Home Celebrity WAR! All Eyes on Jay Leno’s Show As He Goes After NBC...

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UPDATE Real war broke out this afternoon between NBC and Jay Leno–and for the third time. Yes, it’s World War III. On the “Tonight” show Leno went after NBC for the third night in a row, calling them “extinct” and comparing them to Jurassic Park. “There’s hope for them yet,” he quipped. This was after NBC used the Hollywood media to attack Leno late in the afternoon on two fronts. Crazy stuff since NBC and Leno famously tangled at the very beginning of his run when the network wanted David Letterman to take over the Tonight show. That resulted in a book and a movie for HBO by Bill Carter of the New York Times.

Then, just a couple of years ago, there was the War Over Conan O’Brien which ended very badly and caused O’Brien to leave the network. Now NBC, instead of dealing quietly with Leno over his 2014 exit and Jimmy Fallon’s succession. The result is that NBC will attack Leno again today and he will go after them again tonight. Is it driving ratings up? Who cares? It’s once again damaging their brand.  For some reason NBC– as with Ann Curry most recently, and many times in the past– can’t handle their Human Resources Department very well. “30 Rock” parodies were not so off the mark.

It’s all quite different than what went at ABC when “Nightline” was pushed out of the way for Jimmy Kimmel. That was pretty clean in the end. Why NBC can’t do anything diplomatically could be the subject of a new Bill Carter book.

But it’s no different than that war in January 2010. In his monologues then, Leno said NBC stood for “Never Believe Your Contract.” http://www.showbiz411.com/2010/01/08/20100108the-x-factor-in-the-conanjay-soap-opera-lorne-michaels

Stay tuned…

Earlier: All eyes will be on Jay Leno’s “Tonight” show tonight. The reason? With one hour to go before Wednesday night’s taping, NBC sent Leno a clear message and used the media to do it. The Drudge Report is blaring “Fallon In, Leno Out” as GQ magazine released a special issue with heir apparent Jimmy Fallon on the cover. The Hollywood Reporter seized on a quote from Fallon producer Lorne Michaels that “Jimmy Fallon” is the closest thing he’s seen to a Johnny Carson. Wow. (I think Fallon is more like Jack Paar or Steve Allen frankly.) The New York Times’ expert on this subject, Bill Carter, followed with a story about a Fallon Tonight show moving to New York. Leno, with a quick trigger temper, will be exploding at these statements. With hints that he may be forced out by February 2014, Leno is sure to blow a gasket. When The “Tonight” show begins taping at 4pm Pacific, 7 Eastern, look for Tweets etc about his monologue. Yikes. Fallon, meantime, who’s a nice guy, is said to be reaching out to Leno to calm him down. Good luck. Conan O’Brien was a nice guy too. Leno is Patton when it comes to the Tonight Show.

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Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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113 replies to this post

  1. Geez, I can’t believe all the angry Leno lapdogs here. Who pooped in your bran flakes? Fallon is the heir apparent, Leno adds little in creativity or ingenuity. Most nights he is “phoning it in” same as Letterman. Time for a regime change and a breath of life into a show that has become as stale as day old toast. Btw, I am over 50.

  2. Everybody seems to remember Johnny Carson as the ultimate criterion for what passes as late-night entertainment. Can’t any of you remember those last half-hours where the show just CRAWLED? It seemed half the time they couldn’t end the show soon enough.

    And yes, Letterman has become completely unwatchable. He’s transformed himself into the archetypical liberal curmudgeon. If I want to listen to rants about Republicans 5 nights a week I’ll watch one of those psychos on MSNBC.

  3. My 12 year old son came home from school, upset that another kid called him a “douchebag”. His 10 year old sister chimed in, “Daddy, what’s a douchebag?” After a necessary moment to compose myself, I replied, “You know that Jimmy Fallon guy on TV?.. That’s a douchebag!”. My poor son burst into tears while my little girl smiled, nodding her head.

  5. It’s late night tv, & a re-run of Survivor or American Idol or some other bad tv show on HGTV probably comes close to matching the ratings of these guys.

    Leno landed the Tonight Show gig in controversy (taking what was presumed to be David Letterman’s job), after Joan Rivers ticked Johnny Carson off by going to Fox w/o telling him 1st…..& Leno has survived the prime time experiment & Conan ratings plunge & Conan exit & the Conan fallout & bad press he got from that….& he should in no way be surprised that NBC execs are handling this so poorly.

