Late Night Television

[lacritfan]

Count me in on the Craig praise. I like the fact that he has no band and throws away his notes (which I'm sure are blank anyway). He's the only one who tapes his shows ahead of time but I'm sure if he did them live and for some reason none of his guests could make it, he could wing the whole show just talking to the camera and he would pull it off. I have a feeling if Letterman retires 1) CBS won't consider him as a replacement and 2) he wouldn't want to move to 11:35 anyway.

I'm not looking forward to the upcoming NBC two-hour block of Lorne Michaels' shows. I have nothing against Jimmy Fallon or Seth Meyers but putting those two back to back will be like when Seth took over weekend update from Jimmy - i.e. just more of the same. As it is I pretty much only watch a show if a particular guest is on, now even more so.

[Drucker]

Count me in as being a bit sick of Lorne Michaels' crafted NBC stuff. Not that any of it is particularly terrible, but as you say, it's a bit one-notey. It feels no different than Seth McFarlane having Sunday nights on Fox.

Though for me, Colbert is the only late-night I consistently watch. I find Daily Show to be really dull and just coasting at this point, whereas Colbert (not unlike Ferguson) still manages to surprise and excite, even this many years in.

[Black Hat]

In theory you guys have a point about the Lorning of both shows but Fallon and Meyers are very different performers and personalities. The former being an impressionist, sketch performer and the latter, outside of his Weekend Update gig, primarily a writer. As likeable as he is I have doubts as to whether or not Meyers has enough charisma to carry a show on his own. At best I see Meyers being a nice version of CBS Letterman. Having said that with the Lorne machine behind him he's definitely going to be put in the best position to succeed.

[Moe Dickstein]

I understand there is a deal in place at CBS where Ferguson will take over Late Show whenever Letterman decides to retire.

I've always enjoyed looking at Fallon and before him Conan from time to time. The games that Jimmy does with the guests are a lot of fun, and harken back to the Steve Allen days of Tonight, so I actually think in a way Jimmy may become the most "traditional" host of the three.

I'm desperately excited for Meyers' Late Night and I'm planning to start a season pass for it. His Weekend Update has been a highlight for me and reports are they're planning to carry a degree of that into this new show, including things like guests in the vein of Stefon and Drunk Uncle. What this may mean is that the mothership WU needs to evolve a bit and hopefully Jost will put a stamp on it that's new and then Seth can keep doing the interviews for his show.

I'm a pretty giant SNL fan though so I'm almost looking at this as 5 days a week of Update plus other stuff. We'll see if it lives up to my wet dreams. Probably not.

[lacritfan]

Hmmm, this makes Seth's show a little more interesting now.

[Moe Dickstein]

My first reaction to that was "Wha?!" But it really makes a lot of sense. It just reinforces my hope that this will be more of an SNL Annex than anything.

[domino harvey]

Letterman retiring next year

[Jeff]

Letterman retiring next year

And with him goes the bitter snark, which I genuinely love. Carson had it too. The Jimmys are often funny, and Fallon is multi-talented, but the new guys are too ingratiating and without the acerbic wit of Carson and Letterman. I'm glad Letterman's going out on his own terms though, and glad I got to see the show in person a couple of times over the years.

I wonder who they'll get to replace him. Craig Ferguson's stuff doesn't seem like it would work in the early slot (though they said that about Letterman at one time too). I don't think he's interested in the job anyway. Obviously, if they could lure Jon Stewart away from The Daily Show, it'd be quite a coup. I wouldn't mind seeing them make an unconventional choice like Tina Fey.

[domino harvey]

I've seen a lot of people saying Chelsea Handler since her contract's about up

[flyonthewall2983]

Jesus.

[mfunk9786]

I've seen a lot of people saying Chelsea Handler since her contract's about up

A lot of insane people

I've heard for a few years that succeeding Letterman is in Ferguson's contract, but perhaps that's just a rumor.

EDIT: confirmed @Splitsider: Craig Ferguson has right of first refusal for a post-Letterman ‘Late Night’ in his contract http://t.co/09hDPB4I8H" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Polybius]

Obviously, if they could lure Jon Stewart away from The Daily Show, it'd be quite a coup.

He seemed to be the heir apparent when he was doing his own show from '93 to '95. I've seen a lot of suggestion that he's only interested in staying where he is but he seems like a guy who doesn't like to be too comfortable, so...

He's about the only one I can imagine not being a major letdown as Dave's replacement.

