Jay Leno is the future of television? Seriously?

And yet it is also a radical experiment: a single show airing every weeknight during prime time on a major broadcast network, cheaper to produce for an entire week than a single hour of the pricey scripted dramas that usually hold such a time slot. NBC says it's facing media reality, that big audiences are getting harder to find. That the network business model is drying up as viewers turn to cable, skip ads by recording shows on DVRs or watch online. That the major networks, which once gathered tens of millions of viewers and promulgated a homogeneous national culture, are now, essentially, just big cable channels. If "The Jay Leno Show" succeeds - where succeeding means not getting more viewers than the competition but simply increasing NBC's profit margin - it suggests a TV future in which ambitious dramas become the stuff of boutique cable and broadcasters, while mainstream broadcasters become a megaphone for live events and cheap nonfiction.  Gee, hasn't that already happened this side of the pond?  (By the way, nice and snappy magazine redesign for Time. Cleaner website too.  Now if they'll just work on their content.)

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1920038,00.html

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