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Colbert sees a surge, has now surpassed Fallon for #1 late-night talk show
- Thread starter Trojita
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The ratings on Leno's new show were so bad that some affiliates were threatening to stop airing it because they blamed it for hurting the ratings of their 11 pm news broadcasts. The network proposed a knee jerk response as a result of the entire ratings mess and Conan decided to walk away.
As for Colbert, his early ratings were so bad that rumors began to circulate that Corden may be asked to take over. The difference is Colbert didn't have a bitter Letterman hanging around, waiting to take the spotlight back. He also had one of the most news worthy elections in American history to take advantage of.
Retromelon
Member
Even then, you can't blame Jay. He was supposed to tell NBC to give Conan more time, instead of making money? If anything, blame nbc.
That Leno, wants to keep working in late night if the network will have him back. What an asshole
Mr.Shrugglesã
Banned
What's stopping you?
This is revisionist history and not what happened.
Yeah, anyone who can compare that interview to Fallon's and say both are equally soft is delusional.
Could Colbert have been even tougher though? Sure. But bear in mind that his interview took place in september of 2015, when the primaries were still a few months off. Although he was already leading the polls at that point, most pundits were still expecting an implosion. Also, while Trump had already said more than his fair share of wrong/scary shit, the worst was still to come.
Fallon, meanwhile, conducted his interview in September of 2016, after Trump had not only shown his true colors over and over, especially in his bleak convention speech, but was also the bonafide GOP nominee and one of only two people with a realistic shot at the presidency. There could be no doubt that normalizing him on national tv could significantly increase his chance of becoming POTUS (even though, yes, that still seemed like a far-fetched notion even then).
How big a part the hair-mushing interview played is impossible to say, but Fallon can absolutely be partly blamed for President Trump. Colbert cannot.
Sure, NBC and Zucker deserve a lot of the blame, perhaps most. But Leno's stubborn refusal to take the high road was intensely annoying. Letterman said it best at the time. Conan, meanwhile, did absolutely nothing wrong. He deserved more patience and commitment from NBC (for whom he had worked for 16 years) and was frankly not even doing all that badly considering the dismal ratings of his lead-in and the usual finding-his-footing period.
Great post and agree wholeheartedly. Fuck Fallon.
He also decided to hire a full-time producer to offload a lot of his duties, and with that came changes to his show that I think have made it a lot better.
The early shows had some funny segments, but overall I was put off by how watered down Colbert seemed compared to his CR character. It was almost as if he was trying to make his show more easily-digestible like Fallon or Kimmel.
Even now when I watch his show I generally don't stick around for the celeb interviews or general 'late night talk show' things. I just want his monologue/commentary, some hilarious skits, and possibly a good interview if the guest is worthy.
This makes me miss Craig Ferguson even more.
Plinko
Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Letterman and Conan are not the same, and Letterman was MUCH tamer over time. Times/audiences change.
Maybe they did set him up to fail, but he still failed. I don't buy the idea that audiences couldn't hit a button and switch back to him if they actually wanted to watch him. I hate my local CBS newcast and watch NBC, but I know I can just hit a button and flip over to Colbert at 11:30.
I do see Letterman and Conan as kindred spirits, though. Letterman on Late Night was as experimental as Conan. He toned it down slightly when he moved to the 11:30 slot, but so did Conan. Or to put it another way: both needed time to adjust, the difference is Letterman got that time.
That said, I think Conan would have fared better had he inherited Letterman's show rather than Leno's. I'm sure many of Leno's fans were put off by Conan (which I think is to Conan's credit), while Letterman's would not have been to the same degree.
But that still doesn't mean Conan's Tonight Show was doomed to fail regardless. He was already bringing in and growing his own fanbase. We'll never know for sure if he could have succeeded eventually with more time and a better lead-in, but I happen to think he would have.
This implies that lead-ins don't matter at all (and haven't since the advent of the remote control). Decades of ratings history prove that they do. Their importance is declining, sure, but they still had a significant effect in 2009/2010.
OpinionatedCyborg
Member
Crazy how low the ratings are now. For some reason, I assumed that Fallon had restored the Tonight Show to Leno-level ratings. Late Night talk shows really are dying.
Extra Sauce
Member
Dying is the wrong word here. There are many more late night talk shows than ever before.
whitemex88
Member
Not to mention that these shows just post the "best" parts of the shows to youtube the next day giving people less incentive to watch live
Waddle Dee
Member
Good on Colbert, he's got the guts so few others do. I don't really like watching his show all that much since they spend so much time having the audience laugh and cheer for him nonstop when I just wanna see Colbert actually get to talk. Too much downtime, basically.
Old School Conan was by far my favorite of the late nights. He just didn't give a shit, resulting in the quirkiest and funniest skits. That NBC debacle definitely changed him. I think since then, he's tried maturing and it doens't work as well for me. Still some amazing skits though.
Good on Colbert. I end up watching a lot of his clips on YT. Seth Meyers also.
Good on Colbert. I end up watching a lot of his clips on YT. Seth Meyers also.
I have a soft spot for him but Meyers is 1000x better
DasPenguin
Member
He seems like a fun guy but just like Fallon there's very little substance. Colbert is so much better than Fallon so it's nice to see a ratings spike for him.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
For a long time he stayed near the 4 million Leno had in 2009-2013, plus a larger share of younger viewers, until 2016 when his numbers crashed to these worse than Conan Tonight Show numbers you're seeing now, below 3 million.
