Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

Fallon focuses much more heavily on musical guests than the other hosts, his show in New York makes a lot more sense from that perspective.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

Of course celebrities will be in New York when they are on their publicity tours.

The issue is that in NY there are far fewer of them just hanging around.

Most of the television production is still based in Los Angeles, and most of the movie stars live in Southern California. That means that you can call upon celebrities to appear on LA shows when they aren't on a publicity tour. When shooting for Modern Family has a week off, you can get Sofia Vergara to appear on an LA talk show more easily than getting her to commit to two travel days just to go to NY and back.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

you might be on to something, I tape letterman and conan for the musical guests every night, and i do see who they interview. i couldn't care less when they interview big bang theory or modern family for the umpteenth time. i like conan and letterman as interviewers so i am more interested in the no "been there done that" guest

but i always tune in to the musical guests..

arcade fire was cool on fallon and so was JT, I never watched his 12:30 show, but if he can get quality musical acts and have some interesting sets with those guys.. i might find myself watching this show more than i ever expected..

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

week 2 guests
Monday, Feb. 24: Guests include Reese Witherspoon, Fred Armisen and musical guest Rick Ross with The Roots.

Tuesday, Feb. 25: Guests include Paul Rudd and Shaquille O’Neal.

Wednesday, Feb. 26: Guests include Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler (appearing together) and musical guest Dierks Bentley.

Thursday, Feb. 27: Guests include Denzel Washington, Shaun White, and musical guest Sara Barellies with the Roots

Friday, Feb. 28: Guests include Cameron Diaz and Mike Tyson.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

Paul Rudd is a great guest.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

His lip-sync of the Queen song was awesome.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

just went on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LvMeYEwWGQ …

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

I think the biggest weakness of Fallon's show right now is the monologue. It's not horrible, but it's not nearly as good as the rest of his show. I often find myself fast forwarding past it and right to the first bit.

He's admitted it needs work, so I'm hoping he gets in a groove with it soon, but I'm not sure it'll change much as he's been doing the same thing for several years now...

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

Fallon kills it in the music department.

http://vimeo.com/61887522 -- Justin Timberlake performing Mirrors on Jimmy Fallon's show.

When I watch Fallon, I feel like I'm watching someone who loves music (kind of like Ellen, though I don't watch her show). I hesitate to say this given that Paul Shaffer deserves his props, but for modern music, The Roots are the best band on TV.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

Agreed. I introduced my girlfriend to the show last night--Monday's episode--and we both thought the monologue was terrible. Was afraid she'd give up on it then and there but I showed her some clips from the Timberlake episode and she loved Fallon, the skits, and the Roots. The monologue will be the death of this show if they don't either write better material or just jettison it altogether. It's embarrassingly bad.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

that was jay's ticket and why he did well...

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

The thing is, these aren't the days of classic Carson, when his buddies would be booked as guests just because Carson found them amusing.

Modern talk shows exist almost entirely for celebrities to pimp their latest projects. In fact, the same guests often show up on all the shows over about a two-week period. They're making the rounds, regardless of location.

And for that reason, being in New York has no disadvantage over being in L.A.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

His monologues have always been week, and I also FF through them unless I see them cut away to Higgins, then I know there's banter which is usually hilarious. I remember one piece of advice Leno gave Fallon before taking over was to make the monologue even longer. I'd like to think he was being sincere and not trying to set him up to fail.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

I think he should do the exact opposite, if for no other reason than to break the mold a bit.

Not every talk show host needs to start the show with 10 minutes of stand-up on the day's news. Been there, done that. If that's not Fallon's strong suit, why not shake up the formula a bit?

I think a great example is "The Graham Norton Show" on BBC America. Two minutes of monologue poking fun at the night's guests, then bring out all the guests at the same time and make it one big interactive conversation.

This past weekend's show with Matt Damon, Bill Murray and Hugh Bonneville was great. As Matt Damon said at the end, "This is the most fun I've had doing a talk show --- ever." And you could tell he meant it.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

I've been used to watching Fallon only one night a week (Fridays) since I can't stay up that late on work nights. I like him, but I find he has quickly become kind of tedious and I am flipping over to Kimmel more and more. He was terrible when he debuted on "Late Night" but became much much better once he got settled in. I think he'll make the appropriate adjustments and become more watchable.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

One, my post had NOTHING to do with the host booking his friends on the show. It is very simply about the undeniable reality that there are more celebrities living within driving distance of an LA based show.
There isn't going to be a major movie star available every night of the week, especially when Letterman and Fallon are competing for the same high-profile guest.
As my example was intended to explain, TV stars can show up on an LA show "to pimp their latest projects" with less than a day's notice. I was just reminded yesterday that there was an episode of Buffy where she was turned into rat so Sarah Michelle Gellar could have time off from shooting to travel to NY.

