Don’t forget Rich Little as Johnny Carson. It was obvious he was heavily made up, but his vocal impression of Carson is astounding.
I’ve watched a bit of Fallon - not a lot, given the time it airs, but some. Some of his bits are funny, and his musical stuff is pretty hilarious, and he does cater to the younger hipper crowd with his games and whatnot. But he can get off on a gag and beat it to death with a stick and then scrape it up and beat it some more. Beating a dead horse, nothin’, he’s beating the glue bottle.
Granted the social media scene is becoming more important, and that changes the landscape from the last time this went down. It just seems to be playing the same story again. Maybe the landscape is different enough to matter, maybe not.
Well if NBC was smart they would not be in 5th place. They are even behind univision now
I’m trying to imagine what a “Best Of Leno” compilation would consist of…and I’m drawing a complete blank.
Clips of when he was a guest on Letterman in the 80s.
His comedy routine from the 1970’s. He was hilarious, then. The story he told sometime in the 80’s about his Mom and Dad unplugging the VCR at night to save energy was hilarious.
special NY tax credit to bring the show back
Argumentum ad populum. Plus, what’s his competition? Jimmy Kimmel and what else? Don’t think they appeal to the same audience.
NBC wants the 18-49 demographic which they’re not getting, even though Leno is winning the time slot. Was Harry’s Law on NBC? (Didn’t watch it.) Because it got canned for the same reason.
The networks want to hook the younger crowd as more long-term viewers who aren’t likely to actually cost them (lost) money anytime soon by croaking before they can buy just one more thing advertized. They’re using research and trying different things to head off a foreseeable problem.
Too bad none of them were in Congress when, surprizingly enough :eek:, the Baby Boomers started into their sixties needing stuff like Social Security and Medicare whose funds had been, uh, borrowed from.
Who knew?
Maybe the networks are trying to avoid that trainwreck no matter who they have to throw under the bus. 
Are The Roots involved in this plan? I would hope so but see no mention of them and wouldn’t want to just assume so.
If NBC likes the Roots for the show they stay. If not they better find a new TV job.
NBC executives have proven they are idiots - which is exactly why their ratings are in the toilet.
Now they have decided to piss off their one guaranteed money maker.
Is Leno fresh and grabbing the youth market? No. But as has been mentioned, he is still the number one late night TV show. You would think NBC execs would be smart enough to do this gracefully, if at all. They have royally fucked up The Today show, and now they are going to fuck up The Tonight Show. In what parallel universe are these so-called television programming executives not fired?!
Seriously - if you were the sole owner of NBC and watched your employees tank both the number one rated morning news show AND the number one late night TV talk show, wouldn’t you fire their asses immediately?!
Are we absolutely sure the NBC executives are not really CBS executives in disguise?
Of course I meant to write “The Best of Leno’s Tonight Show”.
I’ve heard that The Roots are staying w/ Fallon if he gets Late Night.
I’ve also heard rumor that NBC has been talking to Howard Stern about taking over for Fallon. Not sure how likely that is.
I found this article in the LA Times that explains some things and I don’t think anyone else has linked to it.
Leno my still have the best ratings, but advertising revenue is a very big deal. Ratings might drop if Fallon took over for Leno, but advertising revenue might stay the same or increase.
You posted a remark specifically about his popularity, and then declare my answer invalid because it is about his popularity? You’ve got balls.
So far stuff I’ve seen suggests that they are. I would think if they want Fallon and want to keep his show in New York, there’s no reason they wouldn’t keep The Roots.
Oh please. He’s got lots of funny stuff he’s done over the years. Think of all his Jay Walking segments, or his Jay Walking All Stars competition. Headlines. All his audience interaction segments. Early in the show he used to do characters using video morphing to stretch his face in funny shapes - the brainiac and the workout guy being the two I recall. And then there are the bits like “Does It Thrill Bill?”, or “Woulda Coulda Shoulda”, or “Meal or No Meal”. How about “The Dancing Itos”?
Jay is also a great host, who treats his guests well (even if they are goobers), keeps the conversations flowing, and stays on time. He’s not a confrontational host, so if that’s what you want you won’t get it from him.
That is a valid point. The network is going to be looking at ad revenue as much or more than sheer ratings. Some of that is a concession to the economy. Letterman has also taken a hit. And some is a recognition of the abundance of options eating into the market share. And some may be the advertiser’s evaluation of Jay’s market demographic and not being the ideal 18 - 49 year olds that they most crave.
Add in Jay’s jokes about the NBC management where he appears to have created ill will that helps them decide they don’t want him any more. But it’s not Jay’s fault that the NBC lineup is not doing well.
Well since I posted this just a little while ago, I see an article saying that it’s a done dealthat Seth Meyers will be taking over Late Night from Fallon. Makes sense, since Lorne Michaels runs Late Night and clearly has a great existing relationship with Meyers.
Yeah I do, but that’s not relevant. I said Leno wasn’t funny, I didn’t say he wasn’t popular. You tried to use his popularity as proof of his being funny.
Conversations like this aren’t anything more than “stop liking what I don’t like” or “stop hating what I like”. If you take comfort in his popularity, enjoy it: just don’t pause to think of the musical groups, actors, TV shows, etc, that you don’t like, but are inexplicably popular anyway, or the things you like that have waned in popularity, or that have never been popular at all.
Lorne wants it is not quite “it’s a done deal”, especially with NBC still being cagey about the Leno/Fallon thing even being a done deal. Though he’s probably a good choice.
You said Leno wasn’t funny as if nobody thinks he’s funny. Clearly some people think he’s funny. It’s okay that you and a bunch of people don’t think he’s funny, that doesn’t make him unfunny to everyone else.
Jay Leno is a commedian and a talk show host. His role is being funny. The fact that people continue to watch his show suggests they still find him funny. Even if you don’t. That was all I was saying about him being popular.
Hey, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe Leno has a popular show but isn’t funny. Maybe people sit through his excruciating monologues not because they laugh, but because, well, it beats looking at porn on the internet. Or maybe they like his unfunny interviews. Or maybe Jay is not funny, but the gags he has people do are funny. Or maybe they just want to hear snippets of Ricky Minor and the band playing. But the most reasonable interpretation is that they think Leno is funny.
I was going to say Seth Meyers makes sense, to follow the pattern of having a younger guy take over, but it turns out he’s actually a year older than Fallon. Which also brings up the fact that Late Night is going to be a terrible spot for anyone if Fallon is successful on the Tonight Show. Unless he gets bored, there won’t be any chance to move up for a long time.