TV Guide has this big fancy story up about all the potential changes that could take place at NBC once Jimmy Fallon takes over The Tonight Show and moves it to New York (The Tonight Show could go to 90 minutes; the new Late Night could take on a different, Daily Show-type, one guest format; both shows could hire dog sidekicks and put them in little bow ties or top hats or something, etc.), but the most interesting tidbit was buried 2/3 of the way down the page. While Weekend Update host Seth Meyers is still the front runner to replace Fallon, NBC has apparently identified two other candidates: Andy Cohen and Nick Cannon.
But should a Meyers show not pan out, insiders confirm that the alternatives include Bravo executive and Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen or America’s Got Talent host Nick Cannon. Cohen intrigues NBC execs because his show is cheap and usually books guests (frequently reality stars) different from The Tonight Show’s usual suspects. Meanwhile, Cannon is a workhorse who would bring some much-needed diversity to NBC’s late-night programming.
So, okay. Remember the last season of Louie, where Louis C.K. was brought in as a potential replacement for Letterman, but the whole thing was a sham put together by CBS to give them leverage in their contract negotiations? I feel like that’s what’s going on here. Seth Meyers just makes too much sense for a bunch of reasons, most notably that the new host will in all likelihood be handpicked by his current boss, Lorne Michaels. But if NBC has an inside source whisper stuff like “Andy Cohen can do the show cheaper” and “That Nick Cannon … he’s diverse” all over town, maybe they can score a point or two when all the lawyers get together and haggle over decimal points and commas and such.
At least I hope that’s the case. I do not want Nick Cannon to have a late-night talk show.
