Editorial: A sign of the times: Leno on prime time

Heeeeeerrrrre's Jay!

OK, so it doesn't have quite the same ring as Ed McMahon's bellowing welcome of Johnny Carson. And for many, no one will ever replace the "King of Late Night." But starting tonight, Jay Leno will skip the comedic comparison altogether and try to become the "King of Prime Time," as he begins his new 9 p.m. Monday through Friday talk show on NBC.

Leno's mainstream, Main Street-style might play well in Minnesota, where early bedtimes also might give him a boost.

But regardless of how "The Jay Leno Show" turns out, its prime-time slot represents a seminal shift not only for network TV, but also for the nation. The days of dominance by three networks are long gone, replaced by a fragmented menu of 300 networks on some systems. The resulting reduction in ratings and revenues -- which Nielsen estimates are off 7 percent this year -- are the business reasons for a decadelong shift away from more expensive scripted series toward shows trying to finesse the formula of low costs and high ratings.

The cultural reasons are more complex. They signal an even more profound prime-time change made possible by a societal shift in which once discreet behavior is openly flaunted, if not celebrated. Along the way, many viewers have become voyeurs, watching cutthroat competition between contestants on "Survivor," or the combative couple on "Jon and Kate Plus 8."

The popularity of mostly unscripted TV has also provided new life for talk shows, which now set the agenda for much of what the country is chatting about.

Political satire, from Comedy Central's "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" to "Saturday Night Live" -- which will also have a prime-time version this fall -- has a much greater impact on the news narrative than ever before, and that's an unsettling development.

Of course at times our favorite hosts also offer some substance. TV talk shows have for some time been a necessary campaign stop. Last year it seemed that Leno's comfy couch in Burbank would replace a soapbox in Iowa or Vermont as essential campaign furniture. Sen. Fred Thompson announced his presidential candidacy on "The Tonight Show," and the guy who got the job became the first sitting president to follow Leno's stand-up routine as a guest.

In this age of Internet immediacy it's not just talk shows that are subverting traditional journalism. Even more disturbing are cable news shows that under the guise of objectivity present mostly the subjective opinions of the hosts and their like-minded guests.

Leno and his late-night counterparts don't promise to do anything but make us laugh. And given the headlines that are fodder for popular satire, it really does seem that if we don't laugh, we'll cry.