Jay Leno's return to "The Tonight Show" was a big hit with viewers, as expected.
Leno dominated the coveted 11:30 PM time slot over "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS and ABC's combination of "Nightline" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" According to reports, Leno scored a 5.4 rating/14 share, compared to Letterman's 3.0 rating/8 share. "Nightline" scored a 3.4/8 and Kimmel recorded a 1.8/6.
NBC released fast national ratings from Monday, which showed that Leno drew 6.6 million viewers on his first night back, while Letterman lured 3.8 million. Leno earned a 1.6 rating in the key 18-49 age demo, versus a 1.1 rating for Letterman.
Leno's numbers were not as good as Conan O'Brien's opening night viewership, according to reports. O'Brien was unable to keep the viewers, however, which ultimately led to his well-publicized departure.
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May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.