Jay Leno Ratings and Post-Modernism

It’s not easy to find real world and easy-to-understand instances of the post-modern but here’s one.  Examining the declining, increasingly dismal ratings of Jay Leno in the 10PM prime-time spot, Simon Dumenco, “Top 10 Lessons from NBC’s Failed Leno Strategy” in today’s AdAge suggests that “Late-night Leno functioned as a sort of utility: an easy, default pre-bedtime diversion.”  It’s a post-jmodern premise that the receiver as much as the sender determines the meaning of the communication, and whether or not Dumenco intended, he makes a good case that this pov applies here.  Specifically, users detemine the program’s function (pre-bedtime diversion) which figures in his “lessons” 5, 6 and 7 as well as the evaluation criteria appropriate to that function (“pleasantly sedative,” “not-too-taxing”) which figure in his “lessons” 4 and 8.  I don’t think the hypothesis is provable but I do find it plausible as an instance.  Moreover, I think it’s an especially sharp example of the PoMo pov because the user here is the passive television viewer without any kind of technological empowerment. So, I’m sharing and saving for future reference as an example of how the meaning of communication is co-created and situational.