But I can't imagine the show without Potter. Would the show have been as good with Blake? They say Burns couldn't have been a part of the superior show it became.
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Tonight Show to Four Nights
- Thread starter TheBigA
- Start date
I never liked Fallon, until he started appearing in every episode of "Password". He's great on that show.
That's not what I said. I never said "radio is doing just fine." Radio isn't a collective, all doing the same thing. I've always said that a lot of radio stations are streaming. iHeart responded by building its own streaming platform that's one of the largest in the country. But a lot of stations have their head in the sand and don't stream. A lot of streaming is just online music delivery, which is different from linear radio. Some people want music only without anything else.
That's not the problem here. The problem is the audience for real time TV is going away. Fallon is the last of all the late night hosts to move to a four night schedule. They're all affected. It's not just him or the format.
A lot of people have their head in the sand. Yes, there have always been folks who want music without anything else. Records, tapes, and CDs all existed alongside radio for decades, yet radio managed to survive. The solution is not to "stream music, only harder." The appeal of radio was always compelling content. The "stuff in between the records" that you couldn't get by sitting in your room playing vinyl, or a tape, or a disc. A "personality" who did more than just introduce the next song and promote the next text giveaway.
I'm sure we've all watched Howard Stern's movie "Private Parts." There's a scene (fictionalized, but mostly accurate) where management is going over the research, and they find out why people listen...
I don't know anyone who tunes in to a radio station to hear the next liner card.
Streaming video services have lately figured out that sometimes dumping an entire season of a show isn't the best idea. Viewers "binge watch" the whole thing and cancel their subscription after a week. So they combat this trend by rolling out new episodes weekly.
Maybe...just maybe..."real time TV" could claw back some of that audience by providing viewers something they absolutely must watch in real time. Something they talk about at the water cooler the next morning at work. "Did you see that? OMG!"
They do, it’s called the NFL.
Everyone can't be Howard Stern. We found that out when he went to Sirius.
I think you're overstating what people want from radio. There are a lot of highly rated radio stations that don't have any hosts, and are just music stations. Name all the personalities on The Wow Factor KOAI in your hometown. Some people just want free music. To them, that's compelling content.
There is no "one size fits all" fix for radio. As I said, radio is a lot of different things. Some of it can be local personalities. Some people pay money to avoid all that personality you talk about.
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Unfortunately, while Fallon is a talented guy, his Tonight show is so formulaic, he's always so "enthusiastic" that he seems hopped up on some substance, and the Roots look massively bored. To me it seems like the heavy hand of Lorne Michaels prevents them from reinventing The Tonight Show in a way that might get the juice back in it. Compare that to Colbert's, Kimmel's and even Seth Meyers's shows, where they appear to be having genuine fun producing those. (Seth's show in particular has undergone somewhat of a reinvention since the start of Covid, and is much looser and funnier.)
True story: a couple of years ago, my wife and I were back in NYC for a couple of weeks, and I got tickets for Seth's 2nd show back from the no-live-audience hiatus of Covid, and tickets to one of Stephen's Late Shows a few days later. Both programs were loose, funny, and everyone involved was noticeably enjoying themselves. Both bands were having a rocking good time during the interstitials.
At Colbert's taping, one of the segments was "playing with the puppies" to goose adoption turnout for the North Shore (L.I.) Animal League. It was a funny bit and featured Stephen with Nick Offerman, who was also Stephen's leadoff guest that evening. But when we watched the actual post-production program OTA, Offerman was there for a couple of guest-chair segments, but the bit had disappeared. Then, a few nights later, I had Friday's show on and the puppies bit was in that episode.
So if that's their production M.O., then they're taping extra pieces and parts throughout the week's earlier shows to cobble together a Friday episode, so they don't have to produce an entire second show on Thursdays. My guess is that only the Friday monologue gets recorded on Thursday so it's as topical as possible, and the other parts are taped on Mon-Tues-Wed in bite-size pieces so those night's audiences don't get restless. IDK if the Tonight Show has the same M.O. or is recorded fresh on Friday afternoons, but unless a viewer is watching really carefully and notices that Stephen's tie changes from segment to segment, all the extra cost and effort of producing five full shows a week probably won't be missed by many viewers.
As I said, this isn't just Fallon. All of the late night shows are four nights a week because of declining audience for real time TV.
This is a TV usage problem that won't be solved with new hosts or innovative programming.
Here's why we'll be seeing less of Jimmy Fallon and 'The Tonight Show'
Jimmy Fallon won't be on TV quite as much in the future. Here's why we'll be seeing less new episodes of 'The Tonight Show.'
The show was great with Stevenson (Blake). I would argue that the first 3 seasons of MASH were superior to the later years. Larry Linville left because he felt the Burns character had run its course. Every season had some great moments, but I prefer the early era. The later era became more Drama than Comedy in many episodes.
Back to Fallon, it's simply ratings vs revenue. That's always been true in Network TV...
Interesting. I've always heard the later years were higher quality. But entertainment value and artistic value are two different things.
So then what do they need from radio?
Yeah, there are some "highly rated" (relative to others) stations that just play music, but how do those stations stack up to streaming services?
I do listen to The Wow Factor, but lately I've been moving away from it in favor of streaming. Sure, KOAI has a tiny fraction of the Phoenix market share, but how does the top-rated radio station (that just plays music) stack up to Spotify or any of the other streaming services? What does pure music radio offer that streaming services don't?
The answer is: Nothing.
I'm not "overstating" what people want from radio. I'm stating what they USED to get from radio. Entertainment. Personalities. Content. That was the difference. Anyone can play albums or tapes or CDs or stream music on their phone, but what USED TO set radio apart was the stuff in between the songs. You're saying (apparently) that radio is just fine playing nothing but music that consumers can get from other sources like Spotify, and that an OTA signal where you get "free" music is exactly as compelling as a service where you can build your own playlist and don't have to wait for your favorite song to arrive.
The subject here is TV.
he hasn't done a Friday show since the end of May sweeps
but aren't more people up late on Friday nights than Tuesday nights? but do advertisers care more about younger viewers with low paying jobs than grown ups with higher paying jobs but set spending habits
Since the pandemic, the target demo for TV is out more on Friday nights spending time with friends or traveling for the weekend, not watching late-night TV.
By younger people, I assume you mean 25+? Those Millenials and many GenZ are now at their top earning potential. Contrary to what you might believe, that is the demographic advertisers want to reach. They're reaching them via Instagram and TikTok, not their local TV station.
That's a common fallacy around this site. Senior citizens have saved up and now have money to burn. It couldn't be further from the truth.
55+ Americans see the future and are either spending it on medical needs or saving for it. That's why the demographic advertisers are trying to reach is M/F 25-54.
Letterman wasn't bumped, he was following the scheduling template used by NBC on the show that he succeeded. Tomorrow with Tom Snyder was on Monday through Thursday, with The Midnight Special on in that time slot Friday. That setup continued into the Late Night with David Letterman era, first with SCTV and later with Friday Night Videos.
How do you figure? And if that's true, it has no bearing on NBC's decision.
They may be up, but they're not watching linear TV. They're watching Netflix or ESPN or movies or something else.
What they're most likely to be doing on a Friday night has nothing to do with Jimmy Fallon or The Tonight Show.
how has SNL survived with many out on Saturday nights? because short skits translate well to youtube viewing?
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