Carl Icahn Now Wants ALL Of Lionsgate 
FINAL MGM BIDS DUE FRIDAY: So Who's In And … 
Action Comedy TV: Showrunner Matt Nix 
SAG National Board Approves Joint Bargaining … 
BBC Drama Unfreezes Development Money; … 
Lionsgate Board Rejects Icahn's $6/Share 
Is Betting On Box Office Good For Films? 
Marvel Still Looking For Captain America 
'Sopranos' Creator To Film Rock Drama 
LIVE-SNARKING THE 82ND OSCARS... 
'ALICE' IS A MONSTER! $116.3M Blows Past … 
Oscar Not-So-Thriller: Diller Mogul Picnic 
'Precious' Sweeps 25th Indie Spirit Awards 
Howard Stern Won't Be Next 'Idol' Judge 
Justin Theroux Readying 'Zoolander 2' For … 
He looked like a deer caught in headlights during his first Late Night show. But it was a far better start than Conan O'Brien (who broke out in nerves-induced acne). But NBC once again is too lame to figure out how to freshen this stale formula.
UPDATE: Jimmy Fallon delivered some decent ratings, including the best Monday numbers in the timeslot in more than 3 years by averaging a 2.3 rating/8 share in Nielsen's metered-market overnights. This was a 35% improvement over Monday's Late Night average this season. Not surprisingly, Fallon's debut also rated higher than the premieres of other network late night programs since he's far better known than, say, Craig Ferguson or Jimmy Kimmel.
Loading ...
If he’s an America-hating jerk, then he will fail. Quickly.
Fail!!! watch ferguson instead, ferguson is win
He was just nervous and this is totally new, but give him time and he’ll be fine, I think.
Looks like I’ll be able to catch up on my sleep. Snorefest of a debut. How long before he recycles everything he did on SNL? Hmm, imitated DeNiro on SNL, so let’s book him, oh and that BeeGees skit with Timberlake, that worked on SNL, let’s book him. Who’s idea was this and more importantly, why?
I was surprised at how stale the ideas were, how much “borrowing” was going on – the “Lick it for Ten” seemed like something Letterman would do, “Slow Jam the News” seemed Conan-esque, that fake movie trailer was right out of Kimmel and the constant “this is true” during the monologue, well, they all do that…
Maybe Fallon’s just playing it safe while he figures what he can get away with.
The difference is that Conan had shown some talent as a writer for Saturday Night Live and the Simpsons. What has Fallon given us? Fever Pitch? Taxi? Laughing through SNL skits? He didn’t even write any of them
To be able to be a good talk show host it helps to be a writer, and Fallon, unfortunately, is not.
The dude was heckled on his own show.
Unlike his predecessors, Fallon doesn’t have the requisite intellectual wit needed to carry the show.
I haven’t seen Fallon yet. But, in defense of Conan: I have the tapes of Conan’s audition show and his first few weeks of shows, and they’re great.
I think Letterman fans who hated Conan for not being Letterman created the “deer caught in the headlights” myth to justify why they didn’t like Conan back in the early years.
Conan is the anchovy of talk show hosts. Some people are never going to like him, just as some people are never going to like anchovies. But most people who enjoy watching Conan today probably would love the tapes of the early shows.
Conan’s first show was great. And that’s not hindsight talking – that’s how I felt at the time. Sure he was nervous, but they tried some really interesting bits that set an intelligently wacky tone. Also, he had the advantage of having his first show air two weeks after Chevy Chase launched a stinkbomb into late night.
It’s far too soon to judge Fallon’s effort, but if the level of humour is on the level of asking audience members to lick lawnmowers, I may want to rethink my late night options.
Congratulations, Jimmy! I thought your first show was very funny, very you. You and DeNiro were hilarious. I think that was the most colorful interview I’ve ever seen him give. You’re off to a great start! Look forward to seeing it in NYC! GH
FAIL!!!
Fallon’s gonna be just fine. A way better Jimmy choice than Kimmel. And Enrique, Kimmel stole his entire comedy arsenal from Not Necessarily the News and Talk Soup. Zero original thought anymore in late night, but Kimmel is by far the worst offender because he doesn’t tell any jokes – just comments on existing clips. That hack needs to be canceled 4 years ago and will be soon.
