Is It Time to Pull Plug on Leno?

Nov. 9, 2009— -- NBC set the bar low for Jay Leno's new primetime 10 p.m. show, and some nights, the veteran late-night show host isn't even reaching that.

After an initial strong showing during his debut week, "The Jay Leno Show" has shed viewers faster than you can say David Letterman. Two weeks ago, a repeat of CBS's "CSI-Miami" topped Leno on a Monday night -- not a good sign, since Leno vowed over the summer to beat the competing networks whenever they aired reruns. The week before, the FX series "Sons of Anarchy" was the first cable show to beat Leno.

Then there's the so-called "Leno effect" that has some of NBC's more than 200 affiliates grumbling that the show's weak lead-in is eroding audiences for their 11 p.m. newscasts. Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon's numbers for their late-night shows are also down, ostensibly because of a weaker Leno.

At what point does NBC say this experiment just isn't working?

NBC declined to comment. However, Leno made it clear in an exclusive interview with Broadcasting & Cable magazine that he isn't ready to concede the fight.

"I enjoy being the underdog," Leno said. "Do I enjoy the battle? Yes, I get a certain amount of satisfaction from pounding my head against the wall.

"Emotionally I can take body shots all day long and that doesn't really bother me," he added.

As expected, Leno's numbers swelled the first week as viewers checked out the new show. His Sept. 14 debut scored a 5.3/14 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic and attracted a total 18.4 million viewers. By the second week, the number of viewers had dipped as low as 5.1 million.

"I'm still waiting for a week to go by where he doesn't hit a new low," The Hollywood Reporter's senior online editor James Hibberd told ABCNews.com. "I think he recently did a 1.2 rating on a Monday night."

But all is not bad news. Leno also scored his second-highest rating in four weeks last Tuesday, when he earned a 2 in the adult demo, according to Nielsen's.

Overall, Leno's viewers from his premiere until Nov. 3 averaged 6.3 million, and his average rating in the coveted demographic advertisers pay top dollar for was 1.9/5, according to The Hollywood Reporter. But in the last two weeks, his average numbers dropped even lower to 5.2 million viewers and a 1.5/4 rating.