Like a teenage girl I always soak in and bask in the drama of the late night television wars. I had a contact, a friend even, directly involved in the Conan vs. Leno welterweight title bout. That friend also ended up having ties with Jimmy Fallon's show. I'm not saying I had an insider's point of view, but I did know about certain things before most of the nation did. Why didn't I use this information to pull a "Steve Tacos Al Carbone", and use this info to my advantage? It would have possibly allowed me to make more than my fairly close to minimum wage for doing sports reports 3 times an hour every weekend. That's all very far away from the point of what i'm typing.
We have a developing situation on our hands here. Jay Leno 62 is about to be forced out (again?) from his gig as late night host. Jimmy Fallon and The Roots will slide in and take his place, flawlessly and it won't be a story. David Letterman is 67. I'm pretty sure CBS has been in contact with Fallon, using the "be patient and we'll take care of you strategy".
Don't let the TV executives and media fool you. Ratings don't matter when it comes to late night, and are on their way to be almost totally irrelevant in general when it comes to television. Old people die. Late night talk shows won't. Sure there is competition, and you want to beat your competitors, but the flawed TV ratings system is not how you determine who is winning in the battle for late night. DVR ratings, web site hits, hulu views, and more are taking over as what really matters.
NBC appears to be thinking clearly for once. Leno must go, and they must get younger at that position. Don't think CBS isn't thinking about this as well. So what happens next? In my estimation, a chain of events that will change Monday-Saturday nights on NBC for the forseeable future.
Leno out! Fallon in, and Seth Meyers to the 1130 central time slot. Meyers leaves SNL, where he serves as head writer. Taking his place, Jason Sudekis who has been unhappy with his SNL role for a long time now. He would not only get a pay raise, but more say in the way things happen on SNL. The head writer doesn't neccessarily write the most, or do weekend update. They serve as Lorne Michaels' right hand man, and they help with the trimming and editing of skits. Sudekis wants power, along with the ability have a movie career. I thought he'd be gone by now, but SNL talked him into staying. This is just a guess, but NBC approached Sudekis and notified him of the situation months ago.
Sudekis wanted out, and it was painfully obvious during last year's season finale in which they sent off Kristen Wiig. He was underappreciated by SNL and now he will be reciprocated. Fallon to 1030, Seth Meyers to 1130, and Sudekis running SNL. Sure, I could be wrong, but it makes a lot of sense. Maybe i'm just starting rumors and gossiping. I can't help it, the late night wars turn me into a dramatic teenage girl.
I love this stuff.
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