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Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Premiere Draws Big Ratings, Bad Reviews
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by Jarrett Martineau | March 3, 2009 at 11:18 am
1535 views | 2 Recommendations | 1 comment
Jimmy Fallon debuted Monday night as the new host of "Late Night" and drew a record 35% increase in ratings over previous host Conan O'Brien's usual audience.
But despite this boost in Fallon's first night popularity, Fallon was widely lambasted for his performance, which included jittery nerves, terrible jokes, and mediocre at best interview skills.
Not even the powerhouse musical talents (and hip-hop street cred) of his house band, The Roots, were able to redeem him by slow jamming the news.
It's at times like these, when the American media pressure and scrutiny is on, that it is truly better to make a definitive impression on your audience — whether amazing or awful — than it is to barely draw a reaction either way.
Launching a new series that is seen as "ultra-ordinary" is perhaps an even worse fate; and being passably boring simply won't be enough to keep Fallon on the air.
Let's see how the rest of the week plays out.
Did you catch the first episode? What did you think?
For a personal acount of the first episode, check out NowPublic member Manny Castro's review: Fallon Slow Jams to the Exit
The show brought in the highest Monday ratings its received in more than three years and was up 35% from Conan O'Brien's average this season.
Watching Fallon, though, it was obvious he was nervous. Thankfully, the show went off without any major problems.
As for the competition, Fallon's debut out-rated Craig Ferguson's debut back in 2005 and even Jimmy Kimmel's back in 2003.
But will viewers tunes in even though the critics weren't so kind?
EW called it "ultra-ordinary — one liners about President Obama and the deficit that sounded like material Jay Leno's writers had faxed over from L.A."
While the Chicago Tribune said Fallon was "Sweaty, tense, uptight, nervous, wound-up, keyed up — pick an adjective."
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at 21:30 on June 2nd, 2009
Jimmy Fallon is so out of his league, and he knows it. Don't discount his awkward jitteriness as simply beginner's nerves. He's terrified because he knows he sucks, he knows that we know he sucks, and he's coasting through by the skin of his teeth. His guests don't seem to respect him as a real late night tv host. Steve Martin, bless his heart, tried to play along like he thought Fallon knew what he was doing, but he seemed very much aware of his desperate attempt to keep the focus off of him so he wouldn't have to talk very much. Most annoyingly, instead of witty replies, Fallon often just giggles like a cute little kid and says 'that's funny!'. It kind of reminds me of that running skit they had on SNL where Chris Farley played the clueless overexcitable talk show host who mostly would say "remember that one movie you were in? Dude, that was awesome!". Jimmy Fallon may be a better talk show host than that guy, but I'd much rather watch that old SNL skit over his show anyday.