I haven’t watched The Tonight Show in 22 years. The last full show I watched was the night Johnny Carson said his farewell in 1992. Jimmy Fallon is the new host of The Tonight Show. I am watching The Tonight Show again. Let me clarify and explain…
Johnny Carson is the standard by which all modern late night show hosts model themselves. He did the show for 30 years and he was the only host I ever knew growing up. During his tenure, he went through a number of regular guest hosts – David Letterman, Joan Rivers, Jay Leno and a few others I’m sure I’m missing.
Ironically, The Tonight Show has always been shrouded in host controversy. The original heir-apparent to Johnny Carson was supposed to be David Letterman – the original host of Late Night. The thought was that Late Night was created as a training ground for The Tonight Show host position. Succession planning, right? Right…
Late Night has only had four hosts; David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon and now Seth Meyers. It debuted in 1982 and stuck. Great. But, between Late Night and The Tonight Show, there have been more people pissed off than promoted.
The first, of course, was David Letterman. Jay Leno got the job instead. But, Joan Rivers was just as pissed off. This is where the late night wars really started getting serious. David Letterman signed a deal with CBS and now 22 years later, Letterman is retiring. But, there doesn’t seem to be much in-fighting for The Late Show… just The Tonight Show…
And let’s not forget the previous transition from Jay Leno to Conan O’Brien. That was just a disaster that we can blame on NBC executives – not the talent. The right answer should have been leaving Jay Leno on The Tonight Show and trying Conan on a 10:00 primetime show until the transition was ready. Bad decision…
To clarify, I did watch Conan as the host of The Tonight Show. I like Coco Christopher. Never been a Jay Leno fan. The transition was just mired in too much controversy. But, I think The Tonight Show is back on track now. Enter Jimmy Kimmel Live…
So Jimmy Kimmel Live has stuck for ABC. Not sure what they were expecting, but, with his success, each network is making a mark at 11:30pm.
Now David Letterman is retiring and Stephen Colbert has been named as his successor. No controversy, no prolonged search, immediate announcement and we’ve all accepted it. So what’s wrong with The Tonight Show?!
Here’s more: Craig Ferguson just announced that he’s leaving The Late Late Show. I’m not sure if he was expecting to get The Late Show and is angry, but, he suggested that he’s not when he made his announcement.
And his version of The Late Late Show is much too quirky to move to an earlier time slot. It doesn’t fit with the intended audience. It works where it is, but, good call by CBS executives if he was a consideration. That was likely the case with Conan as well – too bad NBC executives didn’t have the foresight…
The moral of this story is that succession planning for late night television is hit or miss. You can’t succession plan. Seth Meyers may not ever be right for The Tonight Show, but, he may have great success on Late Night – like Conan did. NBC just has to wait for the right person to come along and seize the day.
Whether I liked Jay Leno or not, 22 years later suggests he was the right fit for the audience. I liked Conan O’Brien and a year later – through constant ridicule – the audience suggested he was not the right fit.
We’ll see what happens with Jimmy Fallon, but, he’s already off to a better reception than Conan. I know I’m watching again, so, that says something…