F’r'Chrissake, let the kid fly under the RADAR for a little while before shooting at him! It takes weeks to shake down a chat show. America needs a guileless-appearing host to help us weather the storm. Oh, and TJ has no genitals.
Who debut is ever spectacular? Come on. At least give him six months.
It was the equivalent of Kimmel coming out and doing Man Show bits! C’mon Fallon- you came out and did the 2 things we knew you could do- De Niro and TImberlake!…Whats on tonight’s show? Oh I know, Fallon plays guitar and does bad Sandler imitations while Will Ferrell makes him Giggle in the corner of the room. Watch Jimmy Kimmel instead- at least its more of an original show.
It had moments of awful, moments of not bad, and even three moments of good and funny.
The awful was that Space Train bit with DeNiro and the licking thing. Yuck. And most of the DeNiro interview actually as Jimmy had to do most of the talking and it wasn’t very intriguing. Oh, and the target demographic blonde mother’s thing was bad too.
The not bad was the monologue, and Van Morrisson.
And the good and funny was the cold open with Conan, the slow jamz bit with the Roots guys, and the JT interview (where JT was the funny part, granted.)
Not a terrible start but you’d think the non-interview parts would be stronger as they’ve had time to work on them. Ideally, they’d carry the show while Jimmy got better. Doesn’t bode well.
Come on people, he was terrible. He has no business having a talk show– he can’t talk. he should have a Mumble Show. He was better in movies.
PS Even with DeNiro, Van Morrison and Justin Timberlake and a half-hour earlier, he STILL lost to Kimmel, 2.5 to 2.3
I tuned in last night and Fallon’s debut was BORING beyond belief. I flipped to Craig Ferguson to keep myself awake and checked back every few minutes to see what Fallon was up to.
His audience’s heckling during the monologue, the cringe-inducing “Lick it for ten” bit that I assume was supposed to be funny, Robert De Niro’s ‘I wish I was anywhere else’ interview & finally the great De Niro being pushed off to the side to make way for Justin Timberlake.
At that point I gave up and stuck with Ferguson for the rest of the night… anytime Paris Hilton is the lesser of two evils, you may have a problem.
Hokey smokes he sucks!
Gone before the end of the summer.
Kimmel only beat him because of The Bachelor finale on ABC. Kimmel’s been averaging a 1.4 for months. Look it up. And look at the ratings tomorrow morning. I’ll eat my dog’s collar if Kimmel beats him again. Kimmel is awful and criminally unoriginal (re: Not Necessarily the News, Talk Soup), 6 full years into his show. Give Fallon a shot before you crucify him. He’s infinitely more entertaining and has much more range than Korpse Kimmel.
A little perspective…O”Brien started in stand up in LA, got hired on The Simpsons, then was thrust into a whole new realm of performance with a late night talk show. Understandably, it took some time for him to find his groove. But he did, and then some.
Fallon has had years of experience doing SNL in all its permutations, plus been in movies, lots of talk show appearances, etc. And STILL HE STANK! Lorne Michaels must have twisted De Niro’s arm big time to get him to be in such a suck-ass sketch.
Forecast: A world of pain, but of course it will stay on longer than it should due to Michaels’ clout at NBC.
I realize he’s taking over an existing show so it’s not technically “yet another” chat show – but my god… YET ANOTHER CHAT SHOW?
Monologue/bit/celeb plug/celeb plug/middling band.
We get it.
First did you see the flop sweat during the DeNiro interview? It was right out of “Broadcast News”. But hey, Fallon is funny. He will settle in. The band is awesome. I’ll hang in there.
I’m failing to grasp this Kimmel hatred. Kimmel has grown over the years and developed into a unique talk-show with many different recurring characters that you would never see on any other late night show. He’s really come into his own and it’s only a matter of time before he is in the earlier time slot on ABC and starts to give Conan and Letterman a run for their money.
