NBC Puts Jimmy Fallon Under the Microscope
March 5th, 2009
Dear Jimmy Fallon,
The honeymoon is over.
A mere two days into your LATE NIGHT adventure, your corporate overlords at NBC/Universal have already taken it upon themselves to send out a teensy little survey (via email) to select members of the viewing public asking some very in-depth questions about everything Jimmy.
And as luck would have it, your friendly neighborhood TV Addict just so happened to be among the lucky few to receive said survey.
Now don’t panic, we went easy on you. Even though we’re not gonna lie, we are kind of disappointed you (a) are not following us on twitter or (b) invited us to see the show.
Chalking up your opening night stiffness to the sheer terror you must have felt knowing that Monday’s show was the most important hour of your life, when asked to check off how we would describe you, we choose “silly,” “goofy” and “funny” rather than “nervous,” “irritating” and “a bad interviewer.” We also cut you some slack when asked to quite literally dissect your show segment-by-segment, choosing “Very Entertaining” and “Somewhat Entertaining” over the far harsher “Not At All Entertaining.”
Then we’re going to be honest, our patience began to wear thin. Because NBC/Universal really wanted us to get specific.
Would we like to see Jimmy participate in more sketches like he did on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE? Did we enjoy interactions between Jimmy and the band The Roots? Did The Roots add to our enjoyment of the show? Did we enjoy the episode? Were the comedy segment funny? Would we recommend Jimmy to a friend? And on, and on, and on…
In other words, Jimmy we hate to be the ones to tell you this. But come Monday morning, should an entire legion of NBC executives in ominous dark suits and glasses drop by your office with a massive pile of dreaded notes, act surprised.
And more importantly, don’t forget the advice of the almost always spot on Tim Goodman when he said in Monday’s San Francisco Chronicle, “When someone from NBC comes to you and asks for changes – which they will – that’s when you put up or shut up about your personal stamp, your legacy. Do your show. If you do their show, it’ll never work.” 
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blueberry Says:
March 5th, 2009 at 10:05 am
It’s horrible so far.
Most notably horrible and confusing is why Late Night has IVOD (internet video of the day). If I wanted to watch an unfunny video segment with Jimmy doing an unfunny commentary over the said video then I would go on youtube and randomly select a video while watching a rerun of SNL over it.
In all seriousness, I don’t see this segment working. If Jimmy Fallon’s target audience is the technologically inclined, they already know how to find infinitely more funny videos online by themselves. No need for middleman.
End rant.