JON STEWART: NEW KING OF LATE-NIGHT?

For the first time in at least ten years, the monthly ratings winner among the key demographic group of 18-49-year-old adults was neither Jay Leno nor David Letterman — but Jon Stewart. According to Comedy Central, Stewart’s The Daily Show led during October with an average of 1.3 million viewers in that demo, versus 1.2 million for Leno and about the same number for Letterman. Stewart’s October telecasts led up to his “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Washington last Saturday, which reportedly attracted a crowd of more than 200,000. Perhaps just as startling, Stewart’s Comedy Central cohort, Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report wound up in fourth place for the month with 900,000 viewers in the demo, beating out NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon with 800,000 viewers and CBS’s The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson with 700,000. On Monday, Conan O’Brien is due to enter the battle for the eyes of younger viewers when he returns to the air on TBS.