The Return of Merv

With the news that Jay Leno is moving his program (will it still be called "Tonight"?) to prime time, I realized that old is new again in the TV business.

I'm old enough to recall when Merv Griffin had an hour long talk show on in primetime for the old Metromedia network when it aired in New York. (They later sold out to Fox.) Merv wasn't exactly must-see TV. In fact, he was the default in the event that there wasn't anything else good on. Then again in those days it was a seven (if you were lucky) channel universe. Moreover, Merv was on before 10 PM (as the local news aired at that time). Jay will be on at 10 PM.

Merv wasn't afraid to dedicate his show to an upcoming movie by having the whole cast come on. I remember when he had the entire cast for Star Trek II on his program. (Product placement anyone?)

Oddly, the change was prompted by the fact that fewer folks are staying up until 10 PM to catch a show -- when they can record it for viewing at a better time. Go figure. When I lived in the Midwest, TV was more accommodating when prime time ran from 7-10. It has to be pretty compelling TV to keep me up late nowadays.

No assessment would be complete without identifying the early winners (Kimmel and Letterman) and losers (O'Brien -- who never struck me as being funny) by this shift.

Jay, of course, should be a big winner. Hey, prime time is still prime time. However, the biggest winner will be the audience -- it seems like "Dateline" is dust.