, for one, will not watch Jay again. His statements to Oprah trying to position himself as the victim were just too much. In my opinion - the ONLY person who handled this situation with any bit of class was Conan O'Brien - and I do not count myself among his fans.

[erasmus111]

Jay Leno was the victim. The Tonight Show was taken away from him when his ratings were very high. Higher than Letterman's. NBC was greedy and wanted more, more, more!

And as for the nastiness, it was Conan O'Brien that started that, not Jay Leno.

[nickharc]

erasmus: Leno the victim? Puh-leeze. Revisionist history. Go to Funny or Die and look up his 2004 announcement. He agreed to leave, he was not forced out and he had all kinds of things to say about how he shouldn't be hosting the show into his 60's (this year) how the show is meant to be passed on to the next generation, how Conan deserved it...

How soon (conveniently) he forgets. If he had any integrity, he would have left the network when Conan said he would not move his show past midnight.

And for those of you who think Leno is funnier, you are either asleep in front of your TV when he is on, or you are the type of person who thinks Willard Scott is a real knee-slapper. No comic or actual funny person has the least bit of regard or respect for Jay. Your support for him is helping America's rapid decline into the land of the lowest common denominator.

[lilbear925]

The man has a large lower jaw. He has millions of dollars and doesn't need to work. Send him on his way and close the show.

[thesevenveils]

Leno just plain SUCKS always has always will.
Go back to Vegas you bafoon

[Kahuna_HOG]

Is NBC that cheap on furniture? Jay's desk looks like something I would buy from K-mart or Big Lot's floor! I remember seeing a desk like that at a Goodwill store....back in the 80's! Yuk! Please change the desk!

[Kahuna_HOG]

Is NBC that cheap on furniture? Jay's desk looks like something I would buy from K-mart or Big Lot's floor! I remember seeing a desk like that at a Goodwill store....back in the 80's! Yuk! Please change the desk!

[1notrub11]

Gotta agree here. I would have preferred the old desk to this one.

[1notrub11]

I think the title shows bias (no surprise there). Why should it have been a different Jay?

Just a guess, but I would presume the previous popularity was based on the fact that those particular viewers got what they wanted from his show. Anyone who thinks that they will capture the entire late night audience for that time slot is dreaming.

Also, sorry rlevine, but O'Brien pushed himself out. The move to put him there was replete with an evident lack of knowledge regarding who was watching whom and what hour they wanted to do it. The plummet in his popularity by moving time slots after less than a week supports that I think.

But then, opinions are cheap...... NBC should have never mucked with a good thing - smells of leverage, not likely of Leno's making.

[searcher13]

Please--can we move on? Has not enough been said about late night shows?

[retina61]

hello from Turkey. my name is ahmet yurdado?an and im living one of the Turkey's small black city(in Trabzon province). im a very big jay leno fan. especially my mother's loves his show. (she is breast cancer survivor). my mom can't speak english she doesn't understand anyhink. but she like jay leno. since 1 months she were saying to me: what happened jay leno show. i told him this night (2 march 2010) will begin new episodes now she is very happy. i agree my mom since 4 years we were watching conan o'brian show but jay leno different. she is good wearing (because he is value his watchers). and he is smart and funny. in Turkey Jay leno's show this autum started(1th season in my country). especially jay leno and governor swarzenneger's episode's final stage was so great. Leno driving the car and he was saying bad words for the Arnold than Arnold launched the rocket to Leno. Leno's situation (after the rocket launch) was so funny and realistic. finally my opinion about Jay leno's show it is the better Conan obrien's show.We are watching jay leno show in Turkey after the 1 days than USA broadcast.