9 Most Critical Responses to The Jay Leno Show

The reviews and the ratings for The Jay Leno Show are already in and the first impressions of NBC's prime-time experiment seem to be universal: Jay is still, well, Jay. His jokes are dull, his new set is creepy and don't even get anyone started on that Dan Finnerty Car Wash sketch. Let's take a look at some of the critical observations after the jump.

9. "Leno's funny, but in the safest way. He's adheres to the center of the exact middle road, so it's wrong to expect a revolution here. He has all the draw of buy-one-get-one-free smoothies." -- Hank Stuever, The Washington Post

8. "As usual, the monologue was tepid, and a short film about a musical car wash from The Dan Band, one of the comedy correspondents in Jay's new troupe, was interminable." -- Joshua Alston, Newsweek

7. "The show had a surprising lack of energy for such a heavily promoted and highly anticipated new show. Leno almost seemed disinterested." -- Steve Sternberg, MediaPost.com

6. "I felt real irritation looking at the two comedians [Leno and Seinfeld] in their Vegas-worthy threads, nattering. [...] Fans won't be disappointed; anyone expecting actual wit from Leno after his release from the late- night format will quickly reach for the remote. -- Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg

5. "[Finnerty's Car Wash Sketch] clocked in at six minutes, but by my internal TV clock, I felt it was closer to nine. It was an engraved invitation to change the channel -- and that was only a few minutes in." -- David Bianculli, NPR

4. "The Jay Leno Show" is a mediocre effort occupying valuable prime-time turf. Maybe the show will get sharper with time, but its arrival is no reason for celebration, either for television today or in the future." -- Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel

3. "The show even made Jerry Seinfeld feel painfully awkward, as the interview segment with him was stilted and off-rhythm, Leno feeling a little jittery just sitting there in a chair and Oprah Winfrey beaming in like a benevolent god to bestow her blessings upon Seinfeld and mock Leno. The set for this show looks like my orthodontist's office did in 1997." -- Todd VanDerWerff, The AV Club

2. "Creatively, there wasn't an original thought to be found, which is what happens when your only goal is to fail less expensively." -- Robert Bianco, USA Today

1. "It's not a good sign when the Bud Light commercial is funnier than the comedy show it interrupts. [...] His opening monologue seem[ed] like an attempt to cash in on the current vampire fixation -- comedy of the undead." -- Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times