Jimmy Fallon and Late Night: The Future Of Broadcast TV
In early July, in the midst of Fallon’s attempts to reunite the entire Saved By The Bell cast, Zach Morris himself was interviewed on Late Night (really, it was Mark-Paul Gosselaar displaying Daniel Day-Lewis-like commitment to the role). Purcell says it still is the show’s biggest viral sensation – a perfectly executed self-contained moment that resonated with the type of crowd who emails videos to their friends, Diggs and will watch a hilarious clip a dozen times or more.
“We go into the business of creating these things thinking about how they will live off the TV show.”
“That blew up almost instantly, people were talking about it because it was a crazy moment,” Purcell tells Mediaite. “But the Neil Young thing was fascinating to watch because it kind of trickled out in some ways because I think some people weren’t sure what it was at first, then they started to get it, then some people started going crazy for it.” (Here’s that Neil Young thing – Fallon playing Young singing “Fresh Prince”. Just watch.)
Purcell says the web life after a segment airs is taken into consideration. “We go into the business of creating these things thinking about how they will live off the TV show,” he says. “It’s not like we go and say ‘how will we create a viral hit?’ but we definitely think of these as, ‘how do we make them so they can live on in a different way?'”
And the viral hits range far and wide – from solving beefs between Glenn Beck, Keith Olbermann and other feuding stars to Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” book…going rogue itself. One thing that separates the show from others on late night is Purcell picks one segment, one moment to put up on the show’s website as the show airs. This means anyone checking out the site while it’s airing can start the process of turning a worthy clip viral overnight, instead of the next morning. That immediacy is sure to help – and recognizes another key facet to the way the web works.
While Fallon’s interviewing style has seen mixed reviews, it’s hard to argue it’s not “fun”. It leads to unexpected moments like the showdown between Olivia Munn and Artie Lange (video on next page). But just getting someone like Munn in studio – who co-hosts gaming show Attack of the Show! on G4 – is a result of focusing on what some people love and not what everyone will like. Purcell brings his experience from G4 to the more buttoned-up world of NBCU. “G4 doesn’t get enough credit for being a pioneer in trying stuff,” he says. “The greatest thing about the digital cable world is you can really get away with trying stuff and people don’t look at it as closely.”
But even with the larger public spotlight in his new role, Purcell and Late Night haven’t shied away from trying stuff. Before the show launched in March, Fallon put out a nightly web segment to get an audience acclimated with seeing him every night at 12:30am. It re-introduced Fallon to the world – and showed him in a role different from his movies or even SNL years. “I think he was super brave to do it,” says Purcell. “In this day and age I think he’s still one of the most high profile people to do something like that.”
There’s another X-factor to the show: the most un-house band like house band in late night show history. The Roots, a hip-hop band that can literally play anything (as seen during their “Freestylin’ with The Roots” segments on Late Night), were a surprise choice when they were announced as Fallon’s group. Fallon says his friend Neal Brennan, formerly producer of Chappelle’s Show suggested he get in touch with them when he was looking for a house band – not that they’d take the position, but that they might know someon. But Fallon asked, and The Roots agreed to a meeting. “I gave my biggest pitch ever about how I think they could raise the bar about what a late night band is, what a house band is,” said Fallon. “It’s a perfect match because we all want to work hard. We’re all out for the win.” (Also, bandleader Questlove is a big new media buff himself – follow him here, and get ready for mid-show Twitter updates.)
So what’s next for Late Night? Purcell points to iPhone apps and games for the website, which he hopes to keep adding to as well. But he also has another idea. “I’d like to find some way to create a space for the fans of the show to kind of congregate virtually while the show is on,” he says. A nightly live blog?
Fallon talked about some of the new technology the show is looking to use, including Vidyo – a video conferencing program similar to Skype. “I just want to call up college kids and be like, ‘Show me your dorm,'” he says. “See what it’s all about, let’s see what you got, what you need. And then maybe help them out. Get them a TV or something. Now that we have GE and Comcast, I’ll get them a TV, get them a subscription to cable, hook them up with a refrigerator – that’s pretty good. Toaster oven, that’s all you need. That’s a great semester!”
Less than one year in, Fallon and Late Night have made arguably a bigger impact online than on TV. In the long run, the strategy will likely pay dividends, but in the short term, that means waking up early, putting on the make-up and pink Uggs and spending hours pre-taping a segment that will air within Late Night for a few minutes. It means editors, producers and writers working until Midnight to turn around the footage so it can air the next day (video on next page). And it means all parts of the show trying to find that next segment or guest or viral hit that resonates online – but mainly, draws more eyeballs to NBC at 12:30am. It’s a work-in-progress, but one that’s on a path other broadcast TV shows need to pay attention to. “Everyone works their ass off on our show, and you can see it,” says Fallon. “It pays off.”
