Jimmy Fallon (Lloyd Bishop AP)
For the second time in about four years Jay Leno is stepping down from NBC s iconic late night franchise The Tonight Show this time in spring 2014 to make way for Late Night star Jimmy Fallon.
Fallon will take over sometime after that the network announced Wednesday confirming the industry s worst kept secret in recent history.
NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke explained Wednesday the timing is intended to mesh with NBC s broadcast of the Winter Olympic Games from Socchi Russia which we swear is the truth and not a gag from an SNL skit like it sounds.
Saturday Night Live impresario Lorne Michaels is taking over as executive producer Debbie Vickers who has produced the show for the past two decades will exit along with Leno. And the show will move back to its original home at 30 Rock in New York City where it was based until Johnny Carson the franchise s longest running host at 30 years moved it to Burbank permanently in May of 1972.
We re thrilled The Tonight Show is returning home to New York City and it s the perfect symbol of incredible comeback we ve worked to create in our city s film and television industry Mayor Bloomberg weighed in on Wednesday followed by a bunch of political not since the invention of television has so much production been based in our city blah blah blah and finally running out of gas with and we couldn t be happier that one of New York s own is bringing the show back to where it started and where it belongs.
There s no news yet on a replacement for Fallon at 12 35 a.m. NBC said coyly in its announcement that programming plans for the time period are in development and will be announced soon. Under consideration is the return of Tonight Show to its early 90 minute format. ( Tonight Show which debuted in 1954 with Steve Allen as host was cut down to one hour during Carson s long run.)
We are purposefully making this change when Jay is 1 just as Jay replaced Johnny Carson when he was 1 Burke said in Wednesday s news.
There s one big difference Carson shocked NBC suits in May of 1991 when he announced his retirement at an affiliate conference in New York. (That following press reports NBC was concerned that Carson (who was in his mid 60 s) was losing younger viewers and that NBC had guaranteed Leno the gig when Carson retired.
Jay Leno (Paul Drinkwater AP) Leno 62 on the other hand is being told when to step down again. Leno s contract expires in 14.
Last time Leno was informed he was stepping down as host of Tonight it was to make way for then Late Night host Conan O Brien. NBC made that announcement in fall of 2004 having negotiated a contract to hang on to Conan by promising him he d replace Leno on Tonight in June of 2009 and well you know the rest.
In Wednesday s announcement about Fallon NBC made no mention of Conan by name as having interrupted Leno s run for seven months back then when NBC parked Leno at 10 p.m. weeknights where he provided Conan with lousy lead in ratings (including some numbers NBC would be happy to have at 10 p.m. these days).
Leno you ll recall regained the keys to Tonight Show after NBC decided to push the Conan hosted show s start time to 12 05 a.m. in order to squeeze Leno back into late night in some newly named half hour late night program.
Hey here s a bit of irony The NBC suit who d announced that plan to TV critics attending Winter TV Press Tour 2010 said they hoped all the deals for the change would be done in time to mesh with NBC s broadcast of the Winter Olympics
Conan however did not sign saying he d rather walk than see Tonight Show moved to 12 05 a.m. And he did.
NBC s only reference to the Conan years is that the show hosted by Leno who took over the show when Carson retired in 92 has ranked No. 1 ahead of its ABC and CBS time period competition in 18 49 viewers and total viewers for each season since Leno s return in March 2010 and for the 14 seasons before his departure in May 2009.
In fact NBC says Leno has hosted The Tonight Show with Jay Leno since taking over the reins from television icon Johnny Carson in 1992. All true since Conan hosted The Tonight Show with Conan O Brien.
Leno s not being moved out because he s failing in the ratings. During the current season Tonight is consistently beating ABC and CBS timeslot rivals among the 18 to 49 year old viewers who are the currency of NBC s ad sales Leno s also first among viewers of all ages regularly attracting an average of 3.5 million.
But Leno s in his 60 s and when ABC moved 45 year old Jimmy Kimmel into Leno s 11 35 p.m. timeslot last January the press began speculating that Kimmel would scoop up all the young viewers in the timeslot before Leno s heir apparent Fallon 38 would eventually move in to the time period. (Since his debut in the earlier timeslot in January Kimmel has achieved a slight lead over Leno among 18 to 34 year old viewers averaging 332 000 and 319 000 of them respectively.)
Kimmel who with Leno s exit will lose his favorite punching bag tweeted congratulations to my dear sweet jimmyfallon a formidable rival and an incredible lover.
Ironically Fallon with his broader sweeter humor may be better suited to take over for Leno than was Conan because of his greater appeal to older viewers. When Conan took over Tonight he d lost a lot of his edge over CBS competitor Craig Ferguson among total viewers.
At the end of the 06 07 season Conan had a 24 percent lead over Ferguson (2.308 million vs. 1.856 million). When Conan ended his Late Night run in February of 09 his margin over Ferguson was down to 4 percent (2.000 million vs. 1.923 million).
Since Fallon s arrival Late Night is once again more consistently beating Ferguson in total viewers.
Leno did not go gently into the night. He d instead been savaging NBC in his opening monologues pretty regularly in the days leading up to NBC s announcement.
But earlier this week signaling an announcement was imminent he and Fallon teamed up for a duet which became a YouTube sensation of course.
Hey kid how you holding up Leno was seen asking Fallon over the phone just after the camera has shown Leno sadly exiting the stage after a show and Fallon forlornly looking out his office window surrounded by newspaper clippings of Tonight Show war articles.
Ok I guess. You Fallon replied.
Yeah I ll live. I ve been through this before Leno sighed. Gotta admit I m getting a little sick of all of this.
Fallon looked troubled. Jay can I ask you something We re still friends right
Yeah of course we re still friends Leno assured him.
That's good Fallon said relieved.
Cue duet of West Side Story tune Tonight with lyrics re written as befitted the occasion.
TV critics hated it real schmaltz they scoffed nicking hip Fallon for having caved in to pressure to do the video. Hollywood Reporter s Tim Goodman for instance snarked the video isn't funny. It's too long. Doesn't have an ounce of believability and plays like a clip from a Hallmark movie about lovers that's airing sometime soon on Bravo. And it makes Fallon look like simpering suck up who sold out because he was probably told to.
Then came word it had been Fallon s idea. Oops.
Congratulations Jimmy. I hope you re as lucky as me and hold on to the job until you re the old guy Leno said in Wednesday s announcement. If you need me I ll be at the garage.
Added Fallon I m really excited to host a show that starts today instead of tomorrow.
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