Commentary

Kimmel Hides Behind Beard As NY Rivals Grab Late-Night Limelight

It’s not entirely accurate to call Jimmy Kimmel the forgotten man of late-night, but it does seem as if he’s been left out in the cold in this season of heat surrounding his competitors.

Driven primarily by Stephen Colbert’s takeover of “The Late Show” on CBS on Sept. 8, all eyes have been on the New York-based late-night competition represented mainly by Colbert and Jimmy Fallon.

Meanwhile, in the weeks leading up to Colbert’s debut, Kimmel grew a beard. Last week, he still had it, demonstrating that this beard is more than just a summer fling. When you’re switching channels and you encounter Kimmel with this beard, your head begins to swim with theories as you struggle to understand why he’s grown it.

Possible scenarios include: It’s a strategic move aimed at setting himself apart from his clean-shaven competitors on the East Coast; he felt it would help his show attract more bearded young men who look like Zach Galifianakis; he hates to shave; he’s given up. If these theories demonstrate anything, it’s that this beard is a distraction. He should shave it off.

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Not that there is any evidence to suggest that Kimmel’s beard has had any affect on his show’s ratings--  good, bad or indifferent. However, in the competition at 11:35 p.m. (Eastern time), Kimmel is in third place and probably mired there. The numbers for the first official week of the fall TV season tell the story: New York-based Jimmy Fallon on NBC and Stephen Colbert on CBS were competing with average total audiences in the mid-3 millions, while Kimmel was in the mid-2s. 

Specifically, “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” averaged 3.581 million viewers for the week of Sept. 21-25. The numbers came out last Thursday (Oct. 1). “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” averaged 3.217 million for the five days and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC had 2.501 million. Compared to the same week a year earlier, “Fallon” lost 313,000 viewers, “Late Show” (hosted by David Letterman a year ago) gained 503,000 viewers, and “Kimmel” lost 261,000 viewers.

If you add up the “Fallon” and “Kimmel” losses, you get 574,000 viewers -- which isn’t far off from the gain in viewership realized by “The Late Show” with Colbert.

The “Kimmel” show was also in third place in the demo for the first week of the new TV season with an average rating of 0.59 in 18-49s, down from 0.66 a year earlier. “Fallon” led the demo race with a 1.05 (down from 1.1) and “Colbert” had a 0.78, up significantly from the 0.46 that Letterman scored in the demo during the same week in 2014.

With 2.5 million viewers, Kimmel is not exactly forgotten. But from a social or cultural standpoint, all the heat being generated in late-night TV from New York City is making L.A. look like a provincial backwater.

Although two of the three 11:35 p.m. late-night shows were already originating from New York, ever since Fallon took over “The Tonight Show” from Jay Leno in February 2014, all of the attention that has been paid to Colbert’s arrival last month has helped solidify New York’s preeminence as the world capital of late-night TV.

Throw in “Saturday Night Live” and all the breathless coverage that the show generates in the days after it airs and there’s no question that the late-night scales have tipped steeply in New York’s favor. Even Trevor Noah gets more attention than Jimmy Kimmel.

Other than Kimmel, the only other late-night shows in L.A. are James Corden’s “Late Late Show” on CBS and “Conan” on TBS. Even Corden’s bits -- such as his “Carpool Karaoke” segments in which he rides around L.A. in a car with various music stars duetting on their hits -- are garnering more attention than “Jimmy Kimmel Live” these days.

The attention being given to Colbert and Fallon is well-deserved. Their two shows -- located just blocks apart -- seem to be in a pitched battle of one-upmanship when it comes to comedy bits and guest bookings. Most notably, both shows are keeping current with a parade of political guests reflecting the current mania for presidential politics -- including Donald Trump on both shows, Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina on “Fallon,” Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz on “Colbert.”

So even the politicians are flocking to the New York late-night shows, while none seem to have turned up on “Kimmel” in the last few weeks. Is it possible that no candidates have passed through L.A. with enough time in their schedules to arrange a visit to the “Kimmel” show? Who knows? Maybe they just don’t like beards.

 

3 comments about " Kimmel Hides Behind Beard As NY Rivals Grab Late-Night Limelight ".
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  1. Glen Hobbs from National CineMedia, October 5, 2015 at noon

    Slow news day....

  2. John Grono from GAP Research, October 5, 2015 at 6:18 p.m.

    Can't wait for Movember!

  3. jason esterly from Beardilizer, March 1, 2016 at 12:31 a.m.

    Beards rock! Growing beard is a trend now. I think beards have been the part of history and coming out with such beards is worth reading this post! Beards are considered to be fashionable and dealing with such thing is amazing stuff. http://www.beard-growth.com/ Beard will be carried to the next generation as well.

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