Jimmy Fallon to become host of The Tonight Show in 2014

[dragonflies]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Breaking: NBC confirms Jimmy Fallon will take over The Tonight Show. Jay Leno will leave next spring. More to come.</p>&mdash; TV Guide (@TVGuide) <a href="

3, 2013</a></blockquote>
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[Ryan Chamberlain]

Time for another massive fail! LMAO.

[DRW50]

Not a fan, but I'd take him over Leno, who has always seemed mean-spirited to me under the Mr. Everyman persona.

[quartermainefan]

Jay Leno was never funny once hosting that show. Fallon is a big step up.

[reallyhateskateonlost]

They should just replay Johnny Carson episodes. NBC was dicks during the Leno/Conan debacle, if they would have just let it alone.

The same thing will probably happen to Fallon, it seems to be a pattern with them.

[DRW50]

The Leno issue is one that was not going away - there was a reason they moved him in the first place. But Fallon, although not one of my favorites, is a much better replacement than Conan. I like Conan, but Conan is very "smartest guy in the room," and only Johnny Carson could pull that off and still have public support. These days, it's impossible. Fallon will likely be able to get a slightly younger demo without alienating the older viewers.

[Vee]

I still half-expect Leno to go by blowing his brains out or committing ritual seppuku on-camera. That's the only way he truly leaves.

[DRW50]

If anyone didn't get to read it, I posted a Hollywood Reporter article in the other Jimmy/Jay (how Deliverance) thread - about NBC's issues with Leno.

[Max]

I'm puzzled why NBC chose to move The Tonight Show back to NYC, given it's supposedly more expensive to film there. It's also strange that they forced O'Brien to move to LA, yet are willing to move the show to NYC to accommodate Fallon. (Though I don't know if that's the primary reason why the show is being moved back to New York.)

Additionally, I don't know why NBC has so much faith in Fallon while having so little faith in O'Brien, when the latter had so much more experience than the former. (I'm not a huge fan of any late-night host, though I prefer Leno, O'Brien, and Fallon in that order. Of course, I fully recognize that Leno is a ruthless human being.) If NBC attacked O'Brien for not having enough mass appeal, then I fail to see how Fallon will have the broader appeal that Leno has. While I know that part of the reason for choosing Fallon was because of his appeal to young people, that's also a big reason why O'Brien was chosen. Despite the fact that Leno will never come back to The Tonight Show, I can totally see NBC wanting to quickly get rid of Fallon if household ratings materially falter.