Marathon Pundit: My thoughts on the Jay Leno debacle and the Green Car Challenge

I thought the now-cancelled Jay Leno Show was entertaining, but I'm not surprised it failed. Having spent four years in college in Champaign, Illinois, I learned how important local news was to small markets--it was the best opportunity for local advertisers to reach their customers. While people are thinking local--they'll be thinking of buying local. Leno's show by all accounts was profitable for NBC, but in gave affiliates a low lead-in audience. So the affiliates understandably freaked.

The Chicago broadcast stations are owned by the networks, of course they sell airtime to businesses interested in only a Chicago audience, but the bottom line is still the network bottom line. Station owners in Champaign view it much differently.

One more thing: I don't understood the purpose of the Ford Green Car Challenge segment on Leno. If you haven't seen it, this is what happens: A guest drives around a track a couple of times, and time is added for hitting an obstacle, such as a cutout of green guru Al Gore. Rush Limbaugh took the challenge--he purposely ran over the former vice president.

First, the segment isn't funny. Well, it was funny when Limbaugh was behind the wheel. Secondly, is Leno shilling for GE's dubious (to me) green business ventures? GE owns NBC. Finally, I'm not in the market for a car, so I'm not the best judge, but the Green Car Challenge doesn't get me excited about buying a Ford electric car. And Leno, a celebrated car buff, doesn't seem enthusiastic about the vehicles. If he ever talked up the Fords, I was doing something else that night.

If Leno is not sold on green cars, why should I be?

A bad idea within another.

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