The oldsters at “The Tonight Present” is likely to be popping Champagne this week.
Allow them to. The information for this iconic speak present hasn’t been good for a while.
Jimmy Fallon’s late-night showcase earned a uncommon scores victory because of fellow “Saturday Night time Stay” alums.
In the course of the week of Feb. 10, which welcomed “SNL” alum Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers as company, “The Tonight Present” averaged a live-plus-same-day ranking of 0.14 within the demo amongst adults 18-49, successful the week amongst its late-night rivals.
The excellent news ends there.
Fallon’s “Tonight Present” scores are chronically behind not simply Fox Information’ “Gutfeld!” however his broadcast rivals. The present additionally minimize down its programming from 5 nights to 4 late final 12 months, one other signal of the once-mighty present’s slippage.
Keep in mind, Johnny Carson and Jay Leno lorded over “The Tonight Present” for many years, maintaining it the most-watched late-night present within the fashionable period. Leno’s dominance over competitor David Letterman proved probably the most spectacular given the latter’s distinctive model.
That dominance ended after Fallon took over the present in 2014.
Now, Colbert’s “Late Present” is the highest performer within the conventional 11:30 p.m. ET timeslot, adopted by ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Stay!”
This January 2025 snapshot isn’t an aberration.
Late Night time TV Rankings January 2025
1⃣@GutfeldFox! @GregGutfeld
2⃣@StephenAtHome
3⃣@JimmyKimmel
4⃣@JimmyFallon
5⃣@JonStewart
6⃣@SethMeyers
7⃣@Nightline
8⃣ @Midnight
9⃣@Andy pic.twitter.com/nAFNUmO5qN— RoadMN (@RoadMN) February 21, 2025
What occurred?
Fallon deserted the Carson/Leno mannequin, for starters. These late-night legends didn’t decide a political aspect. They made enjoyable of the president du jour, and barely in a mean-spirited trend. Leno seems to lean to the left, politically talking. He’s no fan of President Trump.
You by no means knew it whereas watching his nightly monologues.
Carson set the gold commonplace for this bipartisan strategy, and he reaped huge scores because of this.
Fallon’s “Tonight Present” is mini-Resistance theater. He let President Joe Biden off the hook for 4 straight years, avoiding the apparent truths in regards to the chief’s cognitive decline. That cowardice mirrored what Colbert and Kimmel did on their exhibits, however it meant Fallon didn’t decide up viewers who may crave fact of their late-night satire.
Fallon’s monologues are Colbert-lite. They’re left leaning however usually toothless. If viewers need hardcore progressive comedy, they know the place to go.
Proper-leaning audiences equally know Fallon doesn’t respect or communicate to them. So they appear elsewhere, both to “Gutfeld!” or different humorists like Tyler Fischer, Tim Dillon or Andrew Schulz.
The turning level for Fallon’s leftward lurch got here in the course of the 2016 presidential election. He invited candidate Trump on his present, handled him pretty and even tousled his signature ‘do.
The media savaged Fallon for “normalizing” Trump, and he performed a mea culpa media tour. He may have defended himself by saying he treats all company like … company.
No. He begged for the corrupt media’s forgiveness as a substitute.
That led to his political pivot and, sadly, his perpetual also-ran standing within the late-night panorama. He avoids the identical materials his friends do – just like the comically inept management from Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.
Fallon’s “Tonight Present” has cozied as much as billionaires and apologized for many years’ previous blackface materials.
Leno’s remaining “Tonight Present” look drew greater than 14 million viewers. What number of will present up when Fallon ends his NBC tenure? Will the present even survive past him?
All of it results in an uncomfortable query: Who’s the true Jimmy Fallon? He appears most comfy with foolish sing-a-long bits and apolitical sketches. He’s a strong mimic whose “SNL” background usually turns out to be useful.
He may have cleared a bipartisan lane within the fashionable late-night area. As a substitute, he bowed to partisan strain and ignored the basic Carson/Leno blueprint.
The scores communicate for themselves.