Can NBC Halt Jimmy Fallon's Long Ratings Tumble?

Late night talk shows just seem so old fashioned in 2019. And none of the current hosts are as funny or clever as they think they are. On top of that, I’m not really interested in many of today’s celebrities.

Fallon doesn't do Trump jokes like the rest of them. So people don't care for his other sense of humor.

He’s a drunk and not funny. Nothing can save him.

Is he really drunk? Or is that DL lore?

Does it make me sound old and old fashioned to just want a talk show where adults come to have adult conversations about a wide range of topics? Stupid games and fluff/PR approved scripted interviews isn't really all that engaging. That's why I love the Howard Stern interviews. It sounds like two adults talking. Why can't someone bring that format to late night television?

Every show, he busts into some stupid ass musical skit that drags on forever. Corden does the same shit. Both shows are un-watchable because of this.

Isn’t he some SNL alum garbage?

R5 Nope, not at all. I’m in my late 30’s and feel the same way. That’s a why I liked Larry King - he wasn’t trying to be a comedian or play stupid games, he just went straight to the questions with guests. I’m not into all the smokes and mirrors and PR fluff that these late night shows do.

I like both the Jimmy’s but only once a week or so.

The hosts think the show is about them, a stand-up set. So they interject and don't let the guest finish a sentence.

"Every show, he busts into some stupid ass musical skit that drags on forever. Corden does the same shit. Both shows are unwatchable because of this."

Very true. Corden is just a disgusting freak also.

Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel are doing a great job.

Time to bring back Leno. I haven't watched late night TV since he left.

I used to really like Colbert, but now I find him smug and find it difficult to watch at all.

Kimmel seems to have some humility, so I don't mind him in small doses.

Corden is terrible at interviews and only good at the Car Pool Karaoke or Cross Street Musical bits..........although they have now become tiresome.

Fallon is ok in tiny doses if the guest is someone I like.

I don't like Trump, but I find the constant Trump bashing exhausting and (to be honest) boring and easy 'humour'.

None of the late night hosts are funny!

R14 same, I preferred when the material was more varied and not just a Trump fest. I get he’s a goldmine if material, but I used to enjoy the variety of topics for the monologues etc.

I don't really understand this. I thought Americans were too stupid to appreciate the cleverness of Colbert and Kimmel. In the old days they preferred the lameness of Leno over Letterman. Are people waking up? Or do they need an outlet to vent about Trump?

Bring back Magic Johnson and Chevy Chase!

Well, you supposed non Trumpers that hate the Trump bashing can just watch Fox News instead.

Sorry but he is an immature, unfunny dweeb. Not entertaining in the least. He’s like a high school prankster that never grew up.

Seth Meyers is equally awful. Smug, pompous and so proud of his diverse writing staff....except they are not funny.

Jimmy Fallon is just completely over his head and has no idea what he is doing.

"That's why I love the Howard Stern interviews."

I also love Howard's interviewing skills. He doesn't ask softball questions. I honestly don't know why someone isn't offering him a Barbara Walters type TV show, it would be ratings gold. Also a "Howard Stern's 20 most fascinating people of 2019 would be a lot different than Babba Wawa's, they would actually be fascinating people and not just some PR hack's idea of a fascinating person.

R22 Are you kidding? Howard has become a huge ass kisser in recent years and throws softball questions at those he is friends with.

Fallon has always given me bad vibes. Something about him makes me want to give him and his mediocre show a wide berth.

Colbert's first half hour is the funniest 30 minutes on TV at the moment. It is artful.

However, KImmel is better at the interviews.

But overall I agree with R5 and R6

From the article:

"When Jimmy Fallon debuted on NBC's The Tonight Show in 2014, he was watched by more than 11 million viewers. Today his live viewing audience is less than 2 million a night"

Wow. I'm surprised he still has his job.

I for one am glad that Colbert has never been afraid to go after the joke that is Trump. Good for him and glad it’s paid off for him!

Me too r26, I am surprised he still has a job. My guess is Lorne Michael's is his protector, but based on the miserable efforts by the Saturday Night Live crew since the beginning of 2019, he may not last much longer either.

I'll save them, again

I bet Conan is laughing...

I watch Colbert for his opening dialogue and usually skip the rest unless I’m interested in a guest.

How? GET A NEW HOST.

Replace the motherfucker.

I get the feeling that Jimmy "didn't read the room" when all the Trump stuff first started. He didn't want to make it a political show and that has somewhat hurt him. Tousling Trump's hair didn't help either. He can play games and do sketches, but he's not a very good interviewer.

The main problem with these shows is that you're not getting anything that isn't scripted. No one goes off book. No one takes a chance. The viral moments on these shows are fluff.

Wow, those numbers are a disaster. I would need a link to believe them.

If true, then they need to pull the plug already.

