Talk about “much ado about nothing”! Let’s just let the funnier hosts have the prime spots.
Leno has always been a mainstream funny host with broad appeal.
Letterman is so dry that the laughs are few and his bandleader seems to dull any moment he is on camera.
Conan’s laughs are also too rare and yet he is funny. Too bad he is funnier than his show.
Kimmel seems to have a well-rounded funny show, like a slightly edgier Leno.
Jimmy Fallon seems like a cool cat, maybe fun to have a beer with but he is such a nervous wreck that he is barely watchable. He rocks around so much that the viewer (and his camera men) are in danger of suffering vertigo and he stammers his way through most every interview. With the right amount of medication or some relaxation techniques like Tia Chi, he could have a good show.
Fallon competes with Craig Ferguson who is more relaxed and has an accent.
Even though Carson Daly comes on around the time the bars close he too is just not that funny. Even drunk!
In the end none of them are as funny as The Simpsons reruns at 11pm. (Ironical some episodes written in part by Conan O’Brien). But the late night shows should be good as they can be instantly topical. But as most Americans have Cable or Satellite they will also be competing against The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. And as long as politicians are, on and off camera, Hippocrates they will always be the most relevant late night shows.
And with DVR features, the late nighters have to compete with everything on TV at every hour. Including all the unintended funny shows like Glenn Beck, soap operas, and effeminate entertainment reporters and shows geared towards wrestling fans, etc.
Whatever happens, I guess the “free market” will decide. It just seems wrong to pay so much money for so few laughs. Then again, maybe I am just getting old. I was only a child but I actually remember when Saturday Night Live was funny and that’s still on the air.
