Jimmy Fallon & The Tonight Show trim down to 4-day week; is late night TV doomed?

Last Updated on September 30, 2024

Some might be sending some thank you notes to Jimmy Fallon, as The Tonight Show is joining other late night shows by reducing the number of new shows per week to four, down from the traditional five.

For a while there, Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show were hanging onto something that some of the most prominent late night talk shows – Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – had already committed to ditching. And while Fallon himself has plenty of haters, that he hung on for so long does show his determination in keeping the format’s tradition alive. But now, Friday episodes will be reruns.

But as we know, the world of late night television has changed dramatically. When the older guard of hosts moved on, that made room for the likes of Fallon for The Tonight Show (eventually…), meaning it was inevitable that they would try to capture a younger audience. With that, you got more games, the occasional lip sync battle and erratic laughter at the faintest hint of your guest making a joke. But late night talk shows have also had to battle with budding behemoths like social media. As such, it became more common for people to know what was going on with late night television via short-form methods such as TikTok and YouTube clips. If that’s how their shows are being consumed by a certain generation, what are they really missing if they cut back one night?

No doubt this is just the latest sign – along with Seth Meyers’ longtime house band, The 8G, being axed by NBC – that late night television will never be the same. As someone who grew up on Letterman and Leno, it all changed when they left town. But there was still a lot of excitement with the new guys. But now that that has spread thin in a way we’ve never seen, that doesn’t leave a lot of hope for any of the time slots. Of note, Taylor Tomlinson launched After Midnight earlier this year in the post-12:30 a.m. slot.

What impact will late night shows like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon trimming their schedule have on the format? Is late night TV doomed? Give us your take on the matter in the comments section below.