Jimmy Fallon recently said that he wants to beat Johnny Carson's record 30 years hosting the "Tonight" show on NBC.
Sorry, Jimmy. Not with those numbers.
All four late night shows are in the tank, and I'm including "The Daily Show" here. Comedy Central recently lured Jon Stewart back to do one day a week, so the franchise doesn't die.
As I've said here, all four shows have the same political slant. What business model calls for a general interest late night talk show to alienate half of its audience? I don't care if you find the Colbert, Kimmel, Stewart and Fallon jokes funny or not, but night after night of the same thing gets tired, and tired fast.
Cable news is a little different. FOX goes after the conservative audience. MSNBC goes after the liberals, and I'm sure General Sarnoff is spinning in his grave because something under the NBC banner is so one sided. CNN isn't sure what it is. Note to CNN: Just do the news!
The late night talk shows go after the same crowd.
Remember the days when you'd hear someone say "Did you hear what Johnny said last night?" or "How about that bit on Letterman?" Tom Snyder, Craig Ferguson and even James Cordon were capable of generating a buzz. CBS went cheap and stuck a game show, filled with no-names, in the time slot.
Yes, I realize the networks want internet interest, as much as they do people tuning in at 11:35 pm. I know it's a brave new world.
I'm fond of telling our newspaper brethren that they are their own worst enemies. Television, welcome to the party.
