Break Up the Desk Set. As Tonight shifts, late night could use real change

摘要

WHEN NBC ANNOUNCED ON APRIL 3 THAT Jimmy Fallon would take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno next year, the question was, Could 38-year-old Fallon maintain Tonight as a dominant cultural icon? The answer: No—it hasn't been one for years. Leno still beats David Letterman's and Jimmy Kimmel's ratings, narrowly, among the under-50 fans who determine ad rates. But he's been losing to Comedy Central's fake news and sometimes to the Cartoon Network too. And he long ago lost the watercooler. On a recent Mad Men episode set in 1967; a business scrapped a Super Bowl ad because of a controversial joke on Tonight Today that joke would compete for attention with dozens of channels, YouTube and the "26 Cats Judging You" slide show your cousin e-mailed you.