Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show" Contract Renewed through 2021
by Andy Swift
August 13, 2015


Jimmy Fallon is getting (even) more comfortable at NBC.

The network has renewed Fallon’s contract for an additional six years, ensuring he’ll be "The Tonight Show" host through the fall of 2021, president Bob Greenblatt announced Thursday at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills.

Added Greenblatt, “Jimmy is the best that there is. How elated are we that he’s going to be around for a long time in the role he was born to play?”

http://tvline.com/2015/08/13/tonight-show-jimmy-fallon-renewed-2021-nbc/

How long are the Roots signed up for?

"The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" Renewed at NBC for Five More Years
by Peter White
May 17, 2021


"The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" has been officially renewed by NBC for five more years. The move was announced by Susan Rovner, Chairman, Entertainment Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming at the company’s Upfronts presentation.

The renewal comes after it emerged that Jimmy Fallon extended his contract in November after his previous contract ran through the end of 2021.



"The Tonight Show" has been rebounding in the late-night ratings since the arrival of Joe Biden as Presidency.

While the series has struggled to compete against CBS’s "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" during Donald Trump’s presidency, but it has been picking up viewers in the key 18-49 demo since January.

https://deadline.com/2021/05/the-tonight-show-jimmy-fallon-renewed-at-nbc-for-five-years-1234758368/

America Has Changed Since 2014. The Tonight Show Hasn’t. (https://www.primetimer.com/barnhart/fallon)

Why Jimmy Fallon is no longer No. 1, or even (https://t.co/7tbqil9KJa) No. 2, in late night.

Remember when the new kid arrived on the late-night scene? He was a phenomenon! Everyone, it seemed, was staying up late to watch him. The hottest stars, the coolest band, the moments that went viral the next day. It was more of a party than a talk show. The host was eager to please, and his audience — the young tastemakers that advertisers coveted — adored him. Ratings were through the roof. The kid was making the late-night host on the other channel look old … really old. That host soon announced his retirement.

But then, the fizz started to go out of the drink. The fresh, funny bits that the phenom was scoring with a few months earlier began to feel stale. The show’s party atmosphere took on the air of forced jollity. Negative reviews started drifting in. Audience started drifting out. Next thing you know, the host on the other channel — the new guy, the one who owed his ascent to the disruption that the phenom caused — now he was the late-night host everyone was talking about.

And up to this point you think I’m talking about the rise and fall of Jimmy Fallon. Actually, I was thinking about someone else from a different era in late night: Arsenio Hall. Hired as a fill-in on the Fox Late Show in 1988 after the original host, Joan Rivers, was given the boot, this likable comic from Cleveland quickly became a magnet for viewers not served by Johnny Carson or David Letterman, the two other late-night options.

Arsenio jumped to syndication, won key time slots on CBS stations and became a sensation. Hall was known for his bold signature opening (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rInLLpwuQH4), his on-stage cheering section, his buddy-buddy relationship with seemingly every guest on his show and his conversations about topics important to young viewers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkbaBnzmQIY).

As Arsenio conjured up a huge following seemingly out of nothing, people inside NBC started to wonder what Johnny had done for them lately. Dana Carvey did a brutal (and still insanely funny) SNL parody (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvtdOCeKvNo) show called “Carsenio,” which infuriated Carson but accurately reflected the industry mood. Shortly after that, Jay Leno’s manager began her successful campaign to get Carson out and her client in.

The first time I made the connection between Jimmy Fallon and Arsenio Hall was the week Fallon launched as host of The Tonight Show seven years ago. Both men had a prior stint before big debuts — Arsenio as a fill-in on Fox, Fallon as host of the post-Conan O’Brien Late Night show. And they both launched spectacularly.