It’s difficult to start something completely new and gain traction. People can’t say they’ve been tuning into ABC for Late Night television for decades, but he’s well on his way.
If anyone found anything remotely entertaining about that premiere, you are the reason for the decline of quality in modern television.
Even with more flopsweat, Chevy Chase did a better job. Conan, although finding his way, had a better premiere. Hell, Alan Thicke, Rick Dees and Magic Johnson had more skill and rapport with their guests.
Fallon, it’s over.
this reminds me of when a rival network sent the Fox Broadcasting Network chairman a dozen DEAD roses when Chevy Chase debuted his night-time talk show. the difference will be… if Fallon shows up for rehearsals, unlike Chevy!
Jordan, I don’t get the hate for Kimmel either. His show is far more entertaining than the tired shows he competes with. I love Letterman, but he seems to be going through the motions these days. Jay Leno has always been nothing but bad jokes and terrible interviews. Ferguson’s manic rambling monologues turn me off every time I try to give him a shot, and now Fallon, although based on only one show, proves he has absolutely no interview skills whatsoever. And whoever decided to have DeNiro as the first guest should be fired. Might as well have interviewed the goldfish from that lame “lick it for 10″ bit.
Kimmel’s characters are overused and boring. His monologue is pedestrian at best and he’s off-putting to look at. That, coupled with the knowledge that literally everyone I know who has had any prolonged contact with him says he’s a huge, angry, no-talent prick who treats his employees like shit, fuels the Kimmel hatred. And go tell NIGHTLINE, a show that routinely pulls Letterman-level numbers that Mr. 1.3 with a 4 share is gonna kick them outta their 11:30 slot. Cue NIGHTLINE laughter. Ain’t happening.
You got it wrong, Anonymous. Lucie Salhany from FOX sent CBS the dead roses thinking that Letterman would fail. I give Jimmy 13 weeks.
Laddy, your pedestrian comments just shows how you wouldn’t know funny if it bit you in the ass. Who the hell cares what a late night host looks like? Kimmel delivers the funny.
Personally, I don’t think we need two talk-shows following one another (NBC, CBS). And Kimmel not funny? To this day, I still view I’m F’ing Ben Affleck on Youtube as that is one of the funniest television bits ever.
this comment about Kimmel is suspiciously inaccurate “no-talent prick who treats his employees like shit” i could clearly be considered biased, but i would guess that a low/safe estimate of people who worked form Jimmy that disagree with that comment is 99%.
it is a safe bet that the posting left b that guy is the funniest thing he has ever written.
At least he works cheap.
You get what you pay for.
This had to be one of the most painful talk show debuts I’ve ever witnessed. This premiere, for which they’ve had tons of time to get ready, booked with pretty great (on paper, at least) guests, this could have been a slam dunk for the right host and the right writers.
Instead, we got a pedestrian monologue delivered by a nervous host who’s completely lacking in charisma and unable to think on his feet. Jimmy’s not a writer, not a towering intellect, not somebody whose perspective, as it turns out, I want to hear interviewing anybody.
And whoever decided on De Niro as his first guest wasn’t thinking; why not Tina Fey first, since they’re friends and would have put him at ease? All I could think was that Lorne Michaels must have pictures of De Niro copulating with an underage donkey, or perhaps it’s an issue of unpaid gambling debts. No other reason why De Niro would agree to be on the show, regardless of whether it was a good idea to have him there. (Which, as it turns out, it wasn’t.)
Justin Timberlake did his best to be entertaining, and Jimmy loosened up a little when he was out there. And Van Morrison was great as always.
But Jimmy as host felt like the popular kid in high school being an anchor for the school’s in-house newscast. He’s okay looking and likeable on a surface level, but he just isn’t smart or clever enough even to grow into the job. Think of the greats — Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett, Dave Letterman. And the near-greats, in my opinion: Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel (whose sports guy stuff on KROQ and whose Matt Damon/Ben Affleck music videos alone qualify him), and Craig Ferguson (whose ability to think on his feet is truly impressive, as is his wit).
