NBC is pulling back the ‘Tonight Show’ to four nights a week
The last of TV’s five original nights a week late-night show is losing 24 hours from its schedule.
NBC will move “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” to four nights a week, the latest in a series of moves in the late-night daytime segment aimed at supporting the economics of the programs as audiences move away from watching to linear television. Like its late-night rivals, “Tonight” airs in reruns on Fridays.
CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” are already on a schedule of four originals per week.
NBC has been investigating the charges late at night in recent months. Earlier this year, the network decided to cut the house band from Meyers’ 12:35, a move that recently went into effect. But all networks have tested similar maneuvers in recent years.
NBC has stopped programming a 1:30 a.m. slot that was once filled with hosts like Bob Costas and Carson Daly. Comedy Central has given up trying to come up with a companion show to “Daily” that could follow the program after 11:30 p.m., and currently Jon Stewart hosts the program once a week, with contributors like Desi Lydic and Jordan Klepper. other days,. ABC has gone so far as to allow Kimmel to go on vacation for a few weeks every summer.
Fallon has continued to produce a Friday show in recent seasons, even when his competitors gave up training. He often recorded two programs on Thursdays, one of which was broadcast the following evening.
Johnny Carson never had to think about whether or not to do an original show every weeknight, but he also never had to deal with streaming services; DVRs; and clips of his nightly routines distributed via YouTube and Snap. The late-night shows have long served as a kind of national pop culture institution, but digital media allows audiences who once tuned in around midnight to watch unambiguous clips from all shows in a way of their choosing. Even Carson, who had significantly less competition during his career, couldn’t stop that.
More to come…
