Late Show UK

NBC last night announced that Jimmy Fallon will be the new host of Late Night when Conan O’Brien takes over at the Tonight Show next year.

Fallon joined NBC in 1998 on Saturday Night Live and went on to “co-anchor” the Weekend Update spot with Tina Fey two years later. The former MTV awards host also guest presented the Late Show in 2003. The announcement appears to put to bed rumours that NBC might be thinking about keeping Leno on as host of the Tonight Show.

More: NBC rolls out fall lineup by naming Jimmy Fallon to succeed Conan O’Brien (LA Times)

Jimmy Fallon will take over from Conan O’Brien on Late Night from next year, when Conan moves to The Tonight Show. It’s been long rumoured that he was top of the list for the Late Night job for a long time, so we can all now stop speculating.

Fox News says “it’s a done deal”. Fox News also says Jay Leno will be retiring from The Tonight Show in “May 2009″ - just over a year from now. Roger Friedman of FoxNews.com reports “NBC will make the formal announcement about Fallon around May 11 or 12, when the network presents the fall ‘08 schedule to advertisers here in New York”. The Associated Press also reports the story.

FoxNews.com - “Jimmy Fallon Cinches Conan’s Job”
The Associated Press - “Reports: Fallon to succeed Conan on ‘Late Night’”
LateByte - “Jimmy Fallon waarschijnlijk vervanger Conan”
Digital Spy - “Fallon replacing O’Brien on ‘Late Night’”

Thoughts are rolling in again as to who’s going to take over from Conan O’Brien on Late Night when Conan moves to The Tonight Show next year, and time is ticking away. Leno is, of course, retiring next year - unless NBC executives change their mind and keep him on for another year. Variety.com reports if that were to happen NBC “would have to pay O’Brien a penalty estimated at more than $40 million”. The most logical choice for Late Night - as has been said before - would be Jimmy Fallon who’s proved popular on Saturday Night Live. Not forgetting Carson Daly (currently host of Last Call which airs after Late Night With Conan O’Brien on NBC) - he could also be an obvious choice.

Variety.com says “some of the names floated for O’Brien’s replacement have included Jon Stewart, Dane Cook and Australian television star Rove McManus”. My personal favourite would be Jon Stewart. He’s become hugely well received on The Daily Show (Comedy Central) and also proves he’s liked on a mainstream level - the Academy Awards hosting duties for example. The last piece of the jigsaw for the talk shows in 2009 is whether or not The Tonight Show will stay in Burbank or if it will move to New York City - currently home to Late Night With Conan O’Brien (and the Late Show on CBS, of course). The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was based in New York. I feel The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien should be based in New York and perhaps moving Late Night With ???? to Burbank.

Variety - “Landing the next Conan”

Conan O’Brien will be stopping by to appear on The Tonight Show on Thursday 27th March, along with Anderson Cooper. Conan will, of course, be taking over The Tonight Show next year when Jay Leno hands over the reigns. Don’t forget to tune in! The show will be airing on CNBC for us folk in the UK on Tuesday 1st April at 11pm (the show returns to the 11pm UK timeslot because British Summer Time begins at the end of March). Conan was also a guest on The Tonight Show on the 27th April last year.

Once again, the rumour mill is in full swing with regards to Leno giving up The Tonight Show next year and what’s going to happen when he leaves and other subsequent changes at NBC. It’s been about 4 years since NBC announced Jay would be giving up The Tonight Show chair in 2009 but it seems Leno might be staying at NBC, with a brand new show, as NBC tries to sign him up to a new contract. Conan O’Brien would still get The Tonight Show gig and BND.com (New York Times) says “NBC has begun construction on a new studio for “Tonight,” as well as offices for O’Brien’s staff”.

