A long-running, enormously popular late-night star, anticipating a negotiation for a new contract, is blindsided by an anonymously sourced story in The New York Post suggesting the star’s network is considering moving on from him when his current contract expires.
The network, confronted with the story, offers a tepid denial, saying the account is “inaccurate,” and that “reports about the future of the show at this point are purely speculative.”
As ringing endorsements go, this one sounds like a bicycle bell—one attached to one of those bikes with one huge wheel and one tiny one.
As in: a real throwback. As in: where have I heard this story before?
On Feb 11, 1991, the headline in the New York Post read: “THERE GOES JOHNNY: NBC looking to Dump Carson.”
Thirty-five years later, the headline on Page Six of The New York Post is “Jimmy Kimmel’s Late Night show set to end in 2027.”
And, amazingly enough, the Post is being run by the same guy, Rupert Murdoch, who was 60 when the first story ran and is now 95.
I did a little reporting about that infamous Carson story 35 years ago for my book The Late Shift. I found the person who planted the story in the Post. He worked for Helen Kushnick, then the manager of Jay Leno, and he related how he and Helen hatched this plan to use a manufactured story in the Post in their effort to force NBC’s hand in moving Carson out so Jay could take over.
Not one NBC executive had discussed this with Kushnick or her source. It was completely fabricated. And it landed like a grenade in NBC’s offices—and in Carson’s heart. He was devastated by this public diminishment of his reputation. And not mollified by NBC’s response at the time, which was also tepid: the network acknowledged its debt to Carson and said he would be the one to decide when to leave.
What NBC did not say was that it hoped Carson would stay forever. Because, as it turned out, the network really was pondering a future without him.
So what is really going on with ABC, its corporate owner Disney, and Jimmy Kimmel?
The comedian’s contract expires in May, but he’s hardly at retirement age. He also just experienced the most consequential year of his late-night run; he overcame a heavy-handed attempt by the FCC to force him off the air and a brief suspension ordered by his network; and his stand on behalf of free speech won him acclaim across the country and the highest ratings of his late-night career.
Kimmel’s suspension played terribly for Disney/ABC, with public calls to boycott the company, actual cancellations of Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions, and even reports of canceled visits to Disney theme parks.
And yet ABC is reportedly ready to end his show when his contract expires next May? A move that would be widely interpreted as complete capitulation to the FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, and his boss, Trump, whose animus toward Kimmel—over being made fun of—has reached fanatical levels? A move that would likely trigger even worse backlash from viewers who believe just as strongly as Kimmel in his First Amendment rights?
What kind of corporate insanity is that?
The kind that might be related to Carr’s ham-fisted “We can do this the hard way or the easy way” effort—first against Kimmel and, when that didn’t work out, against ABC’s broadcast licenses. Could the network’s management be deciding it had better cut and run instead of go to war with the feds?
Up until this potential backdown, Disney has fought Trump and Carr and even sued to stop that license threat. Why kneel to the effort to get rid of Kimmel now, the same day he starts a new season with renewed vigor to take on Trump comedically? With the promise of even higher ratings?
As in 1991, the answer may lie in who might be interested in planting this story at this ripe moment.
This time, it’s not likely to be another comic’s manager angling for Kimmel’s job; odds are that ABC, like CBS—which shed its star Stephen Colbert, himself the subject of endless attacks by the President—would close its late-night shop after a Kimmel exit.
That leaves either political motivation (Murdoch’s paper is a frequent megaphone for Trump) or possibly one side or the other maneuvering over a new contract for the host.
The Post item follows recent talks about a new deal for Kimmel that have reportedly been less than convivial. Was the planted story about negotiation leverage? If so, it was a risky move, potentially pushing the two sides toward a breakdown neither really wants. And the timing was especially odd, coming just as Kimmel returned to the air from summer vacation Tuesday night, celebrating his 4,000th show, greeted by cheering fans clearly not ready to see him fade into the sunset.
As for the man himself, he stepped up with spine fully intact and got right to the heart of the matter.
Noting the 4,000th-show milestone, Kimmel opened his monologue, one packed with his usual complement of jokes skewering the many-splendored follies of the Trump regime, by addressing his ongoing battle with governmental infringement on the right to free speech directly, and by name:
“There are those who said we would never last this long. There are even those who used the regulatory might of the FCC to unconstitutionally try to make sure we didn’t last this long. But we did it the hard way, Brendan, and we are still here.”
But here for how long now seems, surprisingly, unsettled.
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I love this essay. Wow! Just wow. lol. Jimmy is NO Johnny though. Not even close. 4,000 shows and 24 seasons is no small feat. Congratulations.
Lesson for everyone: if someone from Page Six (or any New York Post-adjacent publication) tries to clickbait headlines, just remember that Murdoch is still alive running the operation.
And the author posting it is very likely to have a deep grudge against a broadcast network by manipulating a speculative narrative (WITHOUT SOURCES) against their biggest headliner
And all this hysteria happening RIGHT BEFORE Kimmel and co. could tape their episode~ Anyways, as relieving ABC has denied the claims, I’m still not letting them off the hook yet; hoping they will extend Kimmel’s contract for at least 2 more years~
well said about Murdoch, the worst immigrant to ever enter the country…and let’s see what Jimmy says tonight
Worse that Mohammed Atta? And the story was released before yesterday’s premiere.
