Leno's Return Fizzles

You can't teach an old late night host new tricks, at least not in the case of Jay Leno whose "new" variety show aired Monday night. The Los Angeles Times critic Mary McNamara put it grimly, "It's not a good sign when the Bud Light commercial is funnier than the comedy show it interrupts." Despite appearances from Seinfeld, Oprah, and Kanye West, the new Leno is much the same as the old Leno—jokes about Bush, Biden and Pelosi, wacky headline segments, and a "Cheaters" sketch where the joke is that Jay and bandleader Kevin Eubanks are having an affair. If this is the future of television, McNamara asks, should we worry?