There's a small decline 2013-2015, but the major crash is almost entirely 2016.
Trump absolutely destroyed him.
uncelestial
Member
Colbert has the tools as a satirist to actually say something relevant in times like these.
Maybe now is not the era for sleepytime TV where we lob softballs at pretty celebrities, Jimmy. Hell, Jimmy can't even talk to people without it being "adorkable" and full of forced laughter, plus interviews aren't "viral" enough, so his solution to all that is to do all these stupid fucking games with his guests.
It's the least woke talk show on the air besides Fox and Friends, and I'm pretty tired of Fallon acting like being in the same room as a celebrity is comedy.
Maybe now is not the era for sleepytime TV where we lob softballs at pretty celebrities, Jimmy. Hell, Jimmy can't even talk to people without it being "adorkable" and full of forced laughter, plus interviews aren't "viral" enough, so his solution to all that is to do all these stupid fucking games with his guests.
It's the least woke talk show on the air besides Fox and Friends, and I'm pretty tired of Fallon acting like being in the same room as a celebrity is comedy.
Fallon may be terrible
, but he by far has the best games and segments that he plays with his guests. Makes for a lot of great clips at the very least.
Also the best band, but that's a footnote and mostly only because I like The Roots outside of their role on Fallon.
can confirm
Also the best band, but that's a footnote and mostly only because I like The Roots outside of their role on Fallon.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
To be fair to Colbert, he is on CBS. Most young people don't even know that channel exists.
Yeah if Hillary had won I have no doubt Fallon would still be #1 by far, and people would be discussing Colbert's tanking ratings.
eot
Banned
Cause The Big Bang Theory hasn't been one of the most popular shows on television for the last 5+ years.
BotoxAgent
Member
Agreed.
Jimmy has talent, but seemingly no moral compass.
Colbert has talent, a sharp mind, and a desire to be honest.
I agree, but I do think (hope) that in the less-dark timeline where Hillary won, Fallon would also be tanking due to the bolded. His shtick was getting mighty old, regardless of who's in the White House.
Late Night with Conan is probably my favorite late night talk show of all time. Crazy to think that we had Conan, Colbert, and Stewart at their peaks, producing some of the best television ever made, and we got it four nights a week for years.
exactly my thoughts.
still annoys me whenever i think about that.
yeah and the "feud" they all had which ended up in a brawl was hilarious and one of my favourite late night memories
scoobs
Member
Just goes to show you that fake laughing uncontrollably during boring interviews, and playing drinking games with celebrities will only get you so far. Turns out you actually have to be funny and entertaining on your own to succeed in the late night business. Colbert is infinitely funnier and more talented than Fallon, I'm glad to see things are finally turning around for him.
Fantastical
Death Prophet
Happy for his success but I still miss the old character. Sometimes still watch my favorite segments/interviews. It's crazy we had both Colbert and Stewart killing it.
In Corden's first week of shows he went and doorknocked and did a show entirely out of somebody's living room. reggie watts provided music, beck performed, and jeff goldblum was there. scripted or not, it was really weird and was promising for what Corden was willing to do with the show.
i don't watch it but judging by the clips, it seems that style of boundary breaking was short lived.
Jack The Nipper
Banned
Hillary wanted him too as well. You guys care this too much. Being a nice guy isn't that bad.
I like games and skill challenges. Would love to play the games myself. Don't even care about the tv part but can understand people don't care about watching that
Oh wow. Thank you for reminding me that happened. I had completely forgotten.
Reggie: I've never made anyone react this way before. I'm Reggie ffs.
And this is why I like Jimmy Fallon
DietRob
i've been begging for over 5 years.
He found his lane. Well not so much found it but was finally given the green light to say fuck moronic fox news watching, Trump worshiping, "middle America" viewing audience and go all in with his scathing political comedy/commentary.
Turns out CBS doesn't need them. They can continue to tune into Fallon for their mindless celebrity worship that he is so good at. Meanwhile CBS gets a more educated demographic. Advertising department loves it too because the types of viewers Colbert is attracting are professionals with money to spend.
I'm so happy for Stephen. I've been a viewer from day one. I muddled my way through the awful first several months and now I'm being rewarded with the show I always knew he could put on.
Turns out CBS doesn't need them. They can continue to tune into Fallon for their mindless celebrity worship that he is so good at. Meanwhile CBS gets a more educated demographic. Advertising department loves it too because the types of viewers Colbert is attracting are professionals with money to spend.
I'm so happy for Stephen. I've been a viewer from day one. I muddled my way through the awful first several months and now I'm being rewarded with the show I always knew he could put on.
Jack The Nipper
Banned
That's too bad but when do they go weeklyThe real news story here is how badly Conan's show is doing on TBS. Holy shit, he's not going to last much longer
The real news story here is how badly Conan's show is doing on TBS. Holy shit, he's not going to last much longer
It's TBS so it's not like he has to get really good ratings to stay on. His contract ends next year. I could see his next contract being his last though.
Anyway, yeah -- Fallon vs. Colbert is definitely the Trump effect. This reminds me of how Leno started doing better than Letterman due to Hugh Grant. Very funny to see. I watched Fallon from 2009-2014 mainly due to the Roots but I got tired of Fallon's "OMG YOU'RE SO GREAT!"-interview style. I thought he would improve when he moved to the Tonight Show but he's still the same.
Colbert comes off as real. Fallon: phony. The difference between Trump jokes/criticisms between the two due to this has obviously played a role in this ratings change.
Messofanego
Banned
That he's a fake.
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