The Jay Leno Show

NBC | Release Date: September 14, 2009
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
21
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
New York PostLinda Stasi
Season 1 Review: Jay returned with that smart and smartass mix of talent and controversy that separates the pros from the bores. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser
Season 1 Review: I give Jay's latest effort a firm pat on the back. Keep the scandal-ridden guests on the schedule and make the Dan Band a permanent fixture, and I'll be back for more. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
Season 1 Review: The boilerplate talk format was reminiscent not only of Leno’s “Tonight Show,’’ but of almost every other late-night talker on the air right now. Read full review
50
NewsdayVerne Gay
Season 1 Review: That's a lot of pressure, even for Iron Jay, and maybe why Night One felt like a work in progress--terribly rough in spots, not bad in others. Read full review
50
Washington PostTom Shales
Season 1 Review: Leno's funny, but in the safest way. He's adheres to the center of the exact middle road, so it's wrong to expect a revolution here. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
Season 1 Review: The first substantial segment wasn't exactly a laugh-riot--it was a musically themed trip to a car wash with singer Dan Finnerty. Even if it was only moderately funny, it reinforced the Jay Leno Show brand of inoffensively average comedy and also established that the show would not be dominated by a couch and celebrity guests. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker
Season 1 Review: The blandness is lulling whenever it isn't irritating. Unlike David Letterman, for example, Leno is assiduously apolitical. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterRandee Dawn
Season 1 Review: He's funny in a familiar, tasteful way; that blunt edge promised in some of his promos never cuts through too much. Read full review
50
Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart
Season 1 Review: What changes there were to the “Tonight” format seemed superficial. Otherwise, it could’ve been “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray
Season 1 Review: So far, though, there's nothing on The Jay Leno Show that's worth losing sleep over. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunDavid Zurawik
Season 1 Review: Frontloaded to high heaven or not, it was still a solid premiere. Now, that bad news: None of the standard building blocks of the show seemed that impressive on their own--so that when you tried to imagine the show without an overload of starpower and star-drama, it didn't seem that exciting. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: Jay was Jay last night--hands in pockets, blue suit, solid monologue. Pleasant, likeable, funny, a guy you'd invite to your barbeque. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineMichael Murray
Season 1 Review: With an abundance of pre-taped video segments and satellite interviews, Jay Leno wraps a very old-fashioned sensibility within a modern package. It's an interesting presentation. Read full review
42
TimeJames Poniewozik
Season 1 Review: NBC has been telling us all summer, was "comedy at 10," not simply a second Tonight Show. Instead, what we got was a monologue, a couple taped comedy bits, an interview, a musical act, another interview and Headlines. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara
Season 1 Review: [This] is why this strange, shallow puddle of comedy is so difficult to accept. With all eyes on Leno, this is the best he, and his writers, and the struggling network could come up with? Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMatt Roush
Season 1 Review: The only moment anyone’s likely to remember from the colossal dud of The Jay Leno Show's opening night--which felt more like an off night of the old Tonight Show--was a moment where no joke was cracked, indeed where no word was spoken. Read full review
40
USA TodayRobert Bianco
Season 1 Review: Without Kanye West, and his conveniently timed controversy from the MTV Video Music Awards, NBC's Jay Leno Show premiere Monday would have been even more of a cut-rate, snooze-inducing, rehashed bore. If Leno's desire is to help fans get to sleep earlier, desire satisfied. Read full review
40
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 1 Review: The problem with the new approach, even in the premiere, is it feels like some bits are being padded to avoid front-loading the show. Read full review
40
Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall
Season 1 Review: The one moment people will talk about, and remember, from The Jay Leno Show debut was one of the least comic of Jay's career. It's going to get NBC some water cooler talk, and a lot of website hits, but it's not going to work as a signature "This is why Jay is awesome" clip like I think they were hoping. Read full review
40
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: If you watched Leno on "The Tonight Show," you'll probably watch him in prime time. If you didn't, I can't imagine why you would now, especially once original programming returns to ABC and CBS next week. Read full review
40
The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Season 1 Review: The set was slightly different, and Mr. Leno spoke with his guests in matching armchairs, not across a desk, but the content and tone of the premiere looked and sounded like any ordinary “Tonight” show. Read full review
40
SlateTroy Patterson
Season 1 Review: The Jay Leno Show is of course not the "brand-new hour of comedy" its promos claim; it is brand-old to the bone. But the notion of Leno running some combination of pop-culture confessional booth and prime-time torture chamber has some real appeal. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalDorothy Rabinowitz
Season 1 Review: From its looks so far, the new Leno show is the old Leno show. Even so, much remains to be seen of this enterprise, described as the hour that may change the nature of television. Read full review
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