[Andre Jurieu]

I think Stewart has a genuine interest in politics and enjoys discussions regarding more serious topics, while also mixing in juvenile humor, which I doubt that he would be able to retain on a major network. CBS execs would require his comedy be far more bland and they probably wouldn't want to dwell on stuff like campaign-finance reform. I think he's comfortable in his niche position.

Of course, having said that, I do find that since Stewart has returned from his directing duties (which I assume are still going on behind the scenes), he seems far more stressed and frustrated with everything involving national politics. He's been far more direct and angry when making his arguments and there has been a noticeable lack of absurd or just plain silly humor on the show.

[Drucker]

A friend of mine posted a list on his comedy website and one of the names he suggested was Joel McHale. I doubt it's in the cards, but I think he'd make an excellent pick.

[pzadvance]

Apparently CBS wants Colbert to fill Letterman's shoes, and he's interested.

Obviously a lot still needs to be worked out but according to that piece, this would be Stephen outside of his "Colbert Report" persona--an idea that strikes me as criminal, robbing us as it would of such a well-honed, culturally relevant satirical perspective.

Imagine an earnest Colbert prodding Justin Bieber for goofy anecdotes? No thanks.

[Andre Jurieu]

As much as I enjoy satirical-Colbert, he does seem to be a natural entertainer at his core, so I can see him filling Letterman's shoes a little easier than Stewart.

Apparently, CBS also approached John Oliver about taking over the later time-slot from Ferguson (before Oliver signed with HBO). A Colbert & Oliver combo on CBS would honestly both thrill and scare me simultaneously, because as much as I love the concept, I would also fear that they could fail miserably in terms of ratings. Though it would be incredibly fascinating to watch these fundamentally different approaches compared to NBC's friendly-folk SNL-alumni experiment.

[Polybius]

A friend of mine posted a list on his comedy website and one of the names he suggested was Joel McHale. I doubt it's in the cards, but I think he'd make an excellent pick.

That's probably too great an idea for it to ever happen.

[Robert de la Cheyniest]

Letterman retiring next year

And with him goes the bitter snark, which I genuinely love. Carson had it too. The Jimmys are often funny, and Fallon is multi-talented, but the new guys are too ingratiating and without the acerbic wit of Carson and Letterman. I'm glad Letterman's going out on his own terms though, and glad I got to see the show in person a couple of times over the years.

I wonder who they'll get to replace him. Craig Ferguson's stuff doesn't seem like it would work in the early slot (though they said that about Letterman at one time too). I don't think he's interested in the job anyway. Obviously, if they could lure Jon Stewart away from The Daily Show, it'd be quite a coup. I wouldn't mind seeing them make an unconventional choice like Tina Fey.

Bingo Jeff. Though Letterman has basically been on autopilot for quite a while now, though you can still see glimmers of brilliance when he gets excited about something like the whole Conan/Leno mess or his audience free Hurricane Sandy show, I will miss the acerbic wit. Fallon for example, who I actually do like, makes obsequious seem like an understatement when it comes to interviews, and though he is a nice guy, unlike Carson or Letterman, he's a company man through and through. Could you ever in your life imagine Fallon doing something like this?

[flyonthewall2983]

Speaking of Fallon, did anyone watch his O'Reilly interview last night? I know Dave gets confrontational (in his charming way) but I can't imagine Jimmy taking up that mantle, especially if he's doing skits with Sarah Palin now.

[Murdoch]

I was longing for some of Letterman's snark during that interview, Fallon did his awful fake laugh at everything O'Reilly said.

Colbert would be a good replacement, but him outside the political realm just feels wrong. It'll be a weird transition if he does replace Letterman.

[Drucker]

I was talking to my roommate today about this. Watching snarky Dave at the GE building was great. To me, Late-Night TV should be jokes/skits that you just can't get away with during the day. Fallon and co. just seem so dull and not edgy to me to a fault.

[Murdoch]

NBC late night has been awful with Fallon and Meyers, neither of which have the personality to carry their respective shows. Fallon's interview skills are among the worst on TV, while Meyers is already out of ideas and just thumbing through SNL's rejected sketches. Fallon was just replacing Leno though so it's a lateral move, but Meyers is just plain boring, unfunny and unwilling to push the envelope.

[Moe Dickstein]

I'm enjoying Meyers, as I still love SNL, so it's right up my personal alley.

[domino harvey]

Stop the presses! And I bet Moe likes this post because it uses a fresh line like "Stop the presses"

[Moe Dickstein]

I just like it because I like you Dom.