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UPDATED: His lord and master Comcast EVP and NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke happened to be in town early this week. So Jay Leno made the most of it. For two nights in a row the late night host opened his Burbank monologue by slapping Comcast for ordering layoffs and pay cuts on The Tonight Show. “Or, as we call it, Survivor Comcast,” Leno said on Tuesday’s broadcast, adding ”NBC now stands for Nothing But Cutbacks.” Leno also came out swinging on Monday’s show saying, “Comcast calls us The Expendables… We’ve consistently been #1 in the ratings and, if you know anything about our network, that kind of thing is frowned upon.” Ouch! - because those are the same jokes Leno used to tell about his GE bosses. Then again, Jay is prone to whining on air.
Related: Tonight Show Cuts Latest NBC Layoffs & Trims By Comcast
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Neither Leno nor David Letterman during their monologues took any notice of Tuesday’s big announcement that ABC’s midnight host Jimmy Kimmel will move his show to 11:35 PM on January 8th. No jokes, no mentions, no nuthin’. Hey, why give Jimmy any advance publicity before they all go head-to-head-to-head in late night?
Related: Jimmy Kimmel On Move: “Maybe Cut Back On Penis Jokes”
ABC Shuffles Late Night: ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ To 11:35 PM
As for Kimmel, he joked during his monologue that the news about his move was “almost as exciting as Miley Cyrus’ new haircut”. He also said:
“It was a big day for us here today. You may have heard about this – or maybe not. ABC our network announced today that, starting in January – right around our 10-year anniversary – our show is moving from midnight to 11:35. I hope this doesn’t throw off my feeding schedule
Moving from midnight to 11:35 might not sound like a big deal – it’s only 25 minutes – but it’s probably the most important 25 minutes of my life since the first 14 times I had sex.
So to all those people who’ve been telling me “your show is on too late for me” – you’re going to need a new excuse. Like “your show sucks”.
Starting in January, Nightline will be on after us – but other than that, not much will change. Although we are in negotiations to replace Guillermo with Mario Lopez.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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It’s called the High Road and congrats to Kimmel for not taking it
Letterman and Leno are scared of Kimmel….that’s why they don’t mention his move in their monologue…congrats Kimmel.
Eh. Leno’s distracted with his own issue, and Dave — as Kimmel himself said — is in his own world and probably doesn’t care (to paraphrase). Plus, Kimmel’s always been a huge Dave guy, and Dave likely respects him, too. Non-issue.
Kimmel ranks as a class act for late night talk show hosts. I only respect him, Jimmy Fallon, and Conan. I’m not a fan of Craig Ferguson, but he does seem pretty decent.
Class act? Gimme a f**king break. That term should never be used in association with Kimmel. Even last week, he was needlessly slamming Leno (“I’m not a fan” – why is that even necessary). And then he turns around and does something that he vilified Leno for: taking someone else’s time slot. Vulgar, smarmy, and a hypocrite.
“Taking someone else’s time slot” is a bad analogy.
Leno gave up a time slot and then took it back, causing a man and his entire staff to be fired. In doing so, he put Jimmy’s job in jeopardy if you consider Conan’s discussions with ABC for the late night show. This is in no way the same thing.
He left a time slot and was given it back when a new show struggled in it. The new show, like other throwaways, was saved by basic cable when the majors didn’t want it. The network moves shows, not talent.
Class act? Like when Leno tried to be cool about all the s*** Kimmel had been dishing out on his show so Leno invited him to a telecast and Kimmel proceeded to act like an *sshole for the whole interview? Better yet he runs to any show that will listen and brags about what a badass he thought he was for behaving like a jerk. Hey, sometimes his show is funny, but he usually is just irratatingly smug.
I haven’t been able to watch either Leno or Letterman in a very long time because it seems to me the only thing that keeps them on TV is a desire to outlast the other.
Leno can claim the #1 spot, but that’s like claiming to be king of the castle when the castle’s sinking into a swamp. Late night talk shows, especially Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show used to be major centers of pop culture, that could turn unknowns into stars over-night. Nowadays their influence outside the offices of the networks that broadcast them is about nil.
Kimmel at least seems interested in his guests, and should give L&L a run for their money.
If these shows have no influence, then why are all the biggest stars going there to market their products?
Probably the same reason they go to People magazine, duh.
Routine mostly.
But that’s only among stars who even bother to do the late night circuit, which is a shrinking number. Most do the pre-release press junkets & leave it at that.
And let’s not forget comedians. There was a time when a spot on the Tonight Show could make a comic a star overnight. I can’t think of anyone in the last decade who has had their career “made” by a late night talk show appearance.
In the 1970s, The Tonight Show was about the ONLY PLACE TO GO for a new comedian to be seen. There was very little in the way of cable TV, certainly no internet, and the closest thing to “viral” was photocopies of jokes being sent through inter-office mail.
Esaul – you are 23 years old?
I think it will hurt Letterman more but I thought Nightline was getting good ratings against both perhaps I am wrong.
Kimmel and Leno both seem to enjoy themselves. Letterman might have to live on less than 30 million with more competition.
Nightline is getting good ratings against both, but the audience skews old very old and ABC like all the other networks have this quest for a younger audience. So they will take nightline and put it even later at 12:35. Good thing is you can see almost all the segments of Nightline online neatly arranged on one site, you can watch them anytime.
Carson.
Johnny must be spinning in his grave. Now you have a situation where three homely guys who’ve never inspired a good belly laugh between them are competing for an audience that’s rapidly dwindling or watching Stewart/Colbert for funny stuff. Think Comcast cares if Jay’s mad ? If TONIGHT was truly a success, nobody would be laid off. Does that mean Jay buys one less antique Rolls this year ? That show will be forever cursed by the Conan fiasco.
Prediction: Kimmel bombs at 11:35, Letterman “retires”, NIGHTLINE dies a slow death and Fallon hosts the TONIGHT show within two years. Must feel great for ABC brass to be held hostage by a second rate comedian the same week your news department reports a high profile suicide had terminal cancer, except he didn’t.
T. Cantrell:
My prediction is by September of 2013, “Nightline” will be back at 11:30 and Jimmy Kimmel will be back at 12 Midnight (both ET/PT).
It doesn’t make sense to bash anyone here.
Leno and Letterman have been tied up in a late night rating war for many many years, that is why they get stars. That and maybe some of them used to watch them as kids, wanting to sit on their sofas.
Jimmy’s faced an uphill battle since day one of his show, such as some guests’ lack of familiarity with him. He deserves this move. He may not overtake Leno or Letterman any time soon. But he will definitely be able to provide a solid alternative.
Also, of course Jimmy would mention good news for his own show on his own show. Would you get mad at Ellen for doing it? Or Oprah?
For Leno or Letterman to mention their competition closing in on them on their own shows would just be quite silly.
But NIGHTLINE does not deserve this slap in the face. The broadcast networks (except for CBS) are going to die by being slaves to the young demo.
Excuse me, has anyone noticed that Jimmy Fallon’s show is, by far, the best and funniest late night on the air. When the dust settles in a couple of years, his show will be on at 11:30pm and he will be the new King of Late Night.
You’re kidding, right? Fallon is so lame. He can barely read a joke. He laffs at himself all the time and WORST of all, he insists on playing guitar and singing. There’s nothing funny about him. Like his open for the Emmy awards he hosted (singing “Born to Run” why was that funny????), he looks like he’s having a good time, but there’s nothing remotely humorous going on.
Jimmy Fallon does a better program in one night than the rest do all week. In my opinion he’s got the best show on network latenight.
What will really be interetsing is to see how 3 network late-night talk shows all program against one another when forced to compete in a 3-way race for the first time. Are there really that many movies that need plugging? (Perhaps there are.)
Has there ever been a time when NBC, CBS and ABC all ran their late-night talkers in the same time-slot? I don’t recall that has ever happened before. Plus, with the coming return of Arsenio, the field only gets muddier.
So let’s see, that means five nights a week we’ll get Jay, Dave, and Jimmy K, followed by Craig, Jimmy F, and Carson. What’s that – close to 30 hours a week of very similar programming and guests? Hulu is looking better every day.
1969: ABC – Joey Bishop, CBS – Merv Griffin, NBC – Johnny Carson
I remember that time as well! I think Regis Philbin was Bishop’s sidekick. But neither Bishop nor Griffin were much competition to Carson in this time slot. Only Griffin continued on, largely in syndication (often the alte afternoon slot in many markets).
We are faced with the real possibility of Leno, Letterman, Kimmel, and Arsenio all being on at the same time. DVR’s may be working overtime.
At 12:05 you root for him, at 11:35 maybe not. I find that interesting. I wish the guy well. I like him. It’s an alternative late night persona. He’s like a blue collar guy in a suit trying to behave at a wedding reception but can’t help himself. But it seems to me his audience is guys who are supposed to be home at 11:35 but push it and get home at 12:05 and probably are a little lit. Ironically at 12:05 he had a special distinction. He won’t have one at 11:35. Bummer about “Nightline.” A great program that expanded on the news of the day. At 12:35 – it’s the next day. In fact – that’s my slipping off time. You probably just go to sleep then.
Jimmy can’t wait till you’re show is on at 11:35. I’m glad for you, SO tired of Leno and Letterman it will be good to watch you now.
When one becomes an “OLD MAN” one should stop with the childish silliness. Otherwise, it is cringe worthy experience.
Dave is an old man. He looks like an old man. Jay is a bore and quite hard on the eyes. I cannot watch either show.