Rupert Murdoch single-handedly changed both Broadcast and Cable Network Television by offering something new, innovative, and appealing to a new generation of viewers. You may not like his Politics, but as a Media Businessman he was a revolutionary pioneer growing a fourth network from scratch, one night at a time. Plus, FOX News overtook CNN in less than TEN years and has never looked back. NOBODY beat Larry King until Bill O’Reilly came along.
He offered polarising hate and scapegoating that has wrecked the country! What you call innovative, we call destructive!
That’s not the flex you think it is!
The original story that was planted by Helen Kushnick’s “contact” in the NY Post in 1991 is what ultimately made Bill a lot of money from his great books, and the Dean of Late Night Television reporting. Jimmy’s ratings are on the upswing, so it is interesting that ABC would consider ending his show. It cannot be as profitable as it once was but serves as a great way to promote ABC/Disney shows/products.
Lesson for some acolyte….this is called DAMAGE CONTROL. They don’t want his remaining advertisers to flee. I know Democrats like you LARP as intellectuals, but you could at least do a basic AI search.
But this absolutely will be his final season. How you low-IQ, high-time preference neoliberals still live in denial like this is so bizarre. It is the hill you choose to die on even though none of you watch this garbage.
I am NOT a Democrat. LOL. Hilarious. I totally agree with you. It is a good analogy. I was bringing up the other side of it. Jimmy and his wife believe that he is an important “voice” in the War against Trump. He is NOT. Jimmy is supposed to make his network money by bringing in ratings (broad based audiences) which drive revenue. Instead, he alienates MASS audience numbers with his mediocre presentation style and material. Jimmy, like Stephen, think they are more important and smarter than their audience. Elitism is a turn off for Middle America.
You both have a lot in common, what with both of you being dipshits!
Oh give it a rest. Kimmel himself admitted just two years that his show and the concept was finished.
You’re such a fucking loser!
Uncouth and Verbose.
Get some fucking help already!
Mike Brady would deck you after he professed “Calm, Cool, Reasoning.” You have none. No Class either. What a waste. Your mother must be proud of you. Not really.
You and Tommy Wee-Wee are both obnoxious Drumpf licking losers who think their shit don’t stink, when, in reality, you reek, bitch! You don’t speak for anyone here, because you’re a MAGA loser that doesn’t deserve being taken seriously!
Get help, bitch!
I don’t care about politics but Kimmel stopped being funny about 10 years ago. Who watches this stuff anymore? It probably doesn’t make financial sense anyway.
There’s a show on CBS at the same time slot that’s probably more your speed.
The problem is that Jimmy started using the power of his platform to push his personal ideology rather than stick to entertainment that reached broad-based audiences. Mr. Carson said it perfectly in his historic profile with the late great Mike Wallace on “60 Minutes.” It is worth the watch. Networks pay big money to late night hosts to get people to watch and laugh at the day’s events, see up and coming talent, and go to bed with a smile on their face. I do not care what Jimmy or his wife “think.”
You just don’t like what he’s saying! You obviously wanted the Jimmy Kimmel that teamed up with Adam Carolla on the Man Show!
Sorry, he grew up! Deal with it!
That “60 Minutes” interview is almost 50 years old. Late night and television in general have changed dramatically in that time, as all entertainment media has.
Carson’s brand of “sticking to entertainment” and not pushing a personal ideology fared well in a media landscape with three major television networks, no cable, no internet video, no streaming services, etc. To paraphrase Conan O’Brien, when Carson was on the air, his major competition was sleep, whereas today’s late-night hosts have to compete with every movie ever made.
We’re in a post-monoculture culture. Yes, people watch the latest episode of a streaming show if they happen to subscribe to the service, but for the most part, people have so many options for what to watch, and linear television won’t get the lion’s share anymore. It’s too fragmented. Additionally, the tried-and-true method of not showing an ideology isn’t working as well anymore, especially in a climate where politics has become less of an impolite thing to talk about in public and more like cultural microplastics in almost everything we touch, see, and eat.
For a case in point, just look to the current edition of the “Tonight Show.” Regardless of what you may think of him personally (yes, that one commenter, “Fuckface Fallon,” I know…), Jimmy Fallon has been walking a very narrow tightrope of taking the franchise into the modern era while still being beholden to a 70-year-old franchise. While he has been more vocal about the absurdity of the current administration in his monologue, he’s always kept his personal politics to himself. He’ll support his friends Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert when they’re under fire, but there was a reason that the final episode of Colbert’s show made Fallon the butt of a joke about talking about politics. I believe this is due to the respect he has for the “Tonight” franchise and the history of late night in general, but it’s also due to the fact that Jimmy isn’t a political satirist like Colbert or an anti-bully comedic pugilist like Kimmel. He’s a song-and-dance man who is willing to make himself look silly and is friends with all of his guests. He’s the golden retriever of late-night television.
And until late 2016, that sort of host worked brilliantly. Aside from Letterman’s last few weeks and Colbert’s first few weeks, Fallon was dominating in the ratings from when he started on the show in February 2014. CBS was almost considering moving James Corden to 11:30 to compete against the two other Jameses because Stephen’s show was consistently being trounced. Why