Seth Meyers to take over Fallon show

Jimmy Fallon, left, will give up his seat as host of the Late Show to Seth Meyers. Picture: AP/Chris Pizzello Source: AP

SETH Meyers is moving from his Weekend Update desk to his own late night show on NBC.

The network said on Sunday that the 12-year Saturday Night Live cast member will replace Jimmy Fallon next year at the Late Night show, which airs at 12.35am US eastern time. Fallon is moving up an hour as Jay Leno's replacement on the Tonight show.

Meyers was considered the lead candidate for the Late Night job ever since Fallon's promotion was announced.

The announcement solidifies Lorne Michaels as the comedy kingmaker at NBC. He'll be the executive in charge of Late Night, Tonight and Saturday Night Live, which will all originate from New York's Rockefeller Center.

Meyers, 39, has been the head writer at Saturday Night Live for eight seasons. He's in his seventh year as "Weekend Update" host, to which he devotes all of his on-air time now.

And like Fallon before him, Meyers is making the move from Weekend Update to Late Night.

"We think Seth is one of the brightest, most insightful comedy writers and performers of his generation," said Bob Greenblatt, NBC entertainment chairman. His topical comedy is "perfect for the 'Late Night' franchise," he said.

The late-night show began with David Letterman in 1982, and its other hosts have been Conan O'Brien and Fallon.

Meyers is a Northwestern University graduate and began his comedy career in Chicago. His chief television competition will by Craig Ferguson on CBS and Nightline on ABC. Like television in general, the late-night audience has dispersed in several directions, with DVR viewing of shows taped earlier a big alternative at night.

Late-night comedy is one of the NBC's few strong suits, with Saturday Night Live often drawing a bigger audience than most of what the network airs in prime-time. With Meyers' appointment, NBC is hoping for a smooth transition to a younger generation.

"I only have to work for Lorne for five more years before I pay him back for the time I totaled his car," Meyers quipped. "12.30 on NBC has long been incredible real estate. I hope I can do it justice."

Behind the scenes, Michael Shoemaker will remain with Late Night as producer, NBC said.

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Fallon 'replacing Leno on Tonight'

Jimmy Fallon will be replacing Jay Leno as the host of The Tonight Show. Fallon reportedly called Leno to smooth over the move and avoid a repeat of the Conan O'Brien debacle. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

AS Jay Leno lobs potshots at ratings-challenged NBC in his Tonight Show monologues, speculation is swirling the network is taking steps to replace the host with Jimmy Fallon next year and move the show from LA to New York.

NBC confirmed on Wednesday it's creating a new studio for Fallon in New York, where he hosts Late Night. But the network did not comment on a report that the digs at its Rockefeller Plaza headquarters may become home to a transplanted, Fallon-hosted Tonight.

The New York Times reported the plan in a Wednesday story, citing unidentified network executives. The Hollywood Reporter had a March 1 report about a Fallon-Leno switch, which was denied by the network.

Looming over NBC is its messy, failed effort to replace Leno with Conan O'Brien, which ended in 2010 with Leno regaining Tonight and NBC losing O'Brien - who got a $US45 million exit deal - to TBS. Leno's current Tonight contract expires in September 2014.

That occurred under a different regime, before NBCUniversal was taken over by Philadelphia-based Comcast, which has a reputation for discipline. While NBC dithered and backtracked on its Tonight succession plan involving O'Brien, Comcast is likely to be more decisive.

"I don't know if it's possible to have a less orderly transition than Leno-O'Brien," said analyst Brad Adgate of media-buying firm Horizon Media.

Fallon contacted Leno in an effort to help smooth the potential switch, according to a Hollywood Reporter story Wednesday.

US President Barack Obama talks with Jay Leno during a commercial break during the taping of an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in October. Picture: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

The latest roiling of the late-night waters began in January when ABC moved Jimmy Kimmel Live back to 11.35pm to offer direct competition to Leno and CBS' David Letterman.

With the potential for Kimmel, 45, to draw advertiser-favoured young viewers away from Leno (62) and Letterman (65), it's unsurprising that their networks might step up their succession planning.

At 38, Fallon is the youngest of the pack.

Leno, who took over Tonight from Johnny Carson in 1992, did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment. But he might be taking advantage of other ways to communicate - the Tonight stage and its audience of millions.

Although late-night hosts are known for needling their network bosses on-air, the timing of Leno's latest jabs at NBC seemed to make the network particularly uncomfortable. They reportedly asked him to stop; he hasn't.

"You know the whole legend of St. Patrick, right? St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland - and then they came to the United States and became NBC executives," Leno joked on Monday's show.

On Tuesday, he played off a news report about a Serbian woman with a rare brain condition that causes her to see the world upside down: "Isn't that crazy? It's unbelievable. She sees everything upside down. In fact, she thinks NBC is at the top of the ratings."

He kept up the pace Wednesday, according to a NBC transcript released after the show's taping. Leno quipped that scientists may be able to clone extinct species and bring them back from the dead, "so there's hope for NBC."

Leno, who briefly moved to prime-time to make room for O'Brien, has proved himself a wily survivor. Despite the challenge from Kimmel, he and Tonight have remained the top-rated late night talk show so far.

But if a change is destined, NBC could be eying next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, as a premium launch pad for a revamped Tonight, analyst Mr Adgate said.

"If they're going to do it, it makes sense to do it when NBC is dominating television for 17 days," he said, and can heavily promote the Tonight switch.

"They could have Fallon in Sochi, talking it up."

In the April issue of GQ magazine, Late Night producer Lorne Michaels, who also helms Saturday Night Live, said a transition to Fallon had "an inevitability to it," adding that he was "the closest to Carson that I've seen of this generation."
 

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