    NBC is in panic mode over the momentary rise of the Kimmel ratings…and they want to put it all over in NYC -where the execs presume the world oozes from…..and they want the young guy Fallon to take over.

    Fallon is funny. Kimmel is funny. Neither is hilarious or earth shattering.

    NBC would have done well to talk to Leno first, since he’s always said he would leave the show earlier than later for a new face to take over…….. Instead, they went about it rather stupidly. NBC would have been smart to go to Leno w/ a better prime-time once a week or once a month special option….or a development deal for his own shows to do or produce. But, no, they handle it, like well, they did the Conan mess.

    It’s rather funny no one bothers to say, gee, really miss Conan’s big NBC ratings. That guy was a bad fit from the get go.

    Steve Allen ,Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno….the next guy is Jimmy Fallon! I don’t know. But, I don’t watch it much anyway these days.

  7. Hey, NBC?!

    So, you’re willing to cut off your nose to spite your face once again by getting rid of Leno for another late night looser? Isn’t that kinda dumb after what happened to you the last time?!

  8. And so it goes on and on. I can’t believe that NBC would do this again. I am guessing that this appeases Lorne Michaels for the cancellation of 30 Rock as well as the upcoming cancellations of Parks and Rec and Saturday Night Live. That is all I can think of right now, and it is hurting Jay Leno bad. Leno is right to blame NBC for everything. Bob Greenblatt and his team need to go now.

  9. I would love to see FOX grab Jay and his staff, and unleash their comic talent on the left. No other network and no other major commedian will poke fun at this cherished and protected group. And let them have at anyone who deserves it, from any group. Leno and staff have the talent, knowledge and will to make a show without these restrictions into a tremendous success. Just image the public reaction and support. The ratings would soar!

  10. Leaving Burbank? Leaving L.A.? That breaks my heart. This show may have started in NYC, but it is a SoCal tradition and institution now and should stay here. If Jimmy Fallon wants the job so badly, he should move out here like Conan did. Better guests, better vibe, better weather, better everything. I will never watch it if this happens, but that’s not saying much. So all the Tonight Show technicians will lose their jobs or if kept, have to move to New York? Yuck! NBC execs haven’t learned from their past mistakes, and they will be making a huge one by bringing in Fallon and moving to the East Coast.

  11. Who gives a crap? Comedy over the last 15 years lacks creativity. All the writers and so called personalities do is tear down some politician….nothing but low hanging fruit there. Any hack on the street can do it. I don’t know of anyone who watches late night TV anymore….wasteland.

  12. Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon were the real-life version of Calvin and Hobbes. Johnny was Calvin, the impish, boyish, with an eye for mischief but a heart of gold. Ed was Hobbes, the practical, rational, adult who was forever loyal to his dear friend.

    Jay Leno is a lone act. He would be better with a subdued side-kick who could take the spotlight off of him at times. The band leader doesn’t cut it.

    Letterman has always come across as hostile and mean-spirited, whether warranted or not.

    Kimmel is witty and clever but seems cheap is some sense. Whether its a lack of character or self-confidence, he lacks the nobility of Carson or even Leno.

    Fallon seems like an average joe that got up on the stage to try it.

    Conan, a nerd on steroids, is fine for the under 7 crowd, a sort of Pee Wee Herman

  13. LOL! I cut cable like 3 years ago — seeing this junk on the www confirms it was the right choice. Do people still watch TV? amazing… like our parents 40 years ago told us: “It’s an Idiot box.”

  18. NBC is determined to stifle all conversation that doesn’t comport with the liberal orthodoxy that is the media today. Jay Leno is old school. An equal opportunity funny guy. He ribs everyone. Even our Dear Leader. And that just cannot be.

    Fallen, on the other hand, is an ideologue. A follower. Drinking the Kool Aid. Oh, and a not so funny guy.

  19. Fallon is blah after about 4 minutes. His attempt at comedy shows little intellect in his followers. Leno has the talent to entertain for hours with his sophisticated and intellectual style. NBC executives must be losing it, why put a top rated show in the bottom of ratings by switching to Fallon. Share holders in NBC Universal need to terminate these exec’s. They have done a terrible job thus far, and apparently still destroying what works.

  20. If Fallon’s show is written by the same hacks who have written for SNL this year it is going to be a short lived stay in that time slot for Fallon.

    Even the last Justin Timberlake show was horrible compared to last year when Lady Gaga was on with him.

