It's Official: Leno out, Fallon in

http://www.kshb.com/dpp/entertainment/tonight-show-host-jay-leno-on-way-out-jimmy-fallon-to-take-over-late-night-reigns

 

Fallon sucks. So does Leno.

 

I love when people take over the reigns.

 

NBC's mistake is doing this now. Leno is still No. 1 and Fallon isn't going anywhere, and I'm guessing was not lobbying for this.

By doing this now, they're risking Leno going to Fox or getting a syndication deal and if Fallon loses NBC's grip on No. 1, he will be blamed for it.

 

Joey Lawrence and Patrick Duffy should be Jay's final guests.

 

If Leno is truly content to retire to his garage and tour as a stand-up then NBC has dodged a bullet.

If he goes to Fox or gets a syndication deal, this could be almost as ugly as the Conan debacle.

Joel McHale should be a no-brainer for the 12:30 slot.

 

Mizzou, the problem for Fox is that their prime time programming ends at 10, not 11. This puts any late night show on the network out of synch. Show it at 10:30, you're up against prime time shows. Wait until 11:30 and you have no lead-in at all, and your audience is already cutting z's.

 

I read something that a Fox deal would have him starting at 11. Whether that would be after 30 minutes of news, and a Seinfeld rerun or 60 minutes of news, I don't know... If he's starting at 11, that could be dangerous for the other late night shows... That said, there have been similar issues that have prevented Fox from having a late night guy all this time... There are a lot of affiliates who would rather show reruns of Seinfeld or something else than show a late night show...

 

Even when it's reining outside?

 

The two major advantages for a station of being a Fox affiliate are getting NFL games and all the extra time you have to present local news (cash cow) and syndicated programs. Fox wouldn't want to mess with that, because with the decline of American Idol their network ratings are starting to deteriorate.

 

So, it could be win-win if Fox's 10 o'clock news would go for an hour and then to Leno?

 

Lorne Michaels will be the producer too? I hope it doesn't hurt SNL's quality.