Count Dooku

Jack Parr and Steve Allen were much more important hosts than Conan, historically speaking, and they both had longer tenures, did either of them get more than a second of screen time?

My Other Self

No, but most people only remember Johnny and now Leno.

The whole debacle in which Conan left is why I was surprised. Seems like a phase of the show NBC would like to forget.

wearetheborg

Is Fallon pulling in more viewers than Conan did?

Jay G.

Fallon hasn't taken over the Tonight Show yet. Leno's last show is on Feb 6, and Fallon starts up Feb 17.

dan30oly

Is Leno pulling in more viewers than Conan did?

wearetheborg

How about the Late show of Fallon compared to the Late show of Conan?

Count Dooku

But if they leave Conan out, they'll just create a shit storm, and they know that.

Jay G.

Before Conan took over, Leno pulled in more viewers. However, Conan supporters point out that it normally takes a while for a new host to gain viewers. Also, Conan's Tonight Show was getting decent ratings, until the Jay Leno show started airing before it and the local news. The Jay Leno show was getting horrible ratings, and was creating a domino effect, dragging down the local news and Conan's show with it.

When Leno returned to the Tonight Show, he started getting ratings similar to before he left it, but his youth audience is dropping, which advertisers like, which is likely why NBC is transitioning to Fallon.

The main reason NBC gave Leno back the Tonight Show was that Leno had an iron-clad contract with a gigantic buyout number. It was cheaper to fire Conan than to fire Leno.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ton...eno#TV_Ratings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ton...;Brien#Ratings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jay_Leno_Show#Ratings
http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-pos...st-laugh-82036


Fallon appears to be averaging 1.93 million viewers recently, which slightly edges out the 1.91 million viewers Conan had at Late Show before moving to the Tonight Show. So Fallon isn't really a "better" replacement for Leno than Conan was, from a ratings point of view.

http://variety.com/2013/tv/news/nbcs...rs-1200865465/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Ni...Fallon#Ratings

Troy Stiffler

I think Conan's show is up to par on TBS. I doubt they have the payroll and budget that NBC was providing. But it's good old Conan.

Fallon is alright. His music stuff is good sometimes. It's high energy and very polite. No edge whatsoever. Just like Leno.

WCChiCubsFan

Conan's Tonight ratings were falling before Leno's prime time show even hit the air. Certainly the poor ratings of Leno's show did not help but Conan was losing audience all on his own.

As for the talk about time to build an audience, Conan had been on the air for a long time before taking over the tonight show so the network expected more soon rather than later. That might not seem fair to some but I can understand the logic.

I rather enjoy Conan's show on TBS, like all of the late night shows I time shift them and really only watch past the opening if there is a guest I want to see.

Mike86

Yeah, Conan's TBS show is way better than his run on The Tonight Show. He seems to be more comfortable and can do more where as on NBC it seems like he was playing it safer. I still think that his run being cut so short wasn't very fair to him as he was only on for around seven months which isn't really that long, in the end things worked out for the best though. I think that Fallon will do okay as he knows how to play himself a bit safer much like Leno does so he can draw a more casual audience where some of Conan's stuff is either stuff that you like/get or that can go over your head because he can have a weird sense of humor.

WWEFan

NBC had no problems with Conan’s ratings; he was still winning the all-important 18-49 demo easily. The local NBC affiliates hated how the low ratings for the Jay Leno Show were bringing down their late local news casts, and they let NBC know how unhappy they were. NBC knew it would cost them nearly three times as much to get rid of Leno, so they got rid of Conan, and concocted the story of his poor ratings to try and soften the PR hit they were taking.

SuperJim88

I'm just watching the best of Fallon highlight tonight. It's freaking singing after singing. WTF?! Is this seriously all that goes on in his show? Freaking imitation song after another. It's not even funny most of the time. I think the way he conducted his intro to each highlight segment says it all. Really?! fall down each time after intro? What are we 5 year old?

My Other Self

He does a lot of singing, both by himself and with celebrities. He is more interactive with guests than the other late night hosts, though, which I like.