  24. Late night did not survive even to the departure of Johnny Carson. Even though Carson called it in for years (and seemed to have guest hosts more than he was there some years), he showed more talent in a single Carnac sketch than the current crop’s full body of stupidity put together. Some TV exec needs to see they are bleeding cash by paying 7 figures to primadonas and stop the late night wars by burying the format as well as the self-indulgent idiots they call hosts. None of them are smart and none of them are funny.

    How about some real entertainment for a change and not just talk about it??? People had to agree to actually perform to be on the old Tonight Show or the Sullivan Show – and if they did well, it was only then they got called over to talk to the host and be congratulated. Somewhere along the line producers dropped the performance requirement and only kept the unearned ‘talk’. Boring!

    Let’s find a contemporary Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan, or Carol Burnett and build a variety show with some smart comedy and real entertainment. Guests need to actually perform or they should not be booked. Only then I might actually watch. (And perhaps we would have never heard of the Kardashians – double yawn!)

    Talk, talk, talk. Who cares to watch two people sit and talk? It’s a cheap format – point a few cameras at two people and let them ad lib until the next commercial. I want real comedy, real music, real dancing and perhaps a sliver of drama and art once in a while. Nobody seems to know what that is and how to bring it to TV anymore. More is the pity.

    TV execs – pull the old tapes and films out of the vault and go back to school. Find out what real entertainment is and put that in a show. The Ed Sullivan show proved a couple of things. People will watch a show with real entertainment and what the host does, looks like, or sounds like has very little to do with it – unless they actually try to take part in the entertainment. Book me 90 minutes worth of real entertainment and I could host a successful show. It’s not the hosts – it’s what you have on between the introductions.

  26. This is a “people” show.

    Carson (The Great One) loved to interact with people and they loved him. And it showed. It always does.

    Same with Jay. That is why he has been so successful. The guests and the audience were always comfortable.

    Jimmy, not so much. When faced with someone that might be considered “conservative” he becomes prickly. And double ditto – his band leader. For that reason alone, they are headed for another disaster…

  27. Fallon?? WTF is Fallon? Letterman was/is/always will be a douchebag, Leno……I don’t know what to say about him, so I won’t. Suffice it to say this: The awesome days of true quality (or, any quality whatsoever) as far as TV goes went out the window the very second Mr. Carson took his exit.

  28. Jay is a nice guy and I hope he will stay that way. It takes two to have a war of words and Jay should not be one of them. Jay show them you have class and don’t take these snipes like you have been doing. Sure you are angry, but your fans will still be here for you. Your show is still leading the pack in ratings and if NBC does so foolish a thing as replace you, your fans will be waiting for you on another network.

    As the one post mentioned and I have been saying this too – NBC should just switch time slots with Jay and Jimmy Fallon. This way everyone is happy. NBC more than likely would want viewers to stay tuned to their network and if they are smart enough to keep Jay right after Jimmy, that will happen.

  30. Lorne Michaels #1 concern should be SNL which is the most overhyped, unfunniest show on television for years now. I like Fallon but he is a product of SNL which just does not produce clever, funny skits.Conan bombed on Tonight show ’cause Conan is NOT funny. He tries to get laughs by from his awkward physical gestures which he thinks are comedic but instead are annoying. You don’t get the younger demographic just by getting a younger host. Rodney Dangerfield’s following was from all demographics. You’re funny or your not! Jay Leno still has the best monologue going. Why is the Tonight show still #1? Jay Leno. Hope he stays on as long as he wants.

  34. I hope Jay makes his way to Fox, and they team him up with Conan at 12:35 again. Conan (and Andy’s) approach is better suited for the later time slot anyway.

    And Fox needs to make a big move, with American Idol dipping…without their big tentpole, things can go bad in a (relative) hurry. Ask NBC.

  37. Fallon will be the perfect lapdog for NBC. He’s too stupid to have any opinions of his own, so he’ll just parrot those of the NBC execs. Looking forward to continuing to see NBC in last place where they belong…

  38. Fey with Amy Poehler (Poehler as sidekick) would be the equivalent to Johnny & McMahon.
    NBC execs would be looked upon has geniuses if they were to get these ladies takeover the NBC 11:30 time slot. Instead, they will get a swollen-head Fallon that will translate into viewers knockingg over their night lamps to get to theirTV remotes to switch to Dave.

  39. While America is bankrupted from undeclared wars against countries of no consequence to our national interest, our children poisoned with fluoride and genetically polluted foods, and state schools teaching kids to love Marxist politicians who sent their future jobs to China, the t.v. networks keep their audiences in a coma with mindless prattle.

