Snoozing through late-night TV
It鈥檚 nearly time to crown the new king of the 鈥�The Tonight Show.鈥� In early 2014, Jay Leno will hand the reins of NBC鈥檚 legendary late-night talk show to Jimmy Fallon, currently the host of NBC鈥檚 鈥淟ate Night.鈥� With Mr. Fallon taking over 鈥淭onight,鈥� Seth Meyers of 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� will host 鈥淟ate Night,鈥� and ABC plans to move Jimmy Kimmel鈥檚 time slot up half an hour to compete directly with Fallon.
But will these shifts make a difference among 18-to-49-year-olds, the coveted demographic that catapulted 鈥�The Daily Show鈥� and 鈥淭he Colbert Report鈥� to success?
Though the changes are still months away, entertainment writers are already abuzz with speculation.
According to Nielsen ratings, Mr. Leno wiped the floor with his late-night competitors in the second quarter of this year, attracting an average of 3.57 million viewers per night, while Fallon averaged 1.78 million. David Letterman and Mr. Kimmel lagged with an average of 750,000 and 1 million viewers, respectively.
Time slots, ratings, Jimmy versus Jimmy; the bigger question might be, do viewers really care about any of it?
鈥淓veryone is talking about all these changes in 鈥楲ate Night,鈥� and my reaction is, 鈥楽o what?鈥欌�� says Steve Johnson, longtime TV critic and arts writer for the Chicago Tribune. 鈥淢ore and more every year I pay attention less and less.鈥�
Among 18-to-49-year-olds, 鈥淭he Daily Show鈥� is nearly neck and neck with 鈥淭he Tonight Show,鈥� with 1.11 million viewers to Leno鈥檚 1.08 million. But in the younger demographic of 18-to-34-year-olds, 鈥淭he Daily Show鈥� draws almost twice as many viewers than 鈥淭he Tonight Show,鈥� according to Nielsen.
Mr. Johnson says the main reason younger viewers are changing the channel is the slow format of network late-night shows. Why spend 50 minutes waiting for a celebrity guest who might say something you haven鈥檛 heard before, he asks, when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert reliably deliver winning political satire packed into 20 minutes?
鈥淭he format has essentially been unchanged since the early days of the 鈥楾onight Show.鈥� The difference is now you have half a dozen people doing it,鈥� says Johnson, who allows that there鈥檚 still some great comedy on late-night, like Fallon鈥檚 hilarious 鈥�Evolution of Mom Dancing With Michelle Obama.鈥� But why tune in at night when you can catch the best clips on YouTube the next day?
鈥淵ou can keep your eyes and ears on social media, and if you hear about something great you can look it up,鈥� Johnson says. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to sit there like it鈥檚 1974 waiting for the great moment.鈥�
