MovieChat Forums > The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992) Discussion > Can't believe NBC is abandoning its late...

Can't believe NBC is abandoning its late night post in LA

posted 11 years ago by I_Guard_Tanelorn
16 replies | jump to latest

The Tonight Show moves to NY when Fallon takes over. That's a huge deal. Stars really won't bother making the trip to NY just for an appearance. They moved the show to LA for a reason. They're just handing all those bookings to Kimmel on a platter. I truly have no idea what they're thinking.

"I said no camels, that's five camels, can't you count?"

[–] a_l_i_e_n 11 years ago

It'll put a little more heat on Dave what with both his show and Fallon's Tonight Show set to compete for bookings in N.Y.

[–] scgary66 11 years ago

I honestly think part of the reason are the tax rates in California; they're high in NY too, but California's are even higher and are rising more rapidly.

Gary Krause

[–] megafauna005 11 years ago

They are committing suicide AGAIN!

Fallon sucks compared to Leno!

[–] Benihanahasnofunflare 11 years ago

Baffling.

[–] abodiker1 11 years ago

Especially when they didn't allow Conan to have the Tonight Show in NYC. Instead, they had him uproot his entire family and all of his staff member's families for a 7 month run that was doomed from the start.

[–] stickley85 11 years ago

That's right.I forgot that Conan had to go out to L.A. to do his show.That intro he did for the first Tonight Show was hysterical with him trying to get to L.A. from N.Y.C.

[–] megafauna005 11 years ago

Fallon started his TS show last night and it SUCKED! BRING JAY BACK!

Jesus NEVER existed! He is Judeo Christian MYTH!

[–] DrakeStraw 11 years ago

Fallon started his TS show last night and it SUCKED!

I watched it too. Fallon will not be able to keep the Leno crowd. I'm watching Kimmel tonight.

BRING JAY BACK!

He should never go back to NBC! I'm sure Jay is working on multiple offers right now.

____________
Take care to whom you REPLY--IMDb notification system does not tolerate errors

[–] Rheli 11 years ago

Not just that. The show is to be taken over by Lorne Michaels' people. That probably means that the institutional memory that's in the present Tonight Show that goes back beyond Jay to Johnny and even before him to Jack Paar and Steve Allen is just being left on the dust heap of history.

[–] wheelin176 11 years ago

New York is the original home to the Tonight Show. Johnny Carson moved it to Los Angeles.

Grands...Glad to see you come and glad to see you go

[–] Drebin31 11 years ago

Not just that. The show is to be taken over by Lorne Michaels' people. That probably means that the institutional memory that's in the present Tonight Show that goes back beyond Jay to Johnny and even before him to Jack Paar and Steve Allen is just being left on the dust heap of history.

That's a really vague complaint. What's wrong with Lorne Michaels? He helped turn David Letterman and Conan O'Brien into two of the biggest hosts in late night history, and Jimmy Fallon is having a great career thus far. He knows how to run late night shows - "Late Night" has been on for 32 years, and "SNL" for 39 years.

[–] Rheli 11 years ago

Drebin31 wrote:

That's a really vague complaint. What's wrong with Lorne Michaels? He helped turn David Letterman and Conan O'Brien into two of the biggest hosts in late night history, and Jimmy Fallon is having a great career thus far. He knows how to run late night shows - "Late Night" has been on for 32 years, and "SNL" for 39 years.

1. This is not about Michaels. But since you bring it up, know that he had nothing to do with Letterman. Go here and you will see Letterman's name is mentioned nowhere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorne_Michaels

2. Actually he took a considerable hiatus from SNL during which the show was covertly run by Woody Allen and it was during this time that SNL's biggest star of all time, Eddie Murphy, appeared.

3. There are an infinite number of comedic and showmanship techniques, many not even visible on the screen, that have been accumulated and passed down from generation to generation over the several decades of the Tonight Show. For example, a bit like Jaywalking, originated way back in the Steve Allen period. A million little things go into the making of that popular segment. Where you choose to interview, how you set up, time of day, day of week, how you get people to participate, which ones you approach and which you don't, and on and on and on. All those little things are called institutional memory and are going to be lost.

4. I think leaving LA is going to be a boon for Craig Ferguson, Conan and Kimmel. LA is where there entertainment industry is now and in LA that it's a lot easier to get guests. Being in NY and not able to consistently get the best guests is one of the reasons Letterman has struggled against Leno for ratings over the years.

[–] a_l_i_e_n 11 years ago

For example, a bit like Jaywalking, originated way back in the Steve Allen period.

Thank you for that. I have rolled my eyes so many times over the years whenever I hear Howard Stern or one of his fans trying to claim ownership of this enduring on-the-street bit which was actually the brainchild of the father of all talk show hosts, Steve Allen.

[–] Drebin31 11 years ago

Whoops, scratch my inclusion of Letterman in that list. But he is largely responsible for the success of Conan and Fallon as late night hosts, and we'll see if his choice of Seth Meyers makes him 3 for 3. My point is, he knows how to run a late night talk show (and sketch comedy show).

Actually he took a considerable hiatus from SNL during which the show was covertly run by Woody Allen and it was during this time that SNL's biggest star of all time, Eddie Murphy, appeared.

I don't think it's fair to downplay his contribution to SNL because of his 5-year absence from a 39 year old show. I think it's also very debatable to call Eddie Murphy the show's biggest star of all time. How are we defining "biggest"?

I only mentioned Lorne Michaels because your original comment made it sound like his new role as producer automatically means he's going to somehow tarnish the legacy of The Tonight Show, like it's inconceivable to imagine an experienced executive with a ton of late night success could make the show better (or stay the same).

[–] Rheli 11 years ago

You make a mistake of that monumental a proportion and it's just "whoops".
Whoops, indeed. If that is the level of your knowledge, there's no way to take seriously anything you say.

The Eddie Murphy information comes from this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Live-From-New-York-Uncensored/dp/0316735655

[–] Drebin31 11 years ago

"Just whoops"? What else did you want me to do? I left my error there and acknowledged I was wrong (I made that post rather quickly and forgot that Lorne started producing the show from when Conan started, not Dave), but it didn't really change my point about Lorne Michaels being an adept businessman in late night television.

But thanks for consciously returning to your post to edit it and make it more insulting haha