Finally getting around to watching the first episode. Yeah, OK, just as Dave S "hate-watches" all things Sorkin, I hate-watched Fallon's first Tonight Show. First things first, it is NOT the first time the Tonight Show has been in New York in over 40 years. It was the time Leno spent doing the Tonight Show from the SNL studio in New York in the mid 1990s that motivated him to change the set in Burbank. So the show began with a lie.
As for the double-intro, I think it hurt Fallon. As a fellow 39-year-old who is constantly surrounded by the much more desired 18-34 demographic... um... we're dinosaurs to them. Tell somebody who just became old enough to drink legally that you just attended your 20 year high school reunion and note the expression on their face. Meanwhile the older demographic who tends to watch the Tonight Show is gonna want to know where the big jawed guy went and why is this upstart talking about Saugerties, NY when nothing in the news happened in Saugerties, NY that day. What really made me feel disconnected from the world of pop culture (and what really made me feel that this was not a Tonight Show aimed at me, despite being the same age as the host) was the $100 segment, as I didn't know who too many of those people were. I agree that Colbert stole that segment, but mostly because I knew and liked him. My guess is someone who knew Lady Gaga would think she stole the segment when she pulled the money from her bra. At least I think it was Gaga. The "evolution of hip-hop" segment with Wil Smith was funny... the first time I saw Wil Smith do a version of it on a British talk show last year (Alfonso Ribiero even performed the "Carlton" himself). Watching U2 perform from the rooftop of 30 Rock, I couldn't focus on the song or any aspect of the performance. Instead, I kept thinking to myself, "If anybody steps two feet in any direction, they are gonna go plummeting 70 stories to their death." Don't get me wrong, the views were breathtaking, but I've worked shows where fire marshals didn't like it when more than 8 people were in a hallway at a given time. When U2 appeared in studio for the interview, I again felt fear, fear that Wil Smith was going to fall off the end of the stage. Wow, that stage is small compared to the two that Leno used over the last 15 years. And I'd guess it was half the size of Conan's Tonight Show set. I'm not bothering to comment on the actual interviews because even though I'm typing as I'm watching, they are so unmemorable that I have nothing to say about them. The highlight was U2's acoustic performance, though if it was truly spontaneous, my real name is Skitch Henderson. In my mind, what I'd really like to happen is for Letterman to step up and bring his A game to his show. I'd like him to be more engaged than he's appeared in recent years. In short, I'd like Letterman to dedicate the next year to smashing Fallon in the ratings. Work with CBS on promotion, take the show on the road, try unconventional comedy again. I just want Fallon to lose, and not just by a small margin. I want Lorne Michaels' reign of terror to finally end at NBC because of this. In the future of broadcasting, decades from now, I want monumental blunders to be known as "committing a Fallon." Which of course means the talentless bastard will stay on the air for 50 years. I never get what I want. On Wed, Feb 19, 2014 at 9:23 AM, Joe Hass <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Feb 18, 2014 at 6:45 PM, PGage <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I take it the main concern is that the older part of this group would >> feel that Fallon might be too scary or edgy, and they wanted to reassure >> them that he is more like Leno's kid brother than Dave's hip nephew. >> > > But in a dog whistle way, because sure as hell nobody under the age of 60 > would watch Leno's kid brother. > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
