Posted on 03/08/2017 1:21:03 PM PST by drewh
“The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon watched his show’s ratings take a hit yet again on Tuesday as competitor “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” won its fifth straight week in overall viewers — and sources say Fallon’s being forced to change his strategy to win back eyeballs.
“[Fallon] is feeling the pressure. I mean, Stephen Colbert is now beating him in a big way and he has to change his format to keep up because he’s losing viewers,” said a source, adding that Fallon’s getting more political. “They had to figure out a way to get Trump [into his routine] because he’s too weak on Trump, and viewers are going elsewhere. [He’s been] uncomfortable talking about politics, and that’s not what the people want.”
Sources tell Page Six that Fallon was forced to zhoozh up his show and recently debuted a new segment, “This Week in Words,” to rival politically edgy Colbert’s late ratings hike.
A different source added that Fallon “is being pushed to be more political. When he was on ‘SNL’ he could be vicious on the ‘Weekend Update’ desk.”
David Letterman dinged Fallon in New York magazine, saying, “I would have gone to work on Trump.”
CBS crowed Tuesday that former Comedy Central host Colbert won the ratings race for a fifth straight week in overall viewers, growing 29 percent from the same time last year. But a “Tonight Show” source said, “Fallon continues to enjoy a lead over Colbert in the 18 to 49 demographic, which is more important in the industry than the overall viewership.” They said Colbert’s recent string of wins has gotten slimmer each time.
The numbers still get Fallon’s goat.
“He freaks out over this. He has to be on top,” a source told us.
But another source close to the show insisted Fallon’s a fan of Colbert, and, “We always strive to unveil new sketch material. We have as much fun doing political humor as we do skewering pop culture . . . We love Stephen’s show. They’re doing great stuff. There’s no shortage of material every night.”
An NBC rep commented: “From Jimmy’s first week on the air, the entire team has done a remarkable job keeping ‘The Tonight Show’ fresh and entertaining.”
Even my husband stopped watching Fallon some time ago. He said the show was not good and Fallon was juvenile. He won’t watch Colbert either.
That’s funny. I STOPPED watching Fallon because he trashed Trump all the time.
Colbert is an unfunny, grossly overpaid, smug a**hole. It is depressing he can beat out Fallon, who is considerably less obnoxious.
The worst of them is samantha bee, the replacement for jon stewart leibowitz.
Every night on her network we are exposed to unending commercials showing her in a posture like she is getting a rectal exam, saying something nasty about Trump/his cabinet/republicans.
We have proven we have enough home grown rectal vents why did we have to import her from Canada?
Remember both of these guys ate entertaining the ignorant. But Colberts rating bump is probably due to the fact that he got some Trump publicity, and then when people tuned in to Colbert they realized Colbert just has better wits. He does also have better quips which make for good entertainment. now if only there was a good late night program with a witty funny host that was anti liberal, what a great show we would have. Libs think its ok to laugh at Republicans all while making it unacceptable to laugh at libs. What a great stage they own, but we have to change that.
Whatever, I don’t watch either of them. One of the retro channels has Johnny Carson from the 1970s and 80s. I watch that.
Can someone tell me why it isn’t obvious marketing that if Colbert has already niched out the libs and trump haters then he should go after the remaining demographic?
I haven’t watched late night TV shows in 15+ years. They’re boring and silly.
OMG Colbert is about as funny as Ashley Judd.
This started to develop a few weeks ago - and Fallon’s monologue became all Trump, all the time...and a whole lot less funny.
Colbert can pull off being a lefty, to a narrow audience. Fallon can’t, and will soon turn off a lot of normal people...the normal people who have already tuned out Colbert.
Remember, the late night hosts and SNL just couldn’t find anything at all funny about Barry...the slant is becoming too obvious.
isn’t Kimmel trouncing them all in overall viewers? (and with a terrible lead in schedule to boot) so the 18-49 is all they are worried about...
I watch Johnny Carson reruns on YouTube. Better than any current.
You mean the demographic that would like the late night show to be funny? That is way too much work for these idiots.
Most annoying SNL alumni.
Was constantly breaking character and laughing at his own jokes.
Never understood how he gets work.
I stopped watching late night when Jay left. Well, okay when Johnny left. But I’d pop in to see Jay. Letterman I wouldn’t piss on if he were on fire.
These new clowns... not a chance.
Meanwhile a smug Jay Leno tends to his car collection.
These numbers are always in flux. Fallon took a dip in January and February, but that may only be a temporary fluctuation. The other guy involved, Jimmy Kimmel, may have been the beneficiary, but whoever wrote the article wants to spin things to pressure Fallon into trying to be more like Colbert.
A different source added that Fallon “is being pushed to be more political. When he was on ‘SNL’ he could be vicious on the ‘Weekend Update’ desk.”
Really? That wasn't my impression. Whatever he said, the impression I got was just that he was just clowning around. Colbert is out to draw blood and put his targets in the hospital.
29% of what? How much of a lead?
Terrible article, it would be nice if this article used actual numbers. My guess is the number of people who watch any of these shows is rather low.
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