Palin’s porridge is just right

It seems as though NBC has had a case of the night terrors, recently.

The late-night talk show host debacle cooled during the Olympics only to resurface this week. Leno returned to his original spot, Jimmy Fallon is still hanging onto threads and Conan O’Brien was not-so-quietly squeezed out of the lineup with a healthy compensation package.

In theory, this may sound like a happy ending for these three bears, but in reality, I think viewers are more upset at Goldilocks (NBC) for eating all of Conan’s porridge.

Another unappetizing side effect for NBC: Leno comes off as something of a villain for taking O’Brien’s spot, which is evident in the ratings.

Adam Bryant of TV Guide said although Leno’s ratings were above O’Brien’s average, he was 58 percent behind O’Brien’s first night as host in June.

After 17 years as a successful host, Leno now finds himself as a comeback kid.

This Tuesday, Leno was hoping for a smoking gun show to keep up momentum and keep out of the negative headlines.

Instead, he found a rating-packing rifle from Alaska: Sarah Palin.
Palin is a bit of a comeback kid herself, considering the slew of media mockery she encountered during the presidential campaign, including a jab at her family from late-night host David Letterman once the election ended.

However, her appearance on Leno yielded a much different response
than the former governor experienced from the media in 2008.

Palin poked fun at herself in her usual, self-depreciating style, discussed her stance on politics and the media and did a little stand-up.

The former governor made several comments about the growing Tea Party movement, comments met with midsentence applause by the in-house audience. Since when has a conservative movement received such a positive, welcoming reaction from a notoriously blue state?

On the left, Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post observed, “Sarah Palin should never come as close as she did to commanding the world stage as vice president of the United States, but if the Tea Partying former governor of Alaska wants to grace the late-night or talk show stage, I’ll be a faithful watcher.”

However, New York Times writer Bill Carter said Leno can contribute his “solid, second night back” in large part due to Palin’s opening monologue.
Carter noted, “The younger-adult rating matched Mr. Leno’s number on Monday night, one indication that Ms. Palin helped maintain the tune-in factor from Mr. Leno’s first night back.”

The people appear to love watching her, when she’s not running for office, that is.

The moral of this story is simple: If it’s not broke, why fix it?

There are many speculators who claim Palin is paving the way for a White House position in 2012, but why would she break what she already has going for her?

Palin can take a lesson from Leno and keep the place she has in the media. The porridge this Goldilocks has now is just right.

Hayley Imel is a public relations and sports media senior.