Colbert and Kimmel are the only good hosts, all the others suck.

The only one I watch is Seth Myers. He's great off the cuff, gives decent interviews, and I love his A Closer Look segments.

I miss Craig Ferguson. But I think he either didn't want to get political - or he felt it wouldn't work for him? But he wasn't given the Colbert job anyway - and holds some sort of grudge against Letterman. Even had Jay Leno on his show before he left - ouch!

In any case, he's moved back to Glasgow and put his younger son in school there, who is 7 or 8 (older son is 18 or so). Saw an interview and he was too diplomatic to say why he moved back but I think it's obvious. Put his house in L.A. up for sale.

[quote]The only one I watch is Seth Myers. He's great off the cuff, gives decent interviews, and I love his A Closer Look segments.

I just find Seth Myers' delivery way too cute. There's this "twee" thing about him that I find grating.

Seth is a terrific interviewer, one of the best ad-libbers, and he rarely uses notes. (Colbert is actually quite a weak interviewer.)

Yes, Seth's writing staff is a bit lacking. He also needs a better director; the Closer Looks are quite rushed. But that can be corrected.

With that, he could take over Tonight seamlessly ASAP.

Jimmy Fallon giving an exclusive interview in November 2024:

Lorne is protecting the drunk. Maybe he has something on him. Does anybody really these anymore? Stars promoting their crappy ass movies. And how great it was to work with this actor, they probably can't stand. Fallon is one of the worst.

[quote]Saw an interview and he was too diplomatic to say why he moved back but I think it's obvious.

Which is???

His starry eyed love and awe for the US has finally faded and he sees the dysfunction, inability to make fun of oneself (he had a spell on his show when he tried it and it backfired - as a Scot, you can get up and slam Scotland all the day long but you better not question a Midwestern farmer... America is a mess now - its world reputation in tatters - the rose-colored glasses are off as the deplorables come out of the woodwork....

If he still adored the place, like he apparently did when he wrote American By Choice or whatever the hell it was - and did a whole tv program about US history - then why would he move home? And put a child young enough to absorb the culture back in the one he came from? Because he realized he liked it better.

Oh and more tl;dr - he did an interview this year and told his Scottish interviewer that he was mistaken when he was young - he had a lot of personal demons and he blamed the place (Glasgow) and now that he's older, he sees that clearly. America was a "new beginning" because he was spiralling into alcoholism drug-addiction depression, and some producer saw him at a standup or something and offered him a job in L.A. and he started rebuilding his life over here....

yada yada.....

Does he still giggle like a teenager girl? I remember he uset to be like that in the late night show.

Why does he have those horrible tattoos?

Fallon is incredibly talented and has a fun show. Whenever Colbert has a rerun, which seems to be every week and most Fridays, I flip to Fallon. His musical guests are better than Colbert's or Kimmel's.

I like Colbert but sometimes the Trump talk just makes me sad...other times I get a good laugh.

I like Colbert and Meyers. I like Kimmel in theory but not in practice - his show is too low rent for my taste.

[quote]But Fallon kept declining in a fragmented content universe where late night shows in particular are increasingly viewed via viral clips.

That makes no sense to me. Fallon's games and music sketches are made to go viral and the only time I see anything from his show it's because someone linked it on social media.

I've always been kind of indifferent to Jimmy Fallon but I find him too lightweight to be a good host. He's way too gushing fanboy to everyone who comes on. He's like those old Chris Farley sketches where he interviews celebrities and gets starstruck. Take away some of the awkwardness and add a healthy dose of cocaine and voila! Jimmy Fallon

never watch him, sorry old drunk, so hyper with uppers on his show he is ridic....

fire him!

love Colbert, , he rules......but the j kimmel is da worst. UGH

I discovered the old Dick Cavett interviews on Youtube. He beats any of the current flock of interviewers out there. I also watch Graham Norton. He's not a great interviewer, but his format has potential - occasionally the guests talk to each other, like a conversation among friends, and it is far more interesting than the host sitting there asking questions.

How come nobody's mentioned the interviewing capabilities of Andy Cohen.

Because he’s a lazy eyed koala bear.

Jimmy Fallon is the worst.

Can't they just dig up Johnny and prop him up at the desk?

Why the Tonight Show was ever given to Fallon is a complete mystery to me. He has no talent.

R44 = FRAU

Watching him in conversation with guests always makes me CRINGE with discomfort. I'm not sure why. I have the feeling that his guests also feel very tense and uncomfortable.

[quote]Late night talk shows just seem so old fashioned in 2019. And none of the current hosts are as funny or clever as they think they are. On top of that, I’m not really interested in many of today’s celebrities.

r1- be careful with that phrase "old-fashioned"- you'll start to make them seem actually good! I mean, the "old" days of late night were fabulous entertainment! Just compare Johnny Carson to anyone today, and you'll know what I mean. But, we just don't have hosts- or guests- like that anymore.

