Just Call It The Talk Show Network

By Allen Bacon, Editor, The Daily Bosco

In case you haven't heard, NBC has a new name...it's the Talk Show Network. All Talk Shows..all the time, beginning next year.

Let's see...with Jay Leno moving to the 10 PM slot...that makes 4 straight hours of talk with Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, and Carson Daley. Factor in the Today Show, the Evening News, and local news and you don't have much time for original programming.

Having a talk/variety show in the 10 PM slot is not a novel idea by the way. That was the original time slot for the Tonight Show back in the day and in some parts of the midwest the show is the lead-in to the news because the farmers need to get to bed early.

But in this day and age of the DVR and programming on the internet, who really cares what time the show comes on anymore. You record it and save it when you want to watch.

The real reason that NBC is doing this though is because they do not want Jay Leno bolting to another network. If he ended up at ABC or FOX, that would not be a good thing because he holds his own against Letterman and he would definitely do better with Joe and Joan Average against the much edgier and hipper O'Brien who is taking over the Tonight Show.

Of course, if any of the major four could convince John Stewart to bring his Daily Show or a variation of it to one of their networks all bets would be off. He would absolutely clean up.

You know the thing I can't figure out about NBC? They have some great shows on their USA Cable Network which would do great on regular TV. Put original episodes of Monk or Psych on and they would do well I'm pretty sure.