THEY'RE ALL COMING BACK
'The Jeff Probst Show' Has Been Canceled
So how was Jimmy Fallon on his first Late Night?
by Bob Sassone, posted Mar 3rd 2009 12:46PM
It's almost unfair to review the first episode of a new talk show. After all, the show will be different every night, with different guests, different sketches, different musical guests. So to sit here and talk about what was good and bad about the first episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon would be unfair and silly. But let's do it anyway!
There's one thing I loved right away, and it had nothing to do with the host, his guests, the band, the sketches, or the audience. Can you guess what it was? The pic above is a clue.
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has...curtains!
It's weird to think about, but no other late night talk show uses curtain like Carson used to (Johnny, not Daly). Dave uses the skyline, Jay uses his desk set as a background, as do Ferguson and Daly. Kimmel comes out from behind a curtain but walks away from it and has a different background. Conan didn't either. Sure, it's a ridiculously minor thing, but it catches your eye and I like the way it looks, very classic and late night.
How was the show from there? Hit and miss. Fallon was incredibly nervous, but then again Fallon always seems nervous: talking fast, shifting around, seemingly ADD-like. So that didn't distract me as much as it might some people, because I expected it. His monologue was...a monologue, and like everyone else's it had unfunny jokes and a couple of really clever ones.
The interviews: Well, he's already a better interviewer than Conan (who appeared in a rather funny opening bit, cleaning out his office and saying very seriously, "Jay's not leaving."). But last night the interviews were too much about him (stories about celebs, impersonations, etc) and not about his guests. Hopefully that will change. The sketches were horrible: one about a movie starring DeNiro and Fallon called Space Train fell flat, and the game where he got members of the audience to lick things for $10 should be dropped immediately. The house band, The Roots, just don't knock me out, though the lead singer has a fantastic voice. But it's a talk show band and they don't make or break shows. "Slow-Jammin' The News" was cute.
So, bottom line: not a terrible beginning by any means, though at the same time, it's not must-see TV either. There's really nothing you can do with the late night talk show format unless your really go outside the box. The success of this show, like a lot of late night shows, will hinge on whether or not you like Fallon.
His guest tonight include Tina Fey, so that should be fun.
| I loved it! | |
|---|---|
| It was OK, I'll give it another shot | |
| I'm never watching it again |
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