For everyone who thinks we're so much better now, they obviously don't even know...

Fallon should just host a game show and not The Tonight Show. I mainly have been watching Colbert but he can be smug and distant in interviews, his whole schtick is Trump. Kimmel is pretty good but I have never found his Mexican sidekick funny and so I don't watch much of him.

I used to like Seth Meyers but he takes more time off then anybody and he thinks his staff is so funny but they aren't, they are annoying. Amber got her own show so hopefully that means she won't be on his show any more.

Who’s Amber?

R54= Andy Cohen

Amber Ruffin, the black woman on his staff who thinks she's hilarious

Colbert is, and has always been, a class act. He's always several steps ahead of the people he is interviewing. You should watch some of the clips of his audience interviews, where nothing is scripted or rehearsed, he's on point and sharp. He can give an honest, heartfelt, and detailed response at the drop of a dime.

Colbert can also make a brilliant joke on the fly like no one else. His quick wit amazes me. I normally need 12 to 48 hours to come up with a good retort.

The bigger problem is Lorne. He’s old and out of touch and needs to go. Fallon is a joke.

Colbert is awesome. Those of us that are gay should appreciate a straight guy that can literally read someone for filth, brutally, instantly.

The biggest hurdle is somewhat out of his control -- these celebrity interview shows just never really caught on with younger people. People may watch for individual interviews or see clips on Youtube, but I don't see people tuning in every night like they used to in the '90s and prior.

Um, young people LOVE Colbert.

I hate to break it to everyone but Lorne Michaels isn't going anywhere until Lorne is ready to go. NBC will never get rid of him. He's been there too long and I am sure has more than enough dirt on the powers that be at NBC they would never remove him.

R54 Go do your eye exercises Andy, and wipe that cocaine crust off your nose.

Colbert’s monologue is great. His interviews, less so. He will try and interject some stupid joke into the conversation and it often falls flat. When Colbert veers away from political humor into other areas it becomes tedious and usually is not very funny. The bits seem juvenile, which is similar to most of what Fallon does. Fallon generally goes for the lowest, most insipid jokes. Kimmel is good in his opening monologue and OK in his interviews. Seth Meyers is fantastic with A Closer Look, and is probably the best when it comes to interviewing because he doesn’t try and make it about himself or get in the way of the guest.

I disagree about Colbert, although he does interrupt a lot. Agreed about Meyers though, he is the best interviewer of the lot.

R38 Interesting. I had no idea he moved back to Scotland or that he had a grudge against Letterman. I used to watch Ferguson ages ago.

Looks like I was wrong, Amber's show got passed on

Village Gazette (presentation) — PASSED OVER Logline: Amber (Amber Ruffin) is the editor of the Benson Village Gazette. She loves fluff pieces that demonstrate the idyllic nature of life in her hometown. When the newspaper owners hire a reporter who's looking to uncover a juicy story in Benson, he threatens to unravel the happy denial Amber has been living in. Cast: Amber Ruffin (Late Night with Seth Meyers), Tommy Dewey Team: W/EP Amber Ruffin, Shelly Gossman (AP Bio); EP Seth Meyers, Mike Shoemaker, Lorne Michaels, Andrew Singer Studio: Universal Television, Sethmaker Shoemeyers Productions, Broadway Video Format: Single-camera Location: Los Angeles

r54. Cohen is among the worst in terms of interviewing abilities. He's too full of himself and his "fabulous" life with his fabulous friends. Also, too many of his guests are people from reality TV shows. They have no talent, and nothing to talk about other than the reality TV show.

Colbert never stops with the name dropping and social climbing with guests. The ALL TRUMP monologues are a thirsty choice. I think he drinks before shows - I've noticed this more than Fallon, who is reported to drink in his down time, of course. I would drink with Fallon. He's the smart-ass clown. The stunts on his show are tiresome but occasionally they reveal personality of stars. And occasionally Fallon is quite talented and charming and good at these stunts. He always has been. Kimmel has the lowest IQ of the 3 but I watch his show with more pleasure than the other 2. I don't love the white man boss set up to the Guillermo shtick though I like Guillermo. I am fascinated by Kimmel's plastic surgery and grooming. He can ask some touchingly naive questions and also some good basic questions.

[quote]He's the smart-ass clown.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

[quote]Colbert never stops with the name dropping and social climbing with guests.

I'm a huge Colbert fan but I've noticed that too.

Kimmel had plastic surgery?!

You're putting on your surprise? Jimmy is now a bearded Korean woman of indeterminate age.

poor lil jimmy...bye bye

Fallon is so moderately talented and desperate. Yuck, and his theme song and the all black band "hey hey hey hey, hey hey hey hey" What lyrics ! What style !

