...and the end of the presidential election

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/business/media/jimmy-fallon-tonight-show.html

The Tonight Show host has been trailing both Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel in total viewers and the all-important 18-49 demo. The news that longtime producer Jamie Granet-Bederman was being named showrunner coming the day before the election is a sign that NBC hopes The Tonight Show can bounce back no matter who is elected president. UPDATE: NBC has signed Fallon to a contract extension (https://deadline.com/2020/11/the-tonight-show-jimmy-fallon-extends-contract-nbc-1234608066/).

The Tonight Show names longtime producer Jamie Granet-Bederman as its new showrunner (https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/jamie-granet-bederman-tonight-show-jimmy-fallon-showrunner-1234821453/)

She'll replace Gavin Purcell, who has been leading Jimmy Fallon's late-night show on an interim basis since last year. Granet-Bederman has worked with Fallon since Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

NBC Extends Jimmy Fallon’s "Tonight Show" Contract Past 2021
by Peter White
November 2, 2020


Jimmy Fallon is sticking with "The Tonight Show". The comedian has signed a contract extension with NBC to continue hosting the late-night show.

His current contract runs through to the end of 2021 after the network extended the deal in August 2015 for an additional three and a half years.

This comes after a showrunner change with Jamie Granet-Bederman taking charge of the show and Gavin Purcell stepping down to return to his development deal with Universal Television.

https://deadline.com/2020/11/the-tonight-show-jimmy-fallon-extends-contract-nbc-1234608066/

The Tonight Show head writer exits after 6 months over Trump jokes (https://deadline.com/2020/11/rebecca-drysdale-exits-the-tonight-show-jimmy-fallon-donald-trump-1234610009/)

Rebecca Drysdale, a Key and Peele veteran who joined The Tonight Show as head writer in April (https://deadline.com/2020/04/rebecca-drysdale-tonight-show-starring-jimmy-fallon-head-writer-1202921467/), said in a private Facebook post, first picked up by Chicago Sun-Times (https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/11/5/21551727/tonight-show-trump-head-writer-leave-jimmy-fallon-becky-drysdale-comedy-nbc), that her departure was mutual. “They made it clear that I was not a good fit for the show, and I did not disagree. I wish it had gone differently and I had been able to be what they needed but that is not how it shook out,” Drysdale wrote. But Drysdale -- who got her start in comedy two decades ago forming the Two White Guys comedy troupe with her former college roommate Jordan Peele -- made it clear she disagreed with the show's use of Trump jokes. "I believe that comedy is a powerful tool,” she wrote. “I believe that it can handle anything, no matter how unfunny. I don’t believe that making fun of this man, doing impressions of him, or making him silly, is a good use of that power. It only adds to his.” She added: “I am making the decision for myself to never work on, write, or be involved with, another Trump sketch ever again. I have landed in several jobs and situations over the last few years, not just The Tonight Show, where the project of making fun of Trump, or doing material about Trump, has led to divided creative teams, anxiety, tears and pain. I can’t decide the outcome of this election, but I can make the choice for myself, to vote him out of my creative life.” Drysdale's exit comes in a busy news week for Fallon's Tonight Show. Earlier this week, Fallon announced that he signed a contract extension (https://deadline.com/2020/11/the-tonight-show-jimmy-fallon-extends-contract-nbc-1234608066/), while longtime producer Jamie Granet-Bederman was named as the new showrunner (https://www.primetimer.com/item/The-Tonight-Show-names-longtime-producer-Jamie-Granet-Bederman-as-its-new-showrunner-xXSM94).

If you don't want to make fun of Trump, don't bother working in TV.

Even if you hate him, that still won't save you.

You have to prove it every day.