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'Lopez Tonight' Premiere Earns 3.2 Million Viewers
by Rebecca Paiement, posted Nov 11th 2009 12:45PM
On Monday night, George Lopez's late-night talk show ('Lopez Tonight') made its cross-network debut on TNT, TBS and TruTv. Looking just at TBS' numbers, The Hollywood Reporter says that Lopez drew in 1.7 million viewers -- quite a respectable feet for an 11PM cable show. That represents a 70 percent increase in viewers from the networks' typical faves in that time slot (among them repeats of 'My Name is Earl'). In addition, it puts Lopez above current season averages from late-night heavyweights Craig Ferguson (CBS), Jimmy Kimmel (ABC) and Jon Stewart (Comedy Central).In the meantime, the face of late night is changing on other networks as well. Diversity seems to be the name of the game, with recent premieres by Wanda Sykes on Fox, and a new nightly show hosted by Mo'Nique sitting pretty on BET. Skyes' show is clearly aimed at her audience, and, admirably, she doesn't tone it down; her monologues, for example, sound exactly like her comedy routines. Her guests -- which have included Mary Lynn Rajskub, 'Brothers'' Daryl Mitchell and 'Amazing Race' host Phil Keoghan -- sip cocktails as they discuss current events.
On Monday night, George Lopez's late-night talk show ('Lopez Tonight') made its cross-network debut on TNT, TBS and TruTv. Looking just at TBS' numbers, The Hollywood Reporter says that Lopez drew in 1.7 million viewers -- quite a respectable feet for an 11PM cable show. That represents a 70 percent increase in viewers from the networks' typical faves in that time slot (among them repeats of 'My Name is Earl'). In addition, it puts Lopez above current season averages from late-night heavyweights Craig Ferguson (CBS), Jimmy Kimmel (ABC) and Jon Stewart (Comedy Central).In the meantime, the face of late night is changing on other networks as well. Diversity seems to be the name of the game, with recent premieres by Wanda Sykes on Fox, and a new nightly show on BET, hosted by 'Precious' star Mo'Nique.
Skyes' show is clearly aimed at her audience, and, admirably, she doesn't tone it down; her monologues, for example, sound exactly like her comedy routines. Her guests -- which have included Mary Lynn Rajskub, 'Brothers'' Daryl Mitchell and 'Amazing Race' host Phil Keoghan -- sip cocktails as they discuss current events.
These three new shows get away with jokes that would otherwise be considered shocking on 'Letterman,' 'Kimmel' or any other show with a white male host. Both Lopez and Sykes were busy getting in Asian digs on their premieres, with Lopez then launching into a feature where guests tried to figure out if typical African-American men on the street had been to prison or not. And Mo'Nique's BET perch allows her to woo an almost purely black audience.
So far, it seems to be working. Lopez earned a combined 3.2 million viewers for his debut. Sykes, meanwhile, averaged a 2.2 rating in the 18-49 demo, with full numbers expected to be released on Thursday. And over on BET, Mo'Nique premiered to 1.9 million viewers in October, the network's highest-rated program of the season.
Old school hosts beware: Bland comedy might be on the way out.
Tell us: Of the three, which late night shows are you watching?