There was something irresistible about Jimmy. Celebrities flocked to his studio to play frat (https://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/tonight-show-box-of-lies-with-channing-tatumandjulia-louisdreyfus/4385915) party (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkkmxbYjX48) games (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi5mUWH4rLI). His house band The Roots, already the most celebrated music group on late-night TV, effortlessly raised its game. The comedy was brilliant almost despite itself. Reviewer Andy Greenwald watched in awe as Fallon and his sidekick, Steve Higgins, saved a dud joke about McDonald’s and “bent and folded it into a gleefully silly bit about Billy Bob Thornton ordering a McDLT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTSdUOC8Kac)." I watched the first 17 nights of the show, and I too was amazed at how effervescently entertaining it was.

Letterman had surely hoped that, in the twilight of his network career, and with his rival Leno finally retired for good, he might ascend to No. 1 again and go out on top. Soon it became clear that would never happen. Fallon grew Leno’s lead (https://variety.com/2014/tv/news/late-night-ratings-nbcs-tonight-show-hits-6-month-high-beats-rivals-combined-1201388927/) over Letterman to more than a million viewers, thanks to an influx of young viewers who hadn’t been watching either CBS or NBC. Dave retired a few months into Fallon’s reign and Colbert took his place.

The question always comes up: What if Jimmy’s people hadn’t booked Donald Trump on The Tonight Show? Or what if Jimmy had just left Trump’s hair alone? It’s a fair question, but I think it's the wrong question. What NBC executives should’ve been asking is: What happens when the party’s over? What happens when viewers get tired (https://www.theringer.com/tv/2018/2/12/17003528/watching-a-week-of-jimmy-fallon) of the pumped-up enthusiasm and host calling every guest their “buddy” or “close friend”? What happens when the audience tunes in to a “talk show” expecting, you know, talk, and get a game of Slapjack or Antler Ring Toss (https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/1840762/games-invented-by-jimmy-fallon-that-you-could-totally-play-at-home/2/) instead?

Arsenio Hall’s people didn’t have an answer, either. And his was a syndicated show, which meant the CBS stations owed him no loyalty. Once his ratings slipped and CBS had signed Letterman, it was game over for Arsenio.

Jimmy Fallon won’t suffer that fate. Even though The Tonight Show has fallen from No. 1 to No. 3 under his watch (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/can-nbc-halt-jimmy-fallons-long-ratings-tumble-1254270), Fallon just signed a new five-year deal with NBC. Jay Leno will not be un-retiring yet again. The current occupant will be the face of late night on the network that invented late night. But that’s not the prize it once was. The evening news is a storied franchise as well, but you try naming the three current network anchors. The audience that used to stay up late now watches its comedy on YouTube — where Fallon’s lead-out, Seth Meyers, gets far more views for most of his videos — and on streaming platforms, where Amber Ruffin, a writer for Meyers, does one 30-minute show a week for Peacock that generates way more buzz than The Tonight Show has in years.

I recently watched Fallon for the first time in a long time. Nothing’s changed — not the show open, not the monologue where Jimmy cracks himself up for no reason, not the awesomeness of The Roots, not the semi-amusing party games in lieu of something reasonably intelligent. Fallon is on his fourth showrunner (https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/jamie-granet-bederman-tonight-show-jimmy-fallon-showrunner-1234821453/) in eight years, and the country is on its third president in that time. If people inside NBC thought that getting rid of Trump (http://splitsider.com/2017/03/why-jimmy-fallons-escapism-doesnt-work-in-the-trump-era/) would mark a new beginning for their late-night star, the ratings tell a different story.

David Letterman evolved as a host, opening up more about his personal life. Jon Stewart started taking serious pills (maybe too many (https://nypost.com/2021/06/16/jon-stewart-tells-colbert-its-obvious-covid-19-came-from-wuhan-lab/)). Conan adapted and adapted (https://www.primetimer.com/barnhart/conan-o-brien). Kimmel grew into the job (https://www.primetimer.com/barnhart/how-jimmy-kimmel-became-the-grand-old-man-of-late-night). Any of these options are available to Jimmy Fallon. Instead, he shows up at the same club night after night and does the same act, to a shrinking audience, all the while hoping that Dana Carvey doesn’t work up a wicked impression of him.

