The Tonight Show; Carson, Leno, Fallon

So Leno has said goodbye and the way is paved for Jimmy Fallon to take the helm of The Tonight Show; some who remember Carson's exit don't feel Leno was ideal for the job, so if that's the case, who would have made a better host? Do you feel Fallon is up to the task, or do you have someone else in mind?

When Leno first took over I had some reservations; who could possibly measure up to the classy, quiet charm of Carson? Fortunately I was wrong and Leno grew into the role well. He really made the show his own and I've been a fan for his entire run.

Conan was a mistake. He was too manic and self centered for the show. He's funny in a different way but it wasn't a good fit for The Tonight Show. Honestly I was glad to see Jay return to the helm.

Jimmy Fallon doesn't have the stature that Leno has yet, but time will tell. My sense is that he's a good kid and will work hard to carry the franchise forward in a good light. I hope that Leno shows up as a guest once in awhile. You know, kick the tires and show the new kid a few tricks.

It's hard to say. Everything is relative to that period of time.

Carson took the Tonight Show to a level that will never be matched. I remember watching Johnny in the 60s-70s, and back then with only 3 channels for entertainment/news/media/everything, he ruled late night and his format is still being followed even now by Letterman, et al. Unless you grew up in that era it's hard to imagine the power he had on public thinking. His monologue was routine water cooler talk at work the next morning.

Now obviously, NBC is expecting Fallon to update the format and make it relevant to today's social media/internet environment. Otherwise why fire the guy who's been number one in his time slot for year after year?

leno was good. but i think it is time to move on. (again) times change and leno has been there long enough. (i do want to see him in tv again)

conan obrien was funny in akward way but not a lead star for this kind of show (more suited in the wackier late night version).

fallon in my mind is more toned down and mature version of conan. so i think he can be good replacement for leno. just needs time to "be the face of franchise" and get comfortable there. (and he like leno needs great set of writers and other people in background. a lot of success hangs of them and material they give.)

I was very sad to see Johnny go. His mix of interviews, skits, comedy and music worked very well. What I loved best was his classy interview style. I don't recall any guests acting as if they were being attacked. Classy, funny and entertaining... A hard combination to beat. Watched him every night since I was a kid.

Contrast this to Jay, who did a very good job. He did not do as many original skits, and sometimes carried on a "feature" way too long. I watched him when I had free time thanks to Tivo. He was not always kind to his guests. In her last appearance, Sandra Bullock had the occasion to say to Jay "You're such an ***" as Jay brought up embarrassing parts of her career. That would not have happened with Johny.

Jimmy... he's a bit more like Johnny. His interview style is more subdued and respectful, though he sometimes gets very animated. I've enjoyed his show too (thanks again, TiVo) and hope he gets the kind of writers that can combine the best of the Leno show with his style.

Daniel

Hope I don't ruffle any feathers, but I'm honestly amazed The Tonight Show even survived this long. Like network news, I just feel the entire format is dated no matter who hosts it. In the spirit of full disclosure though I'll admit I was never a fan of The Tonight Show. Then again, there were a lot of other popular shows whose success I just couldn't fathom ( Cheers, Friends, and Seinfeld all come to mind ). Anyway, I wish Fallon luck but like his predecessors I have no plans to watch him.

jtr1962 said:

I just feel the entire format is dated no matter who hosts it.

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I can't say "dated" is what comes to my mind when Fallon plays beer pong with celebrities or Conan does his clueless video game reviews; it's clearly a different demographic from when Carson would banter with Hollywood royalty Vegas-lounge style. But that's a valid opinion, so what would you replace it with? What would be an improvement over a nightly monologue/skit/interview/music revue?

StarHalo said:

What would be an improvement over a nightly monologue/skit/interview/music revue?

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The entire nightly monologue/skit/interview/music revue concept is what's dated IMO. To draw an analogy here, think of the time when everyone got their news from either a newspaper or network news. Nowadays the Internet is typically the news source of choice for the younger crowd. Those sources are by no means limited to "official" news sources, either. Often, a story will begin when somebody sees something and posts it on Twitter/Facebook/online forums. Same thing the way I see entertainment heading. I often get my entertainment from places like you-tube. Much of it is not from those in the entertainment industry. More importantly, I can watch whenever I want, as often as I want. The idea of having a show on at the same time, every single night, is what's dated here. I don't even follow shows with a weekly series format any more because it's all too easy to forget to watch them a few times, and then you lose track of what's going on. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. Like I said, I'm surprised The Tonight Show still attracts enough of an audience to remain viable, although I'll bet a good part of that audience is well past middle age. The show can try to remain relevant up to a point, but like network news sooner or later entertainment is going to be largely crowd-sourced. The larger point is the general public has choices, lots more of them than back in the day when there were only three major networks. It's hard for any serial show to come up with enough fresh material to attract and retain a sizable audience these days.

jtr1962 said:

I can watch whenever I want, as often as I want. The idea of having a show on at the same time, every single night, is what's dated here.

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Well that I can relate to, our household has only Netflix/Hulu/AmazonPrime, no cable or over-the-air, so the whole concept of a television "schedule" has been out the window for a long time. And we do watch almost exclusively the non-network, next-level stuff all we want; Dexter, Sherlock, Downton, SOA, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, etc. But at some point you want to watch something topical, something recent. Even with all those top-shelf choices, we still watch the nightlies, because otherwise the experience would just be like watching stored material from the library, a bit too monastic. I don't know that I could work with this kind of on demand service if it didn't have some new material (bearing in mind that I'm already missing news events, sports, the Olympics, etc..)

StarHalo said:

I don't know that I could work with this kind of on demand service if it didn't have some new material (bearing in mind that I'm already missing news events, sports, the Olympics, etc..)

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I totally understand the need for new material, although I tend to prefer event like the Olympics or Tour de France for that because the outcomes of sporting events tend to be somewhat unpredictable. That said, the network Olympic coverage stinks. Besides the focus mostly on American athletes, I find the frequent commercial breaks annoying. I find the schizophrenic, unpredictable way they jump around events even more annoying. This stuff is all taped well in advance. Can't they just show one event at a time, then move on to the next one? And have the TV Guide reflect that (i.e. 8:00-8:30: snowboarding 8:30-9:30: figure skating, 9:30-10:00: luge, etc.). This way people can watch just the sports they're interesting in.

Jay Leno will be back. he screwed over Conan, he'll screw over Jimmy.

Actually, Jay is a scumbag. And I don't just mean that isolated incident with Conan. The only thing I respect about Jay is his love of automobiles. Other than that... Absolute scumbag.

Monocrom said:

Jay Leno will be back.

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It is rather strange that he's starting a standup tour immediately after his show ended; it doesn't really count as retirement if you launch into a career that will take more time and effort than your previous job..

I don't think Fallon is very funny at all...or classy, for that matter

StarHalo said:

It is rather strange that he's starting a standup tour immediately after his show ended; it doesn't really count as retirement if you launch into a career that will take more time and effort than your previous job..

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Once the tour is over... Guess who's coming back.

dc38 said:

I don't think Fallon is very funny at all...or classy, for that matter

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+1

Jay's a scumbag. But at least he's a funny scumbag who can act classy when the situation calls for it.

StarHalo said:

It is rather strange that he's starting a standup tour immediately after his show ended; it doesn't really count as retirement if you launch into a career that will take more time and effort than your previous job..

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Leno never left his standup career, just touring, but he still did standup on the side while hosting the Tonight Show. Carson did the same.

Here's a link to the closing scene in Fallon's late night show. At the end of the song they had a fitting way of showing the transition from his old show to his new one. The two studios are right across the hall from each other.

Interesting, given the news report that show production will be moved from LA to NYC, costing ~160 jobs in CA.

inetdog said:

Interesting, given the news report that show production will be moved from LA to NYC, costing ~160 jobs in CA.

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Yep. NBC has been pulling back control from LA to NY for awhile. Several years ago they shut down some of their technical operations in LA and transferred them to NY.

Johnny was the best,,,,the originals usually are! At least I think he was the original!!

It is snowing again!! It is almost dark,,,Capo and Lakota are going to pull me on my custom sled! Have a good night everyone.