Now that the first week of "The Jay Leno Show" has ended, we have one firm conclusion: The "10 on 10" segment must be eliminated (or explained to guests) immediately.
The idea is to ask 10 questions, to be answered quickly and honestly. That used to work fairly well on "The Daily Show," with five questions -- hey, the show is half as long -- so why not here?
Well, "The Daily Show" had the host and guest alongside each other, making it conversational. Here, Leno is standing next to a video screen, kind of like in an interrogation. There's no flow.
The first time it was tried, Tom Cruise was deadly dull. The third time (tonight), Mel Gibson tried to come up with a joke for every answer, usually failing. I haven't seen the second one, but so far no one has told me, "Man, that Miley Cyrus segment was great."
This only works if most questions are answered straight, allowing only for the occasional joke. And maybe if the number of questions is trimmed. Would six be too close to the intellectual property of five questions?
Other conclusions:
-- Leno's monologs remain terrific -- even if he did show uncharacterstic cruelty for two straight nights. Among other things, both nights had jokes mocking fat people. Still, it's great to hear him congratulate the New York Times on its 158th birthday. ("Sad thing is, I read about that online.") Or to herald the woman whose sight was restored when part of her tooth was transplanted into her eye. ("She said it only hurt when she flossed.")
-- Humor still works best when funny people look straight at the camera and talk. This week, Tom Papa's stand-up routine was fairly good; Jim Norton's sit-down bit was terrific. But the attempts at "found humor" have been hit-and-miss. Tonight, I found Rachael Harris' bartering piece to be OK, Leno's "screen tests" to be weak. The biggest trouble with the latter is that it didn't live up to its billing; laymen were given little to do, while Leno got most of the lines. The extreme came in a "CSI: Miami" bit in which he talked a lot and most of the others played dead bodies.
-- Interviews? Jerry Seinfeld was great; Robin Williams (what I saw of him, before I had to leave), was too. Michael Moore was OK, Drew Barrymore rushed through her best stuff, Halle Berry was marginalized, at best.
-- Then Barrymore went out to try Leno's test track. I know he loves that idea, but I'm not sure what the viewer appeal is.
-- At least, tonight was great for my home turf of Michigan. There were big boosts for a made-in-Detroit car and a made-in-Detroit movie.
The latter is "Whip It," Barrymore's directing debut, with Ellen Page as a Roller Derby rookie. Two weeks before it opens, it had a big push on tonight's show and it has a big display in theaters.
A lot of movies have been made here lately; now it's crucial that some of them succeed. In the best of worlds, there will be classics to match the made-in-Michigan "Somewhere in Time" and "Anatomy of a Murder"; in the worst ... well, Leno's own movie career vanished after his made-in-Michigan "Collision Course."