Jimmy Fallon’s ratings last night were pretty good– 11.3 million viewers. That’s less than Jay Leno’s finale last week (14 million) but otherwise the most since Jay’s first finale in 2009 (11.9 million). It’s also 4 million more people than Fallon’s own “Late Night” finale ten days ago.
What does this tell us? Not much. Starting tonight, Jimmy will be getting regular numbers more along the lines of two-to-four million people a night. He’s ahead of Letterman and Kimmel. And his show is airing at midnight until the Olympics are over. It will take a couple of weeks after that to see how he fares at 11:35pm.
Meantime, his guests this week should help. Michelle Obama is on Thursday, and I’ve heard she’s going to sing! Friday brings Justin Timberlake, which should draw a huge rating.
Can one watch both Letterman and Fallon? Yes, why not? Support late night comedy in New York.
Now we wait for Seth Meyers next Monday, with Fred Armisen’s band.
But this is interesting. Fallon was most popular in these cities, in declining order: Denver, St. Louis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle-Tacoma, Houston and Orlando-Daytona Beach.
Stronger in the mid west? Hmmmm….