According to reports, TV networks aren’t allowed to negotiate with Leno until November 2009. BND.com (New York Times) also suggest “executives who know the details of his contract said Leno would remain attached to NBC through the end of 2009, even though he probably would not be on the air for the last six months of the contract”. Jimmy Fallon - of Saturday Night Live fame - is thought to be the favourite to take over Late Night when Conan leaves, and it’s thought - if Jimmy were to get the job - Conan would leave Late Night several months before starting on The Tonight Show to give Fallon a good chance of settling in, with a lead-in from Jay Leno’s Tonight Show.

It’s also believed that - when Conan starts The Tonight Show next year - Leno wouldn’t be back on-screen hosting a new show until 2010, to give O’Brien time to get the show up and running without any competition from Leno. It’s not known whether Leno would get offered a primetime show on NBC, another late night programme on NBC or whether he would defect to another network to host a show - ABC, Fox and Sony Pictures Television are all interested in signing him up. If Sony Pictures Television got the deal, BND.com say they’re likely to offer him a “syndicated late-night show”. David Letterman is signed up to stay with the Late Show on CBS until 2010, and it’s not known whether he will retire after this, or renew with CBS - or another network - again.

BND.com - “Courting Leno, unofficially, for a new gig” (New York Times)

5th March 2008 update… More speculation;

The Columbus Dispatch - “Where will Jay Leno land next? Hard to tell”

Is Jay Leno having second thoughts about his planned 2009 retirement from The Tonight Show? An article on The Star Online eCentral states “Leno has said he is comfortable with his planned departure but, according to a report earlier this month in the Los Angeles Times, the comedian has grown reluctant to retire as host of the top-rated, late-night programme”. Conan O’Brien is thought to be a certainty to takeover The Tonight Show from 2009.

Read more at The Star Online eCentral

When Conan O’Brien takes over from Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show in 2009, it has been confirmed he will move to Los Angeles to host the show. The Tonight Show will stay in LA and Late Night (with a new host) is expected to remain in New York. NBC will be selling the Burbank studios where The Tonight Show is currently taped - so The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien will be filmed at Studio One in the Universal Studios lot.

Source - LateByte Article - ‘Conan in 2009 naar Los Angeles’

Will Leno stay at NBC when he leaves The Tonight Show in 2009? Variety.com reports NBC are very keen for Jay to stay there for life, and not defect to another TV network. NBC have also started looking for a replacement for Conan’s Late Night slot - but it looks like Jon Stewart might not be getting that, despite previous speculation when he met up with NBC bosses a while back. In another Variety.com article, they speculate who might be up for the Late Night job - names of which include the likes of Jimmy Fallon, someone from The Daily Show like Stephen Colbert (who now has his own show - The Colbert Report), or Jimmy Kimmel (he already has a show on ABC). Or will they choose someone unknown - like Conan was at the time?

Canada.com are reporting Jon Stewart may take over Conan’s timeslot on NBC when Conan is expected to move to The Tonight Show when Jay retires. Jay Leno is due to retire from The Tonight Show in 2009. The Canada.com article says Jon was “wined and dined by NBC executives recently” - sparking the rumours of him moving to NBC’s 12.30am timeslot. Read the full article by clicking here.

In a recent interview with CNN, Jay Leno has expressed his admiration for David Letterman, and how there are no hard feelings between them. Jay is coming up to his 15th year hosting The Tonight Show. Dave was favourite to takeover when Johnny Carson retired, but it went to Leno instead - which meant Dave moving to CBS to host the Late Show. Leno said “Dave’s always been a gentleman. There’s never, never been any bad words between us”. Jay also said how Conan (hosting Late Night) - who takes over from Leno as the host of The Tonight Show in a few years - has “blossomed into a terrific talk show host, an extremely talented writer, a funny performer”. Read CNN’s full interview with Jay over at CNN.com by clicking here.

CBS have confirmed rumours that Letterman will stay with the broadcaster until 2010. This means Letterman will stay longer than Leno on NBC, who will give way to Conan O’Brien in 2009.

The deal is expected to be worth around $30 million a year.

More…

ABC News: Letterman Signs With CBS Through 2010

BBC Five Live: American TV Digest (Scroll down to Wednesday)