Live from New York, it’s…the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon?
Yes indeed, the current host of NBC’s Late Night has reportedly received an offer to take over from Jay Leno as host of Tonight by no later than fall 2014 — and to move the show back to the east coast in the process, according to the New York Times.
The paper notes that “NBC has quietly begun work on a new studio in its headquarters building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza as the home for the new Tonight show.”
Leno, for his part, has been taking jabs at NBC’s ratings woes and even called network execs “snakes” in recent monologues, a likely sign that he knew this succession plan — and its leak to the media — was brewing.
In the summer of 2009, the network endured a botched succession plan in which it gave Leno’s gig to then Late Night host Conan O’Brien — and launched The Jay Leno Show in the 10pm weeknight timeslot that September. By March of 2010, Leno was back in the Tonight Show chair, with O’Brien accepting a massive buyout offer and eventually landing his own show on TBS.
What do you think of NBC’s plan to give Fallon the coveted 11:30/10:30c time slot? How do you think the show will change — if at all — with the move to New York City? Hit the comments with your thoughts!
