An actor sent me the following. He didn't ask that I withhold his name but I'm going to, anyway…
Hi. I had a similar discussion on Facebook and I disagree slightly with you. Leno's new show will eliminate 4 hours of jobs for actors, a big number. With the glut of reality shows and now this, where will we actors get jobs? Perhaps cable and/or the web. Or maybe Leno's show will be a variety show and we can work as comic actors in sketches. But now, it's disappointing as a job source.
Perhaps. But it's disappointing for an L.A. actor when the networks do more production in Toronto or New York. It's disappointing for all actors when they put on more hours of game shows, "reality" shows, awards show, news shows or football games. One football game can displace three hours of acting jobs. We don't yet know if giving five hours per week over to Leno means that NBC will buy fewer dramatic shows and sitcoms or if it means the Deal or No Deal models will all be on street corners with signs that say, "Will smile and open cases for food."
I don't mean to sound unsympathetic but it's the nature of show business that trends change and the amount of work expands and contracts and changes. Once upon a time, there were a lot of guys who wrote westerns and one day, when the pendulum swung over to variety shows and sitcoms, many of those writers saw their careers end. Years later, they would be joined by many of the folks who wrote variety. That's kind of how the game is played.
My understanding is that Leno's new show will not be a variety show in the Carol Burnett tradition. It'll be more like The Tonight Show with more comedy pieces. That may mean more jobs in sketches for actors, including some who aren't Gilbert Gottfried. It may also mean that thespians will have to look elsewhere.
There will always be jobs for actors…though never enough for even 5% of those who want to act. A lot of those opportunities will be in what we now call "new media," and the tragedy there is that AFTRA took a bad deal in that area, and SAG is going to have a hard time not taking the same terms. If I were an actor, I'd be a lot more disappointed in that than in Jay's new gig. At least once Leno starts at 10 PM, if you do star in a movie, you'll be able to go on in prime time to plug it.