Honesty when I watched his show initially I thought I'd hate it but it's not terrible. Just not very groundbreaking.

Michael Corvin

Watched the special as well. I like the singing but the skits were just painful. He's been on for 4 years, this special should have been the cream of the crop to ease in Tonight Show viewers to his style.

He's not great, but he's not bad either. He's perfect for the Tonight Show.

PenguinJoe

They really think Jimmy will be the next Johnny and went back to saying "starring" instead if "with"

pinata242

I don't like that at all. Besides the obvious pretentiousness it introduces, it doesn't flow.

PenguinJoe

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ti73SgrLadU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

JuryDuty

Personally, I'm looking forward to Fallon being the new Tonight Show host. I like him WAY better than Leno, and while he's not as edgy as many, he's a great safe, long-term host for something like the Tonight Show. Plus, like Carson, he loves doing the skits and he can sing. I find him very entertaining. I also think he's better than Letterman as of late (who seems to be dialing it in). And I've never gotten into Kimmel.

I'm also interested to see how Seth Myers does as Fallon's replacement. I like him on SNL, but not sure how he'll do in interviews.

PenguinJoe

Seth Myers is okay but I don't like him as a host. I wish SNL dug deeper and went with someone like Dana Carvey, Kevin Nealon, Rob Riggle, or Robert Smigel.

LorenzoL

That's the reason why I like Fallon too. Having a band like The Roots helps tremendously for his music sketches and the reason why there's a heavy focus on his current show. I hope that continues with "The Tonight Show".

He used to annoy me on SNL because he used break into laughter in almost every single skit but I like him as a talk show host.

I like Kimmel too because he can be "meaner" and actually put down/make fun of people unlike Fallon who's always nice.

devilshalo

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MarineCorps

He had an interview with 60 minutes, he is setting it up for round 3. Good money says he will be back.

http://flavorwire.com/435832/why-do-...-leno-so-much/

He is not so subtly letting NBC know that when fallon drops the ball he is ready to pick it up again.

Tracer Bullet

Man, Conan's Tonight Show graphic was really shitty.

Coladar1

Really, is Leno going to have a single human being left in Hollywood that will have anything to do with him? Letterman, Conan... if he pulls the same crap with Fallon, just wow.

I don't see how Fallon is going to do it, though. If *anyone* were more likely to bridge the young/old late night generation gap, I think Conan stood the best chance.

Fallon has other things working against him - based in New York, with Meyers and Letterman both, all grappling for guests? Fallon is aiming at a younger demo, his humor more collegiate/frat boy-esque, while in that 11:35pm slot/older working stiffs in bed watching the late local news.

Fallon has one saving grace, and it's a big one: Lorne Michaels is behind him. That said, this might end up being a train wreck with ratings... and if Leno pulls his old schtick, NBC could have a nightmare on their hands.

Me, if I were NBC? I'd have had Fallon "guest hosting" the Tonight Show for two weeks while Leno was on "vacation" looooong before I made it official with an announcement of the impending transition.

Fallon has a lot working against him here, not the least of which is the earlier time slot combined with his targeted demo and the hastening YouTube/online video revolution. I *just*, minutes ago, went to watch a music video on my SmartTV's YouTube app - first thing that pops up? Jimmy Fallon sketch with Mitt Romney. Screw DVRs, when I can catch all the highlights of his show the next day, why bother with the show? Stuff like this, so long as they continue allowing posting of clips on the web for free, they best hope to get the older Leno generation who'll actually watch the entire episode, an audience decidedly not in Fallon's wheelhouse.

Me? I think there'll be one winner here: Craig Ferguson. He's really come into it of late, hilarious bits, exceptional interviewing skills, but more than anything, he does seem uniquely suited to bridging a demo gap... his only issue there is his humor is a bit raunchy at times, not the tame/lowest common denominator brand Leno espouses. I suspect with SNL boy 1 and SNL boy 2, Ferguson is more apt to gain some viewers he otherwise might not have.