Is Jimmy Fallon on the verge of being fired from The Tonight Present?
When Jimmy first took the reins from earlier host Jay Leno, he promptly silenced haters with years of surprisingly stable scores.
However a number of consecutive seasons of viewership erosion have left the once-popular comedian in a precarious place.
Jimmy’s Downward Spiral
The scores decline started in 2019. And lately, Jimmy persistently finishes third in his time slot, behind rivals Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel.
The host took one other hit in 2023 when a number of staffers accused Jimmy of fostering a poisonous work setting.
In line with a brand new report from Radar On-line, The Tonight Present has misplaced 41 p.c of its viewers up to now 5 years.
In response to this decline, NBC has decreased Jimmy from 5 new episodes per week to 4.
And throughout the business, the state of affairs is elevating questions on late evening’s most iconic present.
Will Jimmy Fallon Be Fired From ‘The Tonight Present’?
“When Jimmy took The Tonight Present job ten years in the past, he insisted on 5 tapings per week and promised the choice would pay for itself, and it did for the primary few years,” one insider tells Radar.
“However as we speak, the variety of advertisers keen to pay tens of hundreds of {dollars} for commercials has undoubtedly shrunk, and even Jimmy admits that.”
In line with the supply, Jimmy’s many movie star friendships are maintaining him afloat in the mean time.
“Jimmy does have a knack for getting huge friends and arising with uncommon bits. Jimmy additionally makes use of his private connections to music stars to assist enhance scores,” says the insider.
“To Jimmy’s credit score, The Tonight Present has change into Billie Eilish‘s go-to venue to debut new music, and Jimmy nonetheless has a whole lot of favors he can name in from throughout the music enterprise.”
However will Jimmy’s connections be sufficient to save lots of his job? The supply factors out that his contract extends to 2028, so the beleaguered host has time to show issues round.
Jimmy’s Final Probability?
“It’s not precisely a bleak state of affairs but,” says the supply.
“The present’s producer, Lorne Michaels, is among the strongest folks in tv, but it surely’s going to be an uphill battle to develop the viewers with an hour much less of unique content material per week.”
Jimmy has already executed some harm management by getting in entrance of the state of affairs and publicly apologizing to his employees.
“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you,” he stated, after the allegations got here out. “I by no means got down to create that kind of ambiance on the present. I feel typically I’m working with one of the best of one of the best, you guys are the highest of the sport.
“There are issues I’ve executed up to now which can be embarrassing however I by no means mistreated anyone.
“I would like this present to be enjoyable, it ought to be inclusive for everyone, it ought to be humorous, it ought to be one of the best present, one of the best folks.”
The PR disaster definitely didn’t do any wonders Jimmy’s fame. And whereas confronted robust odds earlier than, this could be essentially the most tough battle of his profession.
