For some reason, the TV critics are all in a snit about the numbers that Jay Leno is getting at ten o’clock. They’re determined to make it appear as though the move by NBC is a giant mistake and they’re quoting all kinds of naysayers to “prove” their contention that the move by NBC was a bad one.

The most recent article, in the NYPost, beats the same drum. The title and subtitle, “A Leno letdown, Poor newscast ratings stir unease at NBC stations,” is just a touch misleading.

Read as far as the last two grafs (Who would think of doing that?!?!?) and you get a glimpse into the truth:

With Leno, NBC is easing the pain of lower ratings by giving affiliates additional commercial time to sell.

“The network reformed the programs so we get an extra bit of commercial inventory,” said Steve Baboulis, general manager of WNYT-TV in Albany. “The reality is our revenue in the 10 o’clock time period is up year-to-year. The difference is better inventory.”

Hmmm… could it be that Zucker and his evil minions knew what they were doing all along?

It should be expected that a bunch of sportswriters would, over time, buy the notion that they know how better to run a franchise in the NFL, or that a bunch of science writers might have figured out how to run a national health policy or that a gang of food writers would start to believe that they would know the secret to running the ideal restaurant. So, it is no surprise that a group of television scribes would grow to believe that they know exactly how to run a multi-billion dollar network. And it is entirely possible that they would be utterly wrong.

Might it just be that NBC and Leno have adjusted perfectly to the miserable situation that is network television at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century? Do they know that declining ratings, shrinking market share, surrender of eyeballs and hearts and minds to the internet and to gaming might call for a radically different (and seemingly losing) strategy that might actually be a winner in the long run? Might the boys at NBC be the vanguard of a movement that acknowledges Old Network TV’s shortcomings but capitalizes on its (few, remaining) strong points?

NBC has been mucking around with the ionosphere, in one way or another, since 1923. Anyone who writes them off as an early victim of The New Media is doing so prematurely.

What we’re seeing with this ten o’clock strategy might be the genesis of a new, multi-platform, settle-for-less, but-don’t-count-us-out National Broadcasting Company, but we haven’t heard the last from them. Any articles that predict doom are premature. Especially when Jay Leno is involved.

Jay might be Bob Hope. He might be the broadcasting eqvivalent of Bob Hope or Jack Benny. They were huge in radio. When Americans switched their obsession from that medium to television, they re-purposed their skills from the old medium to the new. It is not out of the question that Leno might do the same.