    Jay Leno’s jokes might actually wake someone up about what is happening to America. NBC can’t have that, can they?

    Jimmy Fallon will return Americans back to their coma.

    Just keep staring at the t.v. screen.

  40. Fallon, Kimmel and O’Brien are all decent men who have not had a chance to show their bitterness and a s s wholiness yet. As for Carson, Leno and Letterman, priques who once crossed were MAJOR LEAGUE jerks and overpaid millionaires.

    Time to sweep house.

  42. Personally, I have never laughed at Jimmy Fallon. I just don’t find him funny. The plan to put him in at 11:35 is doomed to fail.

  43. Jimmy Fallon is average. Leno a little long in the tooth.
    NBC has no bench. Conan’s invisible suspenders bit passes as humor for a generation of imbeciles. At least NBC realized he is not a performer.
    Letterman- a didactic, bitter hypocrite.
    Kimmel the best of a very weak field.

  45. I would compare Fallon to Dick Cavett, not Parr or Allen. Not withstanding, Fallon is sure to be dull, and full of his secular progressive,liberal,gay loving self. Sickening . Adios NBC !

  48. Hey Jay – Call FOX! Move your Tonight Show to FOX. They’re network is much higher rated than NBC. Stay in Burbank and rule late-night. I’ll never watch the twit Letterman or Fallon.

  49. The one thing that sticks in my mind with Mr. Fallon is his writing staff is weak. Otherwise, I can think of no reason for him to perform the same gag night after night. I am thinking specifically about the twitter thing he does and also this absurd game thing he does with his guests. I have seen Letterman and Carson and Leno perform repetitive gags but Mr. Fallon’s show seems to lack ideas so they use up time with the same trick night after night.

    I would like to see Mr. Stewart asked to take over the Tonight show. Allow the Daily Show to develop new blood and give him the wider audience he deserves. I think if Mr. Carson were alive he would respect such a choice.

  51. Why disrespect a man who brought you an audience, kept the program profitable, and is a genuine talent who made people feel good about having him in their house at bedtime?

    Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of the Entertainment Division is an old Fox hand. He is a capable programmer/producer/packager and knows how to deal with talent. Not an innovator like Barry Diller, but close enough.

    So why the disrespect? The buzz is not worth the contempt people currently feel for NBC and Comcast. It says you disrespect your audience and want to trade them in for younger, hipper models to save your demographics and your advertising revenues.

    Mind your manners. As for Lorne Michaels and Jimmy Fallon — let some of Leno’s class rub off. It might improve your fortune.

  52. Carson was good, but before everyone deifies him, remember that he took off on Mondays, then later he took off Tuesdays, and later cut the show from an hour and a half to an hour (and trust me, the whole mood, the rhythm of the show changed for the worst).

    Yeah, he was good, but he didn’t give a damn about the audience who made him what he was.

    As for NBC, you can always judge a company by the knowledge that it still can’t settle on a logo after close to 70 years.

  53. I kinda hope Jay pulls a full Conan on these dou chez. When Conan was leaving and booked all those insanely high priced gimmicks while ripping on NBC was some of the funniest late night work done. And NBC had to do it because it was part of the contract. Conan showed brilliance in F’ing them over. I would like to see Jay top that. I would invite Craig Ferguson and Conan on just to screw with NBC. I would go out with the biggest laugh riot F U I could conceive.

  55. Agree that Fallon is a good guy. (Have a minor connection with him.) Not sure he is ready for prime time. My choice would be Rainn Wilson.

  57. Neither my wife or I will watch Jimmy Fallon if he replaces Jay Leno. As it is now, we don’t watch Fallon. Jimmy Fallon is not Steve Allen, Jack Parr or Johnny Carson. He is not Craig Ferguson or Jay Leno. The Jimmy Fallon Show is just another version of SNL. And most of the time in the last 20 years SNL has not been funny. There aren’t enough writers in this world that could make Jimmy Fallon consistently funny 5 nights a week. Any executive at NBC that thinks that Jimmy Fallon will do better than Conan’s time at the Tonight Show is STUPID.

  58. why in the world would anyone defend Leno? He has a history of backstabbing but more importantly, he’s brought nothing but banality to “The Tonight Show” for two decades. I can’t wait to see him go (again).

