OK – I stayed quiet when ABC fired Regis Philbin because
they no longer wanted to pay his salary and when they cancelled All My Children in favor of a
cheaper-to-produce talk show but I can hold my tongue no more… Jimmy Fallon taking over The Tonight Show… WTF?!
Don’t get me wrong - I think Jimmy Fallon is one of the most
talented Saturday Night Live alums ever. (Here’s his amazing SNL
audition – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1aKiolG2CA).
Brilliant impressionist, musician, and
just plain adorable. The Barry Gibb Talk Show is on my list
of the top five funniest sketches in SNL history. I even enjoyed his films Taxi and Fever Pitch. I enjoyed them so much that I’ve been
wondering for five years why he’s been wasting his immense talent on a late
night talk show (besides the consistent network money). He could easily have a landmark comedy career
like Robin Williams or Jim Carrey. In my
opinion, Fallon is too goofy as a host and has no real hosting talent. Just laughs and gushes a lot. He truly idolizes most of the people he’s
interviewing, which is endearing, but not that interesting. As I said already – he’s very cute and
talented so Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
is a hit. But The Tonight Show is a whole other ballgame and I don’t think Late Night’s childish 12:35am antics
will translate.
From an image perspective, it seems all that matters on
TV is youth and the bottom line, and this is sad. What about tradition? The
Tonight Show has been an American institution since 1957. There was Jack Paar, then the beloved Johnny
Carson and because Jay Leno is popular with an older demographic as well as the
middle of the country, he has succeeded in keeping it the number one late night
show for 22 years. So - why is NBC firing
him? They’ve done it before and it was a
disaster. Why do they think they can do
it again? And since The Tonight Show is number one, why do they want to get rid of
Jay? The only feasible answer is that
they don’t want to pay him anymore. And
I think this is a travesty.
Nothing about this story makes sense. First, Fallon’s going to host The Tonight Show. Second, they are moving the show to New York
and last, Lorne Michaels is going to be Executive Producer. The majority of Hollywood actors live in LA. How will they get guests? Fallon’s young – if he really wants the gig,
he should move to LA. Conan did. And why does Lorne have to exec produce EVERY
SNL alum TV project? It’s been 38 years
- give someone else a shot, Lorne!
If NBC really wants to save money, why not just cancel The Tonight Show? It’s had a great run of over 50 years.
Sometimes it’s about ending something gracefully instead of stripping it of
everything that made it great in the first place, just to try to make a buck.
Maybe the American viewing audience will revolt like they
did with the Conan debacle of 2009. I’m taking
the time & energy to write this and I don’t even like Jay Leno. I can only imagine what people who watch him
every night feel like. The saving grace
for me in all of this is that I am Team Letterman all the way and right now CBS is the number
one network.
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