Jimmy Fallons Plummeting Ratings Might Ruin The Tonight Show Before Long
The changing fortunes in late-night comedy since last fall’s election have been a recurring story, and for Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show it’s been a horror story.
As reported in a New York Times story, Fallon’s ratings have fallen off a steep cliff in the past year, ceding the lead in total late-night viewers to Stephen Colbert’s late show.
Now, even second place might be in danger, as Fallon’s numbers are sliding ever closer to Jimmy Kimmel Live‘s ...
The numbers are currently not Jimmy Fallon’s friend.
The Times piece shows a tumble from a Fall 2016 total viewership of 3.3 million (comfortably in first place in late night) to a Fall 2017 landscape where The Tonight Show is not only pulling in 2.6 million viewers,
but The Late Show with Stephen Colbert‘s numbers have gone up just as dramatically (from 2.9 million last year to 3.5 million this year).
As with everything in America right now, the major shift we can point to from last year to this year is the man in the White House.
Trump’s election changed the national mood on a fundamental level, and late night’s ability to react to that in a way that resonated with viewers seems to be dictating success.
And while on the surface you might think Fallon’s brand of bright-sided fun would be a perfect antidote to this six-crises-before-noon climate we’re in,
but in truth, Colbert’s aggressive anti-Trump comedy has been a solid winner for The Late Show.
Fallon of course caught a hurricane of bad press during the 2016 campaign when he had Trump on his show for a softball interview that featured the Tonight Show host
playfully mussing the hair of a then-candidate who had already called Mexicans rapists and killers, mocked a disabled reporter, and led “lock her up” chants at his rallies.
Since the election, Fallon has been critical of Trump, but not with the same ferocity (Colbert) or sincerity (Kimmel) of his fellow late night hosts.
If Kimmel does indeed end up overtaking Fallon for second place among viewers, it’ll be interesting to see what, if anything, changes at NBC to stop the bleeding.
https://decider.com/2017/11/30/jimmy-fallon-ratings-plummeting-nearly-in-third-place/
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The fall in has ratings doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is that it took Trump's election for people to turn against him. I myself got tired of his karaoke performances and kid games with celebrities. It became repetitive and boring. 