  60. Has anyone else taken notice of Leno making pretty funny Obama jokes?
    This seems new and exciting to me.
    Like him, hate him, whatever; Leno is a pretty smart guy. Making fun of Obama serves two purposes:
    1. It infuriates NBC which as an organization is so far up Obama’s rear end they can taste his breakfast.
    2. It ingratiates himself to the general demographic if his next network: FOX.

    Leno to Fox is a guarantee. He’ll beat the dead carcass of NBC till there’s nothing left.

  61. Philip above got it exactly right. Leno makes (good) jokes about Obama, this is a cardinal sin in state-controlled media, thus it is no surprise that despite Leno being the most consistently watchable personality on television for years, his presence is no longer desired.

    Fallon promotes Obama by putting his wife on the show, which makes him the perfect replacement.

    The only difference between this and, say, North Korea, is that NK’s Dear Leader would have Leno shot instead of just fired.

  62. As much as I like Jimmy Fallon, I love Jay Leno and I hate to see this happening to him. Why can’t they leave things alone. I watch both of these shows, but I love Jay’s monologue. He is a master at it!

  63. Late night Tv has been looking for the “next” Johnny Carson for almost 25 years….they still haven’t found him and probably never will. The man was one of a kind and I haven’t watched late night tv regularly since he left and I was only a kid then.

  65. Fallon appeals only to a flat-souled generation that has no idea what real comedy, wit, and charisma are. It’s absurd to compare him to Paar and Allen, and wildly absurd to compare him to the great Carson.

    On the bright side, this little episode provides yet another refutation of the myth of progress.

  69. Oh…so is nbc gonna give the show to fallon, then give it back to jay and then give it to conan and then back tp jay again??

    That’d be a treat

  71. As a human with a brain I haven’t been able to watch non-football NBC in years. Even football I have to turn off during half-time because Bob Costas embarrasses me as an American.

  75. I care if NBC swapped their time slots. I would just record Leno when he came on and play it back when it was convenient for me. But I don’t count, I am over 30 years old.

  76. I like Leno. I like his taste in automobiles. I like that he likes Top Gear.

    However, I miss Johnny Carson. I. Deeply. Miss. Johnny. Carson.

  78. Who says Conan O’Brien is a nice guy? Leon should know – and probably does – that there is no such thing as fair dealing with the networks. They are happy to get every concession and favor FROM you. There is no reciprocation of courtesy, teamwork, or caring. You get what you negotiate and assume they will try to rook you out of that.

  79. I decided to watch a couple of Johnny Carson’s shows since his name is up in the media these days and as a Gen-Y’er I didn’t get exposed to him much. All I can say is – wow. I don’t think it’s realistic for anybody to be compared to him in any respect. His presence and command of the stage was amazing. He knew how to be a good host and knew when to leave others shine without feeling that he was giving up any of his authority (this is not true of Leno and Letterman).

    I think Jimmy is a little light compared with Carson — hell, even compared with the other current talk show hosts. NBC’s got this all wrong: just because my generation knows Fallon from his work on SNL won’t mean that this will translate to the ratings. A good amount of us don’t hate Fallon, but we don’t “mind him” either. They’re taking the easy way out by putting in somebody homegrown but not appropriate rather than looking for somebody on the outside that would get them a nice ratings bonanza.

    This is not about Fallon being a nice guy. Sure, Leno may come off as a hard-ass, but look where he’s at in the ratings. In one sense he represents his baby boomer audience perfectly, who don’t want to give up their positions to the younger generation. Drudge links to you, Roger, because your seasoned and well-connected enough to give a great analysis, but also because you’re innovating as you go along. You’ll talk a good game about the newcomers while also dealing with the universals.

    However, there’s nobody who can out-Leno Leno, and so he should absolutely push back. Carson had a respectable send-off. Why can’t Leno, who’s been doing the job since?

    This is about whether or not Fallon can deliver. He lacks gravitas. He certainly can deliver a show — but look for some cringe-worthy moments. He’s still going to receive a lot of flack and no amount of soothing words are going to prevent that. The backlash will come from the audience as they start to tune out come February or September. NBC will be blamed, but Fallon will be the perfect scapegoat. I don’t particularly like Leno and I don’t have a dog in this fight, but even then I find it hateful the way they’re trying to mess up this American institution coming on the heels of the Conan debacle.

    As for why on earth NBC wants to mess with a winning formula after the about-face they made is anyone’s guess.

