Fallon Wins Ratings War

Jimmy Fallon tops Craig Ferguson in ratings race

(NEWSER) - Jay Leno owned the 11:35 time slot last night, smashing both David Letterman and ABC’s combination of Nightline and Jimmy Kimmel as curious viewers tuned in to see Leno take back the Tonight Show gig. Leno scored a 5.7 rating, compared to 3.0 for Letterman, 3.4 for Nightline, and 1.8 for Kimmel, Entertainment Weekly reports. More»

David Letterman still wins, but he's in a class of his own

(NEWSER) - Despite all the publicity heaped upon them in recent weeks, there are more late night hosts than just Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. After years of following the major late night shows, Michael Giltz decided the time has come to declare a new king. His final verdict? Craig Ferguson, but only if you take David Letterman out of the running. Check out his thoughts, from the Huffington Post :

• David Letterman: “He's already ascended to the pantheon, alongside Johnny Carson, Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Dick Cavett, and just a few others. His legacy is assured, so he doesn't get ranked alongside the others.”
• Craig Ferguson: “He's been charming the pants off us for some 1000 shows now and doing it effortlessly,” and last night’s show—during which he eschewed the audience and simply talked to Stephen Fry for an hour—“was an arresting, wonderful hour akin to the glory days of Dick Cavett.”

As Tonight Show saga continues, Leno and O'Brien face off

(NEWSER) - As the late-night shakedown gets messier, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien seem to be turning against each other—and David Letterman is clearly on Team Conan. The Late Show host wants O’Brien to appear on his show “not to rub NBC's noses into their huge mistake, but to welcome Conan with open arms and show him that despite the way his old network has treated him, America loves him,” a source tells PopEater . More: More»

Network execs want to clear all choices after Bachmann incident

(NEWSER) - Bad news for those of you who were highly amused by Questlove's choice of walk-on song for Michele Bachmann: It won't be happening again. The Late Night With Jimmy Fallon drummer tells Rolling Stone he was informed the very next morning that he must now clear every song with three NBC executives. "It was a real bummer," adds Fallon. "We don’t want to censor anyone, but … I don’t know. Maybe Questlove is a Romney guy." More»

She's still cool with Jimmy, though

(NEWSER) - Apparently apologies from Questlove and Jimmy Fallon weren’t enough for Michele Bachmann. Reflecting on her Late Night introduction song incident—which she called “an outrage”—Bachmann insisted to Fox's America’s Newsroom that, while she accepts Fallon’s apology, she wants one from NBC as well. “If that song had been played for Michelle Obama, I have no doubt that NBC would have apologized to her, and likely they could have fired the drummer, or at least suspended him,” she said. “This wouldn’t be tolerated if this was Michelle Obama, it shouldn’t be tolerated if it’s a conservative woman either.” See the clip from Mediaite . More»