Second, are you at all familiar with Jimmy Fallon? The foundation of his talk show is booking his friends so they can shoot the shit, while Fallon giggles and laughs uncontrollably. Kristen Wiig was on the show last week just to do a comedy sketch. Tina Fey will be on next week promoting... how good her ass looks in the right pants?
The best thing about Craig Ferguson is that without access to the biggest stars, he books people that like him and that he wants to talk to. It is a disadvantage for Fallon because he is not half the interviewer that Ferguson is. Without the excitement and energy that big stars bring to the studio, watching Fallon is like watching Leno on his worst nights.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

Fallon's monologue will never be good, he's not a natural stand-up comedian. He's an actor that is much better at creating an improvised performance off another person. If I were running his show, I would cut it down to four minutes and fill that time with something else.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

I agree with your opinion of Fallon's monologue, but the problem is what that six minutes of "something else" is supposed to be five nights a week. Topical jokes about the day's headlines are something all the writer's can do, and a monologue doesn't require much rehearsal or spending money.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

The writers better come up with an alternative or they won't have to worry about creating anything for the show, it will be off the air.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

eh, ratings for week 2 (no olympic bump) are higher than Leno's numbers

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

You missed the point of my post, which is that talk shows these days exist for celebrities who are on publicity tours to promote their projects, and they all go to New York City on these tours. Thus, there is no disadvantage to Fallon being in New York when it comes to booking guests. Just as it has never been a problem for Letterman, or Conan O'Brien on her previous show, or the "Today" show or any other New York-based show.

Oh yes, there will be. Movie star, TV star, whatever. These new York shows have existed for decades and no one has ever come up short.

Yes, I believe I am.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

You're either intentionally kidding, or you don't watch talk shows much.

This is Letterman's line-up for this week:

LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS

Mo 2/24: Kaley Cuoco, Dale Earnhardt Jr., the Fray
Tu 2/25: Olympian Ted Ligety, Kat Dennings, Lo-Fang
We 2/26: Meredith Vieira, Band of Horses
Th 2/27: Stupid Human Tricks, Simon Helberg, Young the Giant
Fr 2/28: Jack Hanna, Jake Johannsen

I see the stars of CBS sitcoms, some sports figures.
You think they pushed a movie star off the show so Dave could spend time with headlining guest Meredith Viera?

How often do you see Letterman with a news anchor as the lead guest? Once a week? That's because those people are in NY, and Dave couldn't get anyone better. If a bigger star was just a phone call away, that's who he would be talking to on the show, not Rachel Maddow.
Why do you think Alec Baldwin is so frequently a guest on Letterman? Baldwin doesn't have anything to promote (but himself) and he is a NY-based celebrity and raconteur.
Every talk show whether in NY or LA ends up scrambling for replacement guests at the last minute. According to Adam Carolla, Leno's people were constantly contacting him in the morning to see if he would be available that evening.

I completely recognize that these shows like to book the biggest stars in advance based on when they are on their publicity tours, but stars drop out at the last minute, and some nights there just isn't a big star "on tour."

THAT'S WHY HAVING A POOL OF CELEBRITIES AVAILABLE THAT CAN BE BOOKED ONTO THE SHOW, ON THE DAY OF THE SHOW, IS AN ADVANTAGE FOR LOS ANGELES BASED SHOWS. (and yes, I am yelling)

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

Exactly. Dump the old formula. I never have understood why all of these type shows seem to require a monologue no matter how bad it is. Would it really cost that much to add an extra guest for that time or keep the existing guests longer. Or even add an extra song from the performing act (though the longer time with a quest would be my preference).

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

Have you looked at the lineups for this week's L.A.-based talk shows? Not really any better.

You're kind of making my point for me. Talk shows are about little more than promoting product these days. The first week of March, there aren't any major movies opening with big stars hitting the talk show circuit, so it's not much of a surprise that CBS would take the time to promote its own products. And look! Actors who work in L.A. can make it to New York after all!

Another mistake is thinking that "movie stars" are the only talk show guests worth watching.

So, Leno was in L.A., with this massive pool of A-list guests available to him that New York City could only dream about, and his huge go-to star for a last-minute fill-in was "constantly" Adam Carolla? This validates your argument how?

Your opinion is not the same as reality.

Re: The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon Discussion Thread
 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...allon-a-672400