Wow, am I on an ignore list or something?
The 5 crazillion dollars went to renovating the entire studio, which had not had serious work done on it since Johnny Carson broadcast from there 40 years ago. While I haven’t seen specifics, I’m sure a lot of that money went into infrastructure and other details you’ll never see on camera.
I disagree. The ratings remained steady throughout the week, and he’s being universally praised by the critics. While we may not know how he’ll do in the future, we absolutely know how he’s done up to this point.
Hey, it’s *your *username. And I don’t know the answer to your question.
Probably both. I assume he hasn’t yet received all of the money he was due, and he can’t get another TV show (if he wants one) while he’s under contract. He’s already back on the road doing standup gigs.
I don’t think we’re really disagreeing, then. I wasn’t saying his first week numbers don’t count; I was saying we shouldn’t make assumptions based on them. He had a good first week, and we’ll see what happens in the longer term.
Yeah, he could knock it out of the park for 5 years, then lose it all. Arsenio Hall had a good run.
I just wanted to give Fallon credit for coming out of the gate as well as he possibly could, in response to a lot of people here (not you) who were really down on the show’s first week.
How do you figure he came out of the gate as well as he possibly could? People who want to like him are claiming otherwise.
“I don’t know.” is a perfectly fine answer. And at any rate, I wasn’t asking you, now was I? 
I didn’t know that. Glad to know he’s keeping busy.
Because his ratings are through the roof. A half-dozen people on the SDMB don’t change that. There is almost no way he could have done better in his first week on the job.
you mean besides putting together a good show like he was doing in his other slot?
that’s fine but don’t brag about something we can’t see. They made a big deal about how great it looked. I liked his old set better. I hope they didn’t sink a lot of money in the wooden model. Looks like something in a model train show.
He did that.
He has an extensive car collection and could do a weekly history show on that for many years. He’s very knowledgeable about cars and does columns in magazines.
Yeah, I knew about his car collection, though not the columns. At any rate I read that he said he wasn’t going to try for another late night TV show. Although that leaves morning and afternoon shows wide open.
I like Fallon’s new set. I like the wooden buildings. A good talk show set is not flashy and does not draw attention to itself. It isn’t going to scream “I spent tons of money here!” It’s going to be warm and inviting and give some interest to the background. Those models would have taken hours and hours to build. They are beautifully done and a lovely representation of NY.
Count me as another fan of the set. It has a classic feel to it while also feeling fresh. Hard to pull that off but I think they did.