‘Vampire Academy’ Adds ‘Modern … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Shark Tank’ Finale Up, … 
Friday Box Office: ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ … 
Cannes: Worldview Options Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn … 
UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers 
‘Mike & Molly’ Creator Mark Roberts To … 
Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts Set For … 
Hammond On Cannes: Weinstein Brings Out Stars For 2013 … 
Cannes: Fake Gunshots Interrupt Canal Plus Live Broadcast … 
‘The Great Gatsby’ Starts With $5.4M … 
Cannes: Music Box Snags Competition’s ‘Michael … 
UPDATE: Amazon Studios Begins Pilot Pickups; … 
Bruce Rosenblum Bids Classy Goodbye 
RATINGS RAT RACE UPDATE: ‘American Idol’ Hits … 
UPDATE: ‘Iron Man 3′ Box Office Crosses $1B … 
Upfront Market: Will Auto Makers Subsidize TV … 
Cannes: Thief Makes Off With $1M+ In Chopard Jewelry Meant … 
‘Scandal’ Finale On Small Screen And Onstage At … 
‘Modern Family’ Gets Cable Makeover For Launch … 
Adam Sandler To Leno: “Maybe Go To Fox” 
Anyone Care Who Won ‘American Idol’? 
Seems Jimmy Kimmel is still no fan of Jay Leno. “As a comedian, you can’t not have disdain for what he’s done. He totally sold out,” the ABC late night host tells Rolling Stone in the mag’s latest issue. Kimmel, whose decade old Jimmy Kimmel Live, is moving to the 11:35 PM slot on January 8, sticks it to The Tonight Show host various times in the article, which comes out on newsstands today. At one point Kimmel refers to Leno as “a master chef who opened a Burger King.” This latest slam against Leno by Kimmel comes less than three weeks after the ABC host compared the NBC host to Jason from the Friday The 13th horror movies. He also said that “as much as he would like it, Jay Leno can’t stay on television forever,” in reference to rumors of Jimmy Fallon eventually moving up to host The Tonight Show himself. In the Rolling Stone article, Kimmel calls Fallon “a very worthy competitor” for the next generation late night king.
ABC announced in late August that after a decade in the midnight slot it was moving Kimmel to 11:35 PM. Starting January 8, 2013, this will put Kimmel Live in head-to-head competition with The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and CBS’ Late Show With David Letterman. The ABC talk show hit some solid highs last year with a debut visit from First Lady Michelle Obama in October and a first time appearance by Kimmel’s hero David Letterman on Halloween. The ABC host also hosted the Primetime Emmys this year and was the headliner at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner in April.
Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.
Loading ...
Classy. I guess that Kimmel then is short order cook who works part time at wendy’s.
And Johnny Carson is the Fast Food Mogul who starred in his own company’s ads.
I vote Craig Fergison – rise above, we’re gonna rise above!
Another case of Jimmy beating a dead horse I mean host. Seriously though,I also totally despise that Leno. I wish Jimmy the best with the earlier timeslot. It should be interesting going head to head to head with Leno/Letterman. Hopefully his ratings won’t completely tumble & will remain somewhat decent against those two. Only time will tell…
Kimmel is an absolute bore!
Stay classy Jimmy…you’re like Juliard music grad playing your sad violin in the subway…
Kimmel’s pretty mouthy for a guy who isn’t very funny or entertaining himself.
So Leno is a sell-out for hosting a successful late night talkshow that millions watch but Kimmel is a rebel for hosting a successful late night talkshow that millions watch. O.K. wise guy. Let’s see how you do in the 11:35 PM spot since you think it’s so easy.
I don’t care much for Leno’s Tonight Show, nor did I think Conan was given a fair shake. That being said, Jimmy doesn’t need to pick the school yard fight. He’s better than that.
Boy, what is wrong with this guy that he hates so freely and loudly. Just because he may not find Leno’s humor to his liking is no reason to resort to such craziness. I don’t watch Leno or Kimmel or any of others but from what I can tell Leno’s show is still the highest rated of the all. Seems to me Leno is satisfying his audience, and Kimmel either doesn’t get it or doesn’t want to.
jimmy is afraid of jay he’s doing this to get publicity he knows jay & dave will both beat him badly in the ratings. keep talking trash jimmy way to be classy.
Kimmel Talking Trash To Hype His New Time Slot. It’s All About Publicity As Leno (The BEST!) Well Knows.
Little Jimmy Squinty Kimmel is about as funny as a recently dead puppy. He can’t use Matt Damon anymore
Seems like a publicity stunt…Cheap PR for ABC. Looking forward to hearing what letterman has to say about Leno in the full interview on Oprah’s Master Class this weekend.
The entire late night talk show format has become over-saturated, stale and, yes, unfunny for over a decade now. So sick of it! Where is the bold and freethinking programmer who dares to counter program opposite this tired format??? The audience is out there….
I don’t live nowhere near Hollywood, but I wonder why all of a sudden every comedian and late night host (exc. Fallon) is beating up on Jay Leno? What did they say or do? I did not read the Late Night Show wars book so somebody clue me into why all the hate for Leno?
And Kimmel’s the doughy outcast who becomes power-worshipping prick the instant he’s asked to sit at the cool table. He’s not particularly funny, not particularly intelligent, and the best bits in his show’s history are notable for his complete absence.
How he has the rep of being “fearless” is baffling. He goes hard on easy targets like Leno, Bieber and Gaga, but he’s equally slavish to the A-list, and he’s uncomfortably terrible as a conversationalist. Guillermo hasn’t been funny since he became self-aware, and cousin Sal is easily the most unlikeable shmuck in the entire mass media.
I thought the Emmys exposed Kimmel as an overpraised fart joke, but he still seems to be pretty embedded.
Totally agree. His Emmy’s were just terrible, but the media seemed afraid to call him out. Scary publicist I bet.
Agree, re: his lousy Emmy stint. His acting in the opening sketch was reminiscent of Jay’s in his sketches. And Fallon being a worthy successor Tonight Show-wise? I will never, ever understand that. For any alcoholics trying to kick the habit, here’s a friendly tip: Play the drinking game and take a sip every time Fallon ad-libs something witty.
I’ll continue to watch (his idol!) Letterman.
And I pray Kimmel tanks — his frat boy humor bores me.
Jay Leno daily flushes more talent than Jimmy Kimmel possesses.
I think a lot of the commenters here slamming Kimmel are missing the point of his comments. Before Jay took over the Tonight Show, he was THE hottest comedian in the industry. More importantly, he was actually respected by his peers as super hip and cutting edge. In his prime, he towered over Seinfeld, Kinison, and Williams in terms of capturing the voice of 80s cool comedy. And then he shaved off all his edges, stole bits from Letterman and Stern, and settled for becoming a mega-rich velveeta factory.
Yup, exactly!
And maybe it would have been better for Jay if he were to have his own sitcom in the early 1990′s. He would have had it too if Joan Rivers didn’t leave Johnny for her own talk show on FOX. At the time, NBC executives knew that David Letterman was being groomed for the Tonight Show spot. Yet, Johnny needed a guest host and Jay was it. My guess is that a combo of executives and Jay talked Johnny into letting Jay Leno take over the show instead of Dave.
The decision to give the Tonight Show to Jay Leno was made by the NBC executives, and Johnny Carson had no part in the decision, as the Tonight SHow is owned by NBC. Carson wanted Letterman to have it.
I take it Mr. Kimmel might be getting a tad scared about joining the 10:35 PM CT competition and might be getting whacked in the ratings as a result of his diatribe towards Leno. Last I checked, it was Nightline and NOT Kimmel that was beating Leno in the ratings. Now we’ll see after a month or so who wins this battle and if Leno does, Kimmel needs to just shut the hell up.
Everyone mentions how Kimmel hosted the Emmys and the WH Correspondent’s Dinner, but no one ever says that he wasn’t good at either one. In contrast, Fallon’s Emmy hosting was spectacular and Seth Meyers Correspondent’s Dinner put Kimmel to shame. Kimmel is consistently mediocre and should work on his own show before attacking others.
I am not a Leno fan, but I find this guy’s anger against him distasteful.
Kimmel is coming off very poorly with these childish attacks. Just do your show and we’ll see how it shakes out. Frankly, I don’t think either Leno or Letterman have a thing to worry about.
ABC will end up losing money on this they made a fortune from Nightline at 11:35. It was cheap to air and the ads sold for a lot of money to a very desirable demo. Now they will lose their Nightline audience and the ad revenue that came with it nobody who likes Nightline is going to watch it at 12:35 they will go to bed and Nightline will be cancelled. Kimmel is expensive now they had to give him more money and his numbers won’t pay off he will be in 3rd place until both Leno and Dave finally retire. It’s entirely possible that after six months or a year they will move Kimmel back to 12:05 to save Nightline and get that income back again.
I wonder what kind of number he will get for the premiere – Conan was in the 7′s for his first 11:30 show – I like Kimmel but will he get half that? I assume he will beat leno and letterman the first night at least…
I’m kinda over this fight. Jay went up against Dave—won. Went up against Conan—lost, and then won. I like the other guys better, but you gotta give props. Jay prevailed… and then he endured. “He should have been classy and stepped aside.” Why? Just because someone else wants the gig? I wanna be host of Jimmy Kimmel’s show. And Conan’s. Why aren’t they quitting for me?
Good point. And to Kimmel’s comments, Leno was classy and stepped aside. He was pushed out of the Tonight Show to install Conan. NBC made the promise to Conan as a way of getting him to renew his contract a few years before. It wasn’t Leno’s decision to leave the Tonight Show and he handled the whole situation with class. It should surprise no one that when NBC offered The Tonight Show back to him, he took it.
And where is the righteous indignation when Conan took Leno’s job?
You guys are missing the point. For those who followed Leno and Letterman in the 80s, Jay was brilliantly funny. His guest shots on Late Night with David Letterman were always hysterical and something to look forward to.
Now Jay sits there with warmed over jokes on the same subjects night after night after night. A cornucopia of mediocrity. When you look back, it seems a shame.
Letterman sucks too now, but Jay is much worse.
There is no point he’s just a jealous idiot obsessed with Leno
I also think he is doing it to curry favor with a particular group of industry people.
I can’t wait until Kimmel goes running back to his 12:05 with his limp little tail between his legs. He is not only shitting on Jay, but he’s doing the same to his supposed mentor Letterman. What will happen is Jay’s monologue will prevail in keeping Jay number one. It’s bigger than all of them. Conan blew it by not taking the midnight slot and now he’s in Siberia. We’ll see if ABC is even talking to Kimmel when he goes begging for his old slot back.
Do they get funnier?