    I frankly believe they want to be the first to kill off the current audience and release the baby boomers so that they can be free to go to cable or any of the other thousands of ways they can spend their evening hours. This way NBC’s programming can start to revolve around the fickle, youth-centered wants of an ever-diminishing audience. If this works, look for the other networks to pull similar stunts.

    On the other hand, I hope Leno can go out with grace, which may not be likely. Again, I mean no disrespect to the previous generation, but one thing you see a lot in the media is they have no idea how to let go while keeping their dignity intact. Yes, you are great because you are seasoned, so let that direct your actions, lest you come off looking bitter and cold.

    In any case, I find that these formats have staled out considerably since they were first conceived over half a century ago. It makes perfect sense Lorne is involved — SNL hasn’t been relevant in over a decade. We don’t watch any of these shows except the random excerpts on Hulu that our friends send us. I’d like to continue following this war, but my Tivo beckons.

  80. I was a former audio director for Jay’s show, and I can tell you first hand that NBC really sucks. Jay is a terrific person as well as a very good guy. NBC has been jerking his show around for ever, making it very difficult to keep moral up in the staff. If FOX is smart, they’ll show up at Jay’s door tonight with an offer.
    It doesn’t matter how many late night shows are on, Jay Leno IS the man and will always carry big ratings.

  89. NBC Execs are idiots!
    Take the number one show in the late night time slot.
    Their number one cash cow, and kill it.
    Man they must want to all get fired. Which is exactly what will happen when Fallon takes the Tonight Show from first to last, and all that stock holder money goes flying out the door.

  90. “Leno is Patton when it comes to the Tonight Show.”

    Bravo! Go get ’em, Jay. We are 150 percent behind you!

    This decision by NBC is utterly absurd. It is a repeat of the Conan O’Brien debacle, only worse, which made NBC executives look like total fools.

    Jay is terrific. Obviously his ratings support that fact. Greenblatt or NBC should be fired for this decision, and also if he is responsible for the rest of NBC’s line-up failing to impress the viewers.

    Leno has joked about NBC for ages. Johnny Carson did it too. Jay’s viewers love it. I stay up just to watch him. His is the only real star on late-night television. The day that NBC gets rid of him, I will probably never watch the network again.

    I like Fallon, but he and the other late-night hosts are lightweights when compared with Leno. Just tune into Fallon and see if you laugh. I doubt it. He is a nice guy, but not really that funny. Neither Fallon nor Conan can hold a candle to Leno. There is nothing funny about Kimmel either.

    There is something terribly wrong at NBC, and it isn’t Leno!

  91. Lorne Michaels certainly has a right to prop up his boy but to say he’s the closest thing to Johnny Carson is like saying hamburger is the closest thing to filet mignon.

    There was only ONE Johnny Carson and no one has or ever will come close.

    That’s why even at his age, he was still on top and no one wanted him to quit let alone fire him.

  92. Lorne Michaels produces pornography that passes as comedy. Therefore, Fallon would be a natural replacement for Leno in that the frat-house Fallon and porn-producing Michaels combined do not possess 1/10th the talent and refinement of Jay Leno.

  93. Jimmy Fallon can try to mimic Johnny Carson all he wants, by trying to do everything almost exactly like Johnny did, but he’s no Johnny. Johnny had a quick wit, Jimmy doesn’t. Johnny had a great side kick in Ed McMahon, Jimmy has a goofy looking band leader of the Roots and an old bossy queer talking rube. Johnny had composure, class and dignified air about how the show was run, Jimmy screams and flails about to try and garner recognition, introducing almost every guest at the top of his lungs and telling everyone how much he loves them, probably more times telling his guests that than his own wife?
    NBC is insane Jay Leno is just starting to come truly into his own as an American icon of importance on the national stage and his routine although well known by now, is still one of the best formulas in operation for late night viewing. NBC is making the wrong move. Lorne Michaels thinks the trick of putting a spotlight on a curtain and having Jimmy Fallon pop out is equatable to Jimmy being another Johnny Carson, is all smoke and mirrors up Lorne Michaels’s nose.

  94. Jimmy Fallon is the most un-funny person on television. He will be horrible, but he’ll stay on because he is the perfect NBC company man. They need to bring back Conan or find a bum off the street.

  98. Leno Rules….I like Fallon but he’s more like a frat boy….up & coming blah blah blah…. He’s fine where he is for now…why force Leno out….he still beats Letterman any day of they week in ratings….

  100. And I hope ALL of this makes that bitter, hateful, unfunny clown named Letterman even more sick that he was passed over for the Tonight Show.

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