Late Night: Why Ellen Should Host the Tonight Show

I'm not an expert, but I'm smarter than the average bear.  Why is NBC is shuffling a bunch of low-rating losers like Jay and Conan?  Last summer, it was perfectly obvious to me that the best choice for the Tonight Show was and is Ellen DeGeneres.  Why isn't it obvious to everyone else?

First off:
Most of the Tonight Show's current viewers are the "coveted" 18-49 year old men.  Why are they coveted?  Dunno.  In my reality, women who love Ellen (35+, I'm guessing) have FAR more buying power than this group of men.  Does NBC seriously not know that women buy 80% of EVERYTHING!  That includes cars, electronics, major appliances -- you name it.  That's a LOT more buying power than a 35 year old guy who hasn't yet earned his highest pay potential and who is just starting out.  Compare him to the 50 year old woman who spends not only her paycheck, but the majority of her husband's (groceries, clothing for the family, vacations, etc.).

Secondly:
If you court the audience that has the most buying power and they start to watch, you can get the most advertising revenue.  Right?  (I told you I was smart.)  And so what if you get a drop off in the 18-49 year old men?  You get a whole new demographic for late night.  I would venture that much of Ellen's current audience don't watch Conan -- but that they would tune in for her.

Lastly:
Ellen is delightful.  Who doesn't like Ellen?  She's not a middle-of-the-road ass-kisser like Jay.  People like Ellen who have the moral courage to come out of the closet before it's fashionable to do so are definitely not ass-kissers.  They are trend setters.

I don't watch her daytime show, but I like her.  If I watched daytime talk shows, I would watch hers.  I've seen it a few times and she's always funny -- authentically funny.  Why do you think American Idol picked her up?  People like Ellen: they want to hear her opinion on things -- even things she probably doesn't know much about, like pop music. 

So why is NBC sticking with the losers?  Here's my best guess:  middle aged moms are so unappealing, so unsexy to the executives at NBC that they would rather lose money than have to court this demographic.  They would like to make a show that their younger selves would watch. To me, this sounds like a shaky business model.