Rumor: NBC Execs Regret Renewing Jimmy Fallon’s contract (5 Years, $80M) (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/rumor-nbc-execs-regret-renewing-jimmy-fallon%E2%80%99s-contract-5-years-80m.5133285/)

Hapless host Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show is losing the ratings war to FOX News rival Greg Gutfeld— and the TV flop’s sinking number has left NBC brass with buyer’s remorse, RadarOnline.com (https://radaronline.com/p/nbc-regrets-jimmy-fallon-80-million-contract-low-ratings-fox-news-greg-gutfeld-ratings-tonight-show/) has learned.

Nearly 19 months after the Peacock Network handed Fallon a whopping $80 million five-year contract extension, The Tonight Show is drawing under 1.3 million eyeballs — less than half the audience of upstart Gutfeld!

Somebody hit the nail on the head when they said (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/rumor-nbc-execs-regret-renewing-jimmy-fallon%E2%80%99s-contract-5-years-80m.5133285/post-88927907) that Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show was considered cutting edge (https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumorish-nbc-regrets-reupping-jimmy-fallons-contract-5-year-80-million.673120/post-99374878) and fun at first (https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumorish-nbc-regrets-reupping-jimmy-fallons-contract-5-year-80-million.673120/post-99357883), when he was doing sketches with Justin Timberlake, Will Smith, will.i.am., etc.

But he inevitably began to age (https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumorish-nbc-regrets-reupping-jimmy-fallons-contract-5-year-80-million.673120/post-99381910) (which would be fine if his target audience (https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumorish-nbc-regrets-reupping-jimmy-fallons-contract-5-year-80-million.673120/post-99343690) wasn't composed of teens and tweens, who would naturally, outgrow (https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumorish-nbc-regrets-reupping-jimmy-fallons-contract-5-year-80-million.673120/post-99383083) him), he had Donald Trump (https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumorish-nbc-regrets-reupping-jimmy-fallons-contract-5-year-80-million.673120/post-99342826) on his show, thus "normalizing" (https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumorish-nbc-regrets-reupping-jimmy-fallons-contract-5-year-80-million.673120/post-99361996) him, and he was just running out of funny (https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumorish-nbc-regrets-reupping-jimmy-fallons-contract-5-year-80-million.673120/post-99375322) ideas. Basically, his schtick (https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumorish-nbc-regrets-reupping-jimmy-fallons-contract-5-year-80-million.673120/post-99344335) got old.

I like Seth Myers a lot, more than the other three guys occupying the 10:30/11:30 slot. All three guys are fairly young and probably wont retire for many years allowing Myers to possibly move up the chain if ever. I watch "A Closer Look" on Youtube every week (when they have a new episode seemingly three times a week or so).

I can't stand Colbert whatsoever. Kimmel to me isnt much better, snarky and full of himself. I really dont know about Fallon that much, his show seems to be geared more to people born after 1990. There is still YouTube and Johnny Carson.

I like Seth Myers a lot, more than the other three guys occupying the 10:30/11:30 slot. All three guys are fairly young and probably wont retire for many years allowing Myers to possibly move up the chain if ever. I watch "A Closer Look" on Youtube every week (when they have a new episode seemingly three times a week or so).

I can't stand Colbert whatsoever. Kimmel to me isnt much better, snarky and full of himself. I really dont know about Fallon that much, his show seems to be geared more to people born after 1990. There is still YouTube and Johnny Carson.