Dick Cavett is only good in reruns. He had on the dredge. Today people look at drunk Judy and think it's great, but back then it was disgraceful and he was considered low to tolerate it.

Same with all his other celebs like the shitting Salvador Dali cat and so on. Oh today it's funny because people have no taste and refinement.

I thought this was going to be an old thread but it's just from a few days ago! How long is the entertainment media going to keep bringing up Fallon's falling ratings? It's been years!

His fake laughs get exhausting after a while.

The shitting Salvador Dali cat? Really?>

and fire that shit turd band he has !!!!!!!

I grew up in the Seventies, and all the talk show hosts so highly praised today seemed like such fuddy-duddies to me back then--they always wore ugly plaid jackets and sucked up to their guests. When David Letterman started, he seemed like a breath of fresh air. He was not interested in golf, the fuddiest and duddiest of all activities (like Johnny Carson), he did not have an obviously alcoholic sidekick (again like Johnny Carson), he did not name-drop and suck up to celebrities (like Dick Cavett and Merv Griffin), and he was genuinely funny.

I miss Tom Synder and his colortinis

The best time for me was the mid 90's when I would watch Conan, Tom Snyder, and Larry King. Conan was at his peak then. I worked days during the OJ Simpson trial so I used to watch Larry King at night to catch up on the daily news of it.

It is absolutely untrue that Dick Cavett was not considered a great host. His Hepburn interviews, for instance, were legendary from the moment they aired. He also managed to get things out of people that other hosts didn't because he talked to them like people, not like celebrities.

r94

No, he sucked. He would hem and haw and be left speechless all the time. It was his guests that made the show. And they only are great looking back, because they were so famous, and no one thought to do an interview with them like that.

This is why his shows kept getting cancelled and brought back only to be cancelled again.

I liked Cavett as an interviewer. He knew how to get out of people's way - and he knew how to listen to their answers and actually respond to what they said (hello, maybe take note of this, Stephen Colbert!)

He wasn't a nervous wreck with people like Jimmy Fallon. And he could handle serious stuff maybe better than Kimmel. Not sure about that -- it's not in the job description for Kimmel and I think he does a decent interview already.

Oh and Cavett was charming and witty. I believe he started as a writer on the Johnny Carson show? Anyway, he was a smart guy who asked intelligent questions that weren't all written down ahead of time - he could follow where the guest meandered. Many hosts can't do that.

Fallon's a supporting character. He doesn't have the charisma to be the lead.

He was acting like a spaz in the Macy's parade, wonder if the band gets tired of him?

An article about Fallon in the Macy's parade popped up on my Facebook and out of curiosity I clicked on the comments and was surprised to see people saying he was probably drunk as usually the comments about him are that he's such a great guy,.so funny, etc.

[quote] The bigger problem is Lorne. He’s old and out of touch and needs to go.

Considering the track record of NBC personalities, I’m surprised he hasn’t been #MeToo’d into retirement yet.

[quote] Fallon is a joke.

That no one is laughing at but himself. Even Mindy Cohn managed to pull it together.

Slightly off topic but does anyone have any insider gossip on Lorne?

Other than the fact that he fired SNL’s only openly gay cast member and only black female cast member for Victoria fucking Jackson?

NBC will probably do the 6th hour of the Today Show at 10:30 PM.

Al Roker is so grumpy now

He just doesn’t have the wit and smarts of a letterman or even Leno.

The current Ellen v Dakota drama brought me to this clip. Fallon is cringey. I'm glad Dakota put him in his place.

R106: Worse than Leno. Ouch. That is a pretty damning indictment.

[quote]No, he sucked. He would hem and haw and be left speechless all the time. It was his guests that made the show. And they only are great looking back, because they were so famous, and no one thought to do an interview with them like that.

I have to kind of agree with R95.

Some of his famous interviews are good but mostly because they were huge stars and interesting people.to begin with.

But Cavett's style could be cringe worthy a lot of the time too.

Jimmy is getting thick in the legs and ass. I haven't seen the show in years and was a bit surprised when I caught it at the gym.

[Quote] Those of us that are gay should appreciate a straight guy that can literally read someone for filth, brutally, instantly.

If that were the case, more people here would be reminiscing about Letterman. He was the master roaster. This interview is a classic example.

Fallon must have fucked everyone and their mother over at NBC. There's no explanation to why he has such a top job with such lackluster..... everything. At night I put on Carson on the rerun channels. It's just more entertaining, even though everyone's been dead for years.

Fallon is just another symptom of NBC’s spectacularly bad management. They really need to clean house, top to bottom (no DL pun intended).

It's a dated format that isn't capturing the younger demographic.

Also, most celebrities these days are totally uninteresting and the interviews are total fluff. It's basically the same conversation over and over and over.

Maybe young folks like his singing impressions?

I have liked Jimmy Kimmel since he did Win Ben Stein's Money. He makes me laugh.