Jimmy Fallon just can’t compare. He’s down there somewhere with the Craig Kilborn, Arsenio Hall, Magic Johnson…his lack of comfort onstage creates a similar feeling in anyone who watches, and his willingness to deem the show’s current level of writing as acceptably impressive for the debut of a show such as this proves that he simply isn’t up for the job.
This isn’t cruelty, or an unwillingness to “give the guy a chance” — it’s an objective observation from someone who watched the premiere hoping to see the seeds of something special, and was rewarded with people licking clean, smooth, unthreatening surfaces of brand-new everyday objects for money. (Still trying to figure out the point of that one…what’s next? “Eat This Cookie for $10? It’s Slightly Stale!”)
No talk show could be as bad as Chevy Chase’s short lived talk show….
I woke up from my sleeping stupor. Oh well, I turned the channel. The blue curtain reminded me of Johnny Carson, except bluer. He came out, started okay. The band was tight. Fallon was looking pretty cool. Then the interviews started. Robert D did his usual. The Space Train bit was okay. Then I turned the channel. I think most of us prefer the familiar. I still miss Carson, the original Letterman and I grew to like Conan.
If you can stay up I wish him luck.
Maybe he will start dancing to Mary J. Blige like he did in that movie, oh correct me that was Chris Kattan in Undercover Brother. Good luck to the Brooklyn Boy, and maybe Kataan should be your side kick , but IMDB shows he’s really busy. So if you survive six months just don’t do any more Saturday Night live reunions that gets tiring. Another suggestion take your camera out to Brooklyn, show the old neighborhoods, dig out Tyson and Givens. Give us some laughs it’s a depression.
Hopefully Fallon will fare better than Conan will on The Tonight Show. Conan has never been funny, outside of a stupid Frat Boy manner. He’s ugly, isn’t nuanced or clever and has poor delivery. Cannot even imagine what has kept him on the air for so long. To think he can take over for the great Jay Leno is a riotous joke. Why did no one think to give the slot to Craig Ferguson, who is droll, clever, easy on the eyes and smart? Oh, yeah, it’s TV.
Craig will tank in L.A. Hope he’s just leasing.
if you gotta go stupid, go all the way. Left Field is were Fallon will find his niche.
I woke up again, unwrapped myself from the electric blanket. Turned the channel. Jimmy Fallon was on again. He’s doomed, the brown suit, the brown desk, the red curtain. Two guys being Angelina and Jeniston. Jimmy Fallon dead panning and the Asian guy repeating the words.
God almighty the red curtain.
I turned to Colin on CBS, he was cracking jokes about South Africa and making them work, thirty years after the fact they worked better then Fallon’s. His only guess Desmond Tutu, that takes balls. Tutu, was telling better jokes then Fallon.Then they had a serious discussion on human rights.
Okay, he better fire his writers, or maybe Fallon is writing this. I see his show tanking in two weeks. I wanted to see Cameron, so I turned back to Fallon oops, dance contest. See above they took by suggestion. Oops, Diaz was taller then Fallon, the curtain was now purple, Cameron did her Saturday night live gig without the wig. Fallon took the dance hint but hell it wasn’t working.
Late night TV is not a variety show. So my list on how to make it better.
A. Book me
B. Book octo mom
C. Book your relatives
D. Just sit their and let the visitors talk.
I liked this quote that featured Nikki from Eonline
“Reviews were generally kind, if not downright understanding. Gawker said Fallon was “awkward,” but showed promise. Time’s TV blog gave a shout-out to the new house band, the Roots (”excellent choice”). Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily called Fallon “a deer caught in the headlights,” but decided he got off to a “far better start than Conan O’Brien.”
Me , I thinks I hate it and wont watch again until it’s cancelled, despite first night numbers how long can this go on.
jimmy Fallon is the microsoft of talk show hosts.
I accidentally caught his 1st or at least it was in the 1st week of his show.
A deer caught in the head light would be more entertaining.
I guess I felt sorry for the poor little fella.
I have never seen this happen before.
Bombing does not begin to describe what I saw.
“Cricket!” well actually not even crickets.
The audience was silent! Nothing Nada zip zilch.
I can’t imagine why he is still on the air.
nothing to replace him with?