I'm certain he will do well at least in the first few weeks, until everyone gets to see what direction the show will take.
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Ready for the new TONIGHT show?
- Thread starter stilldustyvinyl
- Start date
...no way will we see Leno going back to 11:35; the only reason he was able to replace O'Brien that quickly was that he already had a full production staff and studio in Burbank from the 10:00 show. He doesn't have that anymore, NBC has completely shuttered its operations in Burbank, and Leno doesn't want to work at Universal City any more than necessary...
The real problem that hasn't been addressed here is the culture shock that Leno fans will go through starting Monday. Let's face it, Fallon is very different from Leno. For some, "different" is hard to take. He's a little edgier. He's a lot younger. His band is extremely edgy for the time, especially in the Midwest. No question he'll attract the big name guests. He's been able to do that for five years. No question he'll create an entertaining show. Leno had been going through the motions on this second trip. But none of that addresses the culture shock.
What some forget is that when Leno took over the Tonight Show 22 years ago, he'd been doing fill-in guest hosting for years. That had also been the intent of Joan Rivers before she walked out and took her own show. These days, there are no guest hosts. There is no period where we get used to someone new. Same with Letterman, Kimmel, and everyone else. They run repeats rather than build the next generation. Some of that is contractual. Leno's show was produced by his own company. Same with Letterman. The network doesn't want the previous host to pick their own successor. The network wants to do that. So we get these abrupt changes that often don't sit well with audiences, particularly older audiences.
There was an article recently about how traumatic radio format changes are for listeners. I expect we'll see the same thing here. The difference is that they don't have Leno as a lead-in to late news. That was a far bigger problem the last time than the weakness of Conan. So they're flying without a net here. I predict it will take some time for Fallon to achieve the kind of dominance Leno had. I saw Letterman's interview with Brian Williams a few weeks ago, and it's obvious that this new competition at 11:30, and the fact that it's originating in NY has Dave pretty fired up. So he's got new shows next week. Fallon has the Olympics lead in, but Letterman will start a half-hour earlier. Wonder if Dave will mention it.
What some forget is that when Leno took over the Tonight Show 22 years ago, he'd been doing fill-in guest hosting for years. That had also been the intent of Joan Rivers before she walked out and took her own show. These days, there are no guest hosts. There is no period where we get used to someone new. Same with Letterman, Kimmel, and everyone else. They run repeats rather than build the next generation. Some of that is contractual. Leno's show was produced by his own company. Same with Letterman. The network doesn't want the previous host to pick their own successor. The network wants to do that. So we get these abrupt changes that often don't sit well with audiences, particularly older audiences.
There was an article recently about how traumatic radio format changes are for listeners. I expect we'll see the same thing here. The difference is that they don't have Leno as a lead-in to late news. That was a far bigger problem the last time than the weakness of Conan. So they're flying without a net here. I predict it will take some time for Fallon to achieve the kind of dominance Leno had. I saw Letterman's interview with Brian Williams a few weeks ago, and it's obvious that this new competition at 11:30, and the fact that it's originating in NY has Dave pretty fired up. So he's got new shows next week. Fallon has the Olympics lead in, but Letterman will start a half-hour earlier. Wonder if Dave will mention it.
Fallon's Tongiht Show also has had a gob of promotion, some of it at the local level. Here in Western Washington KING/5 has their 11 PM news anchors yukking it up with Jimmy in several spots. There's also been a short drop-in segment on NBC's Olympic Latenight. He's everywhere...he's everywhere, like Chickenman.
So will Kimmel, which leads us to the big question: will NBC's decision to start Fallon the first four nights at Midnight/11 Central, Mountain, Alaska & Hawaii blow back on them? Maybe not, but I don't think it's much of a help. The first Tonight Show to start in the normal 11:35/10:35 PM slot won't be until Friday night. Slow night, I guess.
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I don't like Jimmy Fallon.
I watched the prime time special with the best of his five years on his other show. Some sketches worked for me and some didn't. But what I do know is that Fallon falling down every time he introduced something was not funny. It was funny maybe three of the times for specific reasons.
I never stayed up to watch Leno and didn't have the time to watch him every night at 10, but I did like him.
I like Jimmy Kimmel too. He gets to be in prime time during the NBA playoffs and I watch those specials.
I watched the prime time special with the best of his five years on his other show. Some sketches worked for me and some didn't. But what I do know is that Fallon falling down every time he introduced something was not funny. It was funny maybe three of the times for specific reasons.
I never stayed up to watch Leno and didn't have the time to watch him every night at 10, but I did like him.
I like Jimmy Kimmel too. He gets to be in prime time during the NBA playoffs and I watch those specials.
A
Avid Listener
Guest
Having watched Leno for years, even back when he was just a rising stand-up comic, I get the impression that he's not such an egotist that he must be in the national limelight in order to be happy. I don't know him personally, but he gives off the vibe that he might just semi-retire and upgrade his "Jay Leno's Garage" webcast hobby show into a half-hour cable series. He's financially fixed for life, so if he works, he can afford to work at something he loves doing. Clearly, one of the things he really loves is his car collection, and sharing it with people on his web series. And, he can always do stand-up in places like Vegas whenever he wants a dose of audience feedback.
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bpatrick2
Guest
Re the person who said that Leno is not such an egotist that he needs the spotlight, apparently neither was Johnny Carson, who virtually dropped out of sight after his retirement in 1992. But "The Tonight Show" has always begged the question: will the new host be able to maintain the show's audience? The answer, except tor that 1957 debacle "Tonight: America After Dark," has been yes. Johnny, in fact, had a much larger audience than Jack Paar, and Jay Leno has the second-longest tenure (22 years to Johnny's 30) as host. So as long as Jimmy Fallon doesn't make a lot of radical changes, I don't see why he can't hold Jay's audience, and as long as he can beat Letterman and the other Jimmy (Kimmel), NBC will hold onto him.
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