Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

Last night's telecast of "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," featuring a guest appearance by President Barack Obama (11.2 household rating, 26 share), has achieved the highest "Tonight" rating in metered-market households since Monday, January 24, 2005 (11.2/26), the night of a special tribute to Johnny Carson, according to in-home viewing figures from the 56 local markets metered by Nielsen Media Research. The last time Jay Leno scored a higher metered-market rating than last night's 11.2 was Thursday, May 14, 1998 (12.4), the night of the "Seinfeld" finale. Last night's historic edition of "Tonight" matched the fourth highest metered-market household rating in the more than 16 years Jay Leno has been hosting "Tonight." President Obama's appearance last night is the first for a sitting U.S. President on a late-night talk show. Also appearing on last night's show was music superstar Garth Brooks. Last night's telec...

The Director's Cut has learned that President Obama will make a guest appearance this Thursday on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno. WASHINGTON -- The White House says President Barack Obama will appear this week on Jay Leno's talk show, perhaps adding a lighter touch to his bid to resuscitate the moribund economy. Obama will visit "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" during his trip to Los Angeles on Thursday. NBC will tape the program and air it that night, after the president has returned to Washington.