I've been doing some thinking on this topic...
Ever since I changed jobs and started working from home in December, I've
been watching more network late-night; typically I'll watch Fallon (and
occasionally Myers) on demand, and Craig in real-time. (My viewing of Dave
is a bit more sporadic, but as has been discussed here, he really hasn't
changed his tune for a while.) The thing that strikes me the most about
Fallon's show is, while it's true that the show is less
interview-intensive, the guests seem to genuinely be having a good time for
the segment or two they're out on stage with Fallon. Maybe that's Fallon's
enthusiasm, maybe it's the 'extracurriculars' (the sketches & games), or
maybe it's the fact that - like SCG - Fallon seems less inclined to talk
about the project the guest is supposed to be plugging. I dunno. But it's
clear the people on my TV are enjoying themselves, and as a viewer, that
makes me want to keep watching.
As far as the "Carson Template" goes, don't forget that in his earlier
days, Carson did sketches (the "Mighty Carson Art Players" bits, Art Fern,
Carnac, etc.) and games ("Stump the Band") in his earlier years, so maybe
Fallon isn't as far off from the "Carson Template" as many would think. I
know that the Carson I would see as a kid on "Carson's Comedy Classics"
only had a vague resemblance to the Carson who hosted "Tonight" through my
junior year of high school - I imagine part of that was age, part was job
security (/show ownership), and maybe a little bit of it was complacency
(since he was the only game in town).
What I'm saying is that the Carson from the late 70's, sitting on the dais
with Ed and, say, Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise, probably wouldn't be able
to recognize the Carson who sat on that stool in May of 1992 and gave his
fond farewell. But that's to be expected. Carson had 30 years in the job,
and therefore 30 years to edit his "template" to where he needed it to be
for immediate relevance. True, Fallon isn't half the interviewer Johnny
was, but assuming NBC sticks with him, he's got time to grow into the role
(albeit not as much as Carson had, with the timeslot as saturated as it
is). Right now, Fallon brings to 11:35 something that was utterly lacking
from Leno's reign - younger viewers, either live, DVR, online or even in
clip form - so for that reason I'd say what Fallon is doing is working. I
would fully expect that, at some point as Jimmy (and his audience) grows
older, the games will change (anything resembling beer pong will fade away,
I'm sure), and his interviews will get better, in part because he'll have
more of a relationship with the people he's interviewing (remember, his
best interviews are usually SNL alums or frequent guests, or people he's
worked with in films).
On Monday, July 14, 2014 1:41:35 PM UTC-4, Bob Jersey wrote:
>
>
> PGage, to JW, in part:
>>
>> As I say, Fallon may prove the exception (again, in part because he is
>> just so very bad at the talk part), and maybe he will put in 20 years at
>> the Tonight Show with steady and low levels of interview; but I do not
>> expect to see late night celebrity talk going away from broadcast prime
>> time anytime soon.
>>
>
> We knew what you meant there, but there were two words that didn't belong,
> and I'll let you figure out which... (Clue: Big Jaw.) B
>
>
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