Jimmy Fallon is somebody who you really need to be in a certain or particular frame of mind to tolerate (https://www.resetera.com/threads/seriously-what-is-the-deal-and-appeal-with-jimmy-fallon.506364/post-75991116) watching him (https://www.resetera.com/threads/rumorish-nbc-regrets-reupping-jimmy-fallons-contract-5-year-80-million.673120/post-99350374) day in and day out. I think somebody else said it best (https://www.resetera.com/threads/seriously-what-is-the-deal-and-appeal-with-jimmy-fallon.506364/post-75991566) that you need to think of him as less of a host (https://www.resetera.com/threads/seriously-what-is-the-deal-and-appeal-with-jimmy-fallon.506364/post-75991263) with an actual point of view (https://www.resetera.com/threads/seriously-what-is-the-deal-and-appeal-with-jimmy-fallon.506364/post-75991269) and more of a hype man for others.

I cannot figure out how in the world Jimmy Fallon continues to be a successful celebrity and talk show host for NBC. Because ever since he replaced Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show Jimmy Fallon has made a huge name for himself on NBC and I think he has this fantasy that he wants to be like Johnny Carson and when he replaced Jay Leno Johnny Carson was I think who Jimmy Fallon modeled himself after and that's why I think Jimmy Fallon wants to be the top celebrity of NBC. But when Jimmy Fallon got The Roots I think that's what made him more famous because prior to becoming Jimmy Fallon's house band The Roots made their debut in 1999 with R&B singer Tracie Spencer and then introduced singer/actress Jill Scott and continue to be popular today. And ever since his Tonight Show debut Jimmy Fallon has appeared in shows for NBC and is always been a frequent Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade guest since 2010 and it tells me that NBC pays Jimmy Fallon a lot of money. But I think as time goes on we will see Jimmy Fallon do other projects for NBC such as game shows and sitcoms

Jimmy Fallon accused of creating a toxic Tonight Show work environment with "erratic" behavior: He allegedly berated and belittled staffers (https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/jimmy-fallon-tonight-show-toxic-work-environment-crying-rooms-nbc-1234819421/#:~:text=These%20employees%20say%20they've,other%20colleagues%20and%20crew%20members.)

These employees (https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/16cg1tr/inside_the_chaos_of_jimmy_fallons_tonight_show/) say (https://www.resetera.com/threads/rolling-stone-inside-jimmy-fallon%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98tonight-show%E2%80%99-16-current-and-ex-staffers-accuse-fallon-of-erratic-behavior-and-creating-a-toxic-environment.761979/) they've witnessed (https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/behind-the-curtain-chaos-comedy-and-crying-rooms-16-staffers-unmask-jimmy-fallons-erratic-behavior-shattering-their-tonight-show-dreams.5376466/) Fallon (https://forums.primetimer.com/topic/1821-the-tonight-show-starring-jimmy-fallon/page/12/) snap (https://tvline.com/news/jimmy-fallon-rolling-stone-story-tonight-show-toxic-workplace-allegations-1235039649/) at crew members, express irritation over the smallest of things, and berate and belittle staffers out of frustration. Three former employees (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12493329/Jimmy-Fallons-drinking-NBC-bosses-worried.html) say (https://www.datalounge.com/thread/33423234-jimmy-fallon-and-the-tonight-show-are-toxic!) that he berated them (https://boards.4channel.org/tv/thread/189612008/rip) in front of other colleagues and crew members.

Jimmy Fallon apologizes (https://deadline.com/2023/09/jimmy-fallon-apologizes-to-the-tonight-show-staff-after-bombshell-report-1235539929/)

Jimmy Fallon (https://www.tigerdroppings.com/rant/movie-tv/jimmy-fallons-about-to-be-canceled/109675928/) has offered (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12494047/Jimmy-Fallon-APOLOGIZES-Tonight-staff-Embattled-host-says-feel-bad-tell-you.html) a mea culpa (https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/jimmy-fallon-apologizes-tonight-show-221230551.html) to his staff after a report highlighted (https://www.reddit.com/r/LiveFromNewYork/comments/16ci5ib/chaos_comedy_and_crying_rooms_inside_jimmy/) a “pretty glum atmosphere” (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12492443/Tonight-starring-Jimmy-Fallon-accused-toxic-work-environment.html) at The Tonight Show over the years.