Leno Ends Ratings Freefall

A turning point for Jay Leno? For about two weeks now, episodes of the Leno Show have either held steady in the ratings or improved, reversing a trend that started soon after the program’s debut in September. On the eve of Thanksgiving, for instance, every broadcast program was down—except Leno.

"The shift might represent a turning point for the industry-polarizing series, or at least signal that the show has managed to quit shedding viewers," writes James Hibberd at the LiveFeed blog of the Hollywood Reporter. Leno is either "finding his groove" at last or simply taking advantage of weak competition. Still, the "recent stability doesn't change the fact that on any given evening, his shows is usually the lowest-rated program on a major broadcast network." (More Jay Leno stories.)