Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: How long will Fallon last?

This is topic How long will Fallon last? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 02-01-2014, 10:20 PM:

I'm giving him 3 months max.

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 02-01-2014, 10:32 PM:

He will last long. He is a really good performer with music skits. He relates to the guests well. He has Leno's geniality which can win over the older audience and he knows how to deal with younger pop singers connecting him to the young audience.

Then again, I stopped watching late night shows 20 years ago on a regular basis because they are so bland(except for a few Conan shows when he used to have pimpbot, Triumph and other skits). I usually catch the viral type clips on the internet.

I think networks value the Tonight show brand more than the common viewer these days. So it's not like a momentous decision anymore.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 02-02-2014, 03:34 AM:

If they only give him 3 months, then they're idiots because even Leno took longer than that to get decent ratings when he took over from Carson.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-02-2014, 11:07 AM:

Fallon will last at least a few years, if not a couple decades or longer. I was skeptical he would be able to replace Conan on the Late Night show, but he pulled that off well.

Fallon might get off to a bumpy start on the Tonight Show, but I think he'll hit his stride and own the show by Summer. He was one of the funniest SNL cast members in recent years. And he has a pretty likable air about him.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-02-2014, 11:19 AM:

I like him better than Leno actually. He has proved he can tone down his act for the earlier time slots. I think he'll do well.

Unless Leno decides he wants to come back of course! [Wink]

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-02-2014, 12:05 PM:

My understanding is NBC is forcing Leno out in favor of the younger Fallon.

Leno was pretty funny back in the day. But he's not David Letterman and he sure isn't Johnny Carson. I don't see CBS making David Letterman take a walk; Letterman will retire when he feels like leaving. Johnny Carson owned the Tonight Show. He had so much clout NBC couldn't entertain any thoughts about making him leave for a younger host. Johnny could have kept on hosting until he died on air, falling face forward on his desk if he liked.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-02-2014, 03:17 PM:

Johnny had an unusual contract; he owned the show and NBC contracted. He had total control. NBC erased his old tapes by accident and paid out millions. Louis

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-04-2014, 08:46 AM:

I don't think Fallon will last either, not because he's not likable and talented enough, but because these are not the same days as two decades ago where network honchos were smart enough to weather the slumps that changes such as these ususally cause in ratings. Today they are spineless instant gratificationers with chickenshit for balls. Rating will spike when everyone watches to see what the Fallon hype is all about, and then there will be a slump when the viewers who were only there as curiosity seekers drop away; unfortunately the network exec wusses will run scared in every direction like roaches as they yell, "it wasn't MY idea."

In short more than likely they won't give him the time for the natural audience adjustment to settle in and for the show to find it's niche. Problem still may be that his niche is not broad enough to match Leno's and then he's toast.

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 02-04-2014, 11:07 AM:

I'm not a fan of Fallon. But I've got a lot of friends, all in their 20s, that really like him.

Most of them are also excited that Seth Myers is getting a show. They are almost more excited about that.

Me? I'll stick with Dave and Craig. Gosh, I love Craig Ferguson. He's absolutely brilliant.

AJG

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 02-04-2014, 11:25 AM:

Speaking of substance abuse..

I love his show, a true high wire act. Clean and sober for years, but the threat of relapse is never over it seems.

Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 02-04-2014, 11:49 AM:

Sixteen years, four months and twenty-one days.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-04-2014, 01:25 PM:

Why do you know Fallon's "soberness" to the day? Creepy!

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 02-04-2014, 02:25 PM:

I think he's making a movie reference and not Fallon's actual sobriety date. Might be wrong, though.

Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 02-04-2014, 06:49 PM:

The question of this topic is "How long will Fallon last?"

My answer remains the same.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 02-04-2014, 07:10 PM:

Well played, sir. Well played.

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 02-04-2014, 11:05 PM:

Well played for sure. I was referring to Ferguson of course.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 02-05-2014, 12:28 PM:

However long he lasts, I predict he will be the final host of "The Tonight Show". That NBC will give it up in the end due to cost vs ratings.

Having said that, I don't have a problem with the guy and hope he does okay. I've never been a fan of Leno's "Tonight Show" at all. I like Letterman enough, I guess, but hardly ever watch until the musical guest comes on because I most often end up watching Perry Mason on MeTV at 10:30 (Central), then flip over to watch Ferguson, and there's aeven-minute window between the shows.

Ferguson may be as predictable as an episode of "Wheel of Fortune", but he still cracks me up.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-05-2014, 12:35 PM:

I don't think "Tonight" or any of the late night shows will be going away very soon or ever. Even in today's fractured TV landscape "Tonight" still makes something like $40 million a year for NBC.

They make good money on these shows because they are cheap to produce and have loyal viewers. The big reason Jay is being eased out now is because his audience is aging. And, so is Fallon's audience....they're getting to the age where they won't stay up so late anymore. So it makes sense to move him up an hour.

I love watching Craig Ferguson's show. He's sort of an acquired taste, but once you can understand his manic accent and buy into the fact that he completely doesn't give a crap about the standard talk-show rituals, he gives a very good interview.

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 02-05-2014, 02:48 PM:

Some of Ferguson's real improv vs. scripted improv is just brilliant and oh so quick. Awkward pause is always fun.

I watch mostly in the morning being part of that demographic that can't quite make it that late anymore.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-26-2014, 09:28 PM:

Well guys, Fallon's been on a week and a half, any opinions?

He's basically doing almost the exact same show as before, with a different name and a better looking studio. I think that could be a mistake.

Letterman, when he moved up to the 11:30 time slot, classed up his presentation, increased the band size, and of course having the Ed Sullivan Theater and its surrounding neighborhood gave him a wealth of comedy opportunities.

One thing I've really noticed...on the early Carson version of the Tonight Show, you never really got a sense of the size of the studio. It seemed big on TV. People who saw the show in person would always say that the studio was MUCH smaller than it looked on TV. With the Fallon show, which is being videotaped in the same studio as Carson's show was in the New York days, they use so many long shots from the upper corners of the room that it's obvious that the show is being shot in a relatively small space. It sort of emphasizes it, and takes away a bit of the mystique of the show (for me at least).

Anyway, it's an enjoyable program and well-done, but Fallon literally just moved across the hall, and it shows.

Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 02-27-2014, 09:35 AM:

Fallon's Tonight Show comes out of NBC 6B, which is 126'x50' and their second largest stage after 8H. All of the NBC Rockefeller Center studios are all originally radio studios, and are all a little on the smallish side for TV. That's why The Sound of Music Live! came out of a re-purposed aircraft assembly hangar on Long Island. No way to find room for it at 30 Rock.

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 03-02-2014, 04:15 PM:

I read that Fallon's ratings have gone down already, which is to be expected. I remember seeing Conan OBrien taped live when he was in NY and that studio was ultra small, unbelievable.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-02-2014, 04:40 PM:

quote: Mark Ogden
All of the NBC Rockefeller Center studios are all originally radio studios

This made me think of a question.....what was it like to be in the audience at a taping of a radio comedy show, such as "The Jack Benny Program?" I've seen pictures of the Benny cast taping shows, and it looks like they were just standing at microphones reading out of the scripts, even though they had live audiences. Was that really what the audience saw -- just the stars reading out of the scripts? Or did they do ANYTHING to make it look like the situation being protrayed for the live audience? Did the guest stars just "walk on" (cuing the applause) at the appropriate time and then "walk off" when their segment was over?