Mike Hughes on TV

Let's think of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a sort of pioneer. Tonight, she crossed the silly border into NBC's prime time.

In an absurd bit of pettiness, CBS and ABC reportedly told their stars not to be guests on the new "Jay Leno Show." This is especially absurd because the show:

-- Is little threat, finishing third each night in Nielsen ratings for its three-network time slot.

-- Provides a great opportunity for the competition. As long as NBC has Leno at 10, there will be one less drama to compete with. That means CBS and ABC shows -- from "The Mentalist" to "The Forgotten" -- have an easier time.

-- Does a good job of promoting its guests' shows. Fox got great mileage out of the witty Hugh Laurie; it might have another Leno guest ... well, as soon as "American Idol" comes back or Bart Simpson becomes a real boy.

Meanwhile, Dreyfus was a terrific guest. In other parts of the show:

a) The opening monolog was funny, even if it did turn a bit gruesome. When was the last time you heard someone attempt two puns dealing with a terrorist exploding dynamite in his buttocks? (One sort of rhymed "heinous" and "anus"; the other suggested that "the Shiite hit the fan.)

b) "10 at 10," my least-favorite portion, was actually OK. Billy Crystal offered some straight information (he foolishly rejected a voice role in "Toy Story") and some wit. Asked to name three current Jewish baseball players, Crystal included "Derek Jetowitz."

c) And for the first in the show's 12 episodes, there was no "correspondent."

So far, there have been a few good correspondents and a few (including Monday's) bad ones. This time, instead, Leno had a two-part variation on "Jaywalking," featuring three women from "The Real Housewives of Orange County."

That bit works best when talking with bright-but-ditzy Californians who have no knowledge or interest in the most basic questions. The problem here was that Jeana Keough was included: Keough -- the wife (separated) and daughter-in-law of baseball major-leaguers Matt and Marty Keough -- is the smart one on "Housewives."

She kept getting answers right, but the others were ditzy enough to make up for it. Still, Tamra Barney, did have two moments of truth.

One questions was: "Who elects the president of the United States?" Her sometimes-true answer: "Florida."

And after missing many questions, she asked: "Do we really have to know this?"

Leno, glancing at the beauty who lives in luxury, quietly replied: "Apparently not." 

Let's be glad there are plenty of sinning politicians and celebrities in the world. "The Jay Leno Show" has an easy time finding laughs.

That was clear tonight, when Bill Maher argued that not all cheaters are equal; Gov. Mark Sanford, he argued, is a true romantic. To prove that, he juxtaposed portions of two E-mails -- the florid ones from Sanford and the crude ones from former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley. The result was sad, but terribly funny.

And it fit right in with the evening. In his monolog, Leno had told about Sanford's bike accident. ("Every time he mounts something, there's trouble.") And the guy arrested for planning terrorism with his father? ("Terrorism with your dad? Even Michelle Phillips went "eeeeww"). And he said it was so hot this weekend that "everyone was sweating like Roman Polanski at a Hanna Montana concert."

As long as we have an infinite number of famous sinners, Leno will thrive. Otherwise, tonight's show was bad and good:

-- Bad. A guest "correspondent" had a relatively weak bit, making up jingles for small businesses. A somewhat similar bit with Dan Finnerty worked because there was some witty songwriting; this one had none of that. It reminded us that attempts at "found" humor aren't nearly as funny as well-written bits.

-- Good. Maher was a great guest. As always, he had lots to say and said it with wit.

-- Bad. When talking with Maher about Sanford's Argentine mistress, Leno repeated his "sleep America first" joke. On his 11th episode, he shouldn't be repeating jokes.

-- Good. The "Headlines" -- which appear every Monday -- are hilarious. These are real things in newspapers, from misprints ("Ladies' State Porker Championship") to someone who lost his finger (and his chainsaw) in a woods.

-- Both. Brad Paisley's "Welcome to the Future" is a wonderful song. Adding Sheryl Crow, however, added nothing. The same thing happened during the first week, when Eric Clapton was wasted alongside Bruce Hornsby. On nights like this, the notion of celebrity duets seems like an empty gimmick. 

When man perfected satellite communications, the potential was stunning. Suddenly, people in podunk could see  live images of an Olympian in Japan, a soldier in Iraq, a triumphant new president in South Africa.

And on Friday (Sept. 25), a satellite was employed so a man in Burbank could talk to a man outside a movie theater in Hollywood. At the most, it saved a $60 taxi ride.

That was Jay Leno doing his "10 at 10" segment with Lebron James. A little hint here: If the guy happens to be in town anyway, just DO IT IN THE STUDIO, where the byplay works better.

Still, James was one of the better "10" guests. He answered most of the questions straightforward and included some solid information. (It turns out that his first dunk was in a teacher-student game in 8th grade.) He also saved his wit for the right question. James granted that he would let Barack Obama beat him in a one-on-one game: "It's not him (I'm worried about), it's all those guys in the black suits."

I mention this mainly because I missed the first half of tonight's show. (Let me know what it was like.) The second half was fine, because:

1) The "earn your plug" gimmick involved Hugh Laurie and was thereby entertaining. It turns out that he's a good piano player (as we've seen on "House") and a fine-enough singer. Actually, his skills are almost infinitie. Laurie is adept at riding a motorcycle, was on the college rowing team, is a skilled drama actor and is one of the best sketch-comedy people around. As an aside, his performance as the benign dad in two "Stuart Little" movies molded a new definition for "underemployed."

2) The "10 at 10" went well, despite the unnecessary satellite.

3) For the first time in his primetime show, Leno did some written desk material. This was a fairly clever bit in which different words were supposedly thrown (Google-style) into a search engine and one image appeared. The words "Hindenberg" and "Titanic," for instance, combined to invoke the NBC logo.

Over the years, well-written desk material has brought big laughs for Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Leno. After ignoring such things for nine days -- replacing them with so-so "found humor" -- it was good to see Leno back on funny turf.

OK, this time there's no griping and sniping. Tonight -- on its ninth try -- "The Jay Leno Show" finally got it right.

 Admittedly, I missed a small section in the middle -- Rush Limbaugh on the race track and then the start of the Smokey Robinson, Joss Stone duet. (They are great talents, but didn't it seem a tad creepy the way Smokey, 69, kept leaning into Joss, 22?) What I saw, however, was terrific.

My complaint until now had been excessive reliance on "found humor" -- going out with a camera and microphone and hoping something funny happens. That sometimes works, but it's no match for well-conceived, well-written material.

Tonight included no found humor and many big laughs.

Leno's monolog, which seemed too short Wednesday, was a solid 10 minutes tonight. It ranged from the news that Marilyn Manson has swine flu ("how can you tell if he turned pale and sickly?") to the Los Angeles limit on the number of roosters in a house. "That's what I love about it here," Leno said. "You can have 50,000 illegal immigrants in your house, but only one rooster."

The "correspondent" section -- usually producing so-so found humor -- instead had a great piece by comic Nick Thune. Strumming his guitar, he gave a lecture on the only important thing about high school -- making sure you come off well years from now, when you look back at your high school annual. It was brilliantly done.

The interview portion also went well. Leno was quick to keep Limbaugh on-subject and to offer counterbalance.

And the closing bit was a gem, offering failures you see on the Internet. Sure, it's always funny to see a guy (taping a commercial) jump off a building and onto mattresses that are atop a car ... then go too far and crash onto the ground. Others have shown such Internet bits, but Leno had a great collection of them, assembled and presented beautifully. It was a funny ending to his first really good primetime show.

Who was at that meeting, anyway?

Jay Leno must have said, "I'm sure there's nothing people want to see more in prime time than a celebrity driving around a race track." Network executives nodded and pulled out a pile of money to build a track next to his studio.

Maybe someone should have said this: "No, Jay, people don't want to see this. Just you. There's a good reason why primetime TV went its first 60 years without a racetrack. It's not interesting."

Last week's driving by Drew Barrymore wasn't entertaining; neither were tonight's drives by Bob Costas and Al Michaels. The upcoming Rush Limbaugh one bears no promise.

Mostly, this takes us further away from what had been the stated goal of "The Jay Leno Show" -- non-stop comedy.

Tonight, the opening monolog, always first-rate, seemed truncated. It was six minutes, maybe, if you count a long, one-joke pseudo-commercial about Michael Vick dog food.

The correspondent bit -- Mikey Day pretending to be a celebrity photographer -- was pretty good; "Jaywalking" wasn't bad.

In between, however, was a long, slow spot. It included Vince Vaughn doing push-ups on a chair and Costas and Michaels driving.

Leno needs to get back to his strength -- longer monologs, more written humor in general. If you have a clever guest (a category that includes both Costas and Vaughn), let him talk. Don't have him do push-ups or drive a car. That seems to amuse the host, while giving viewers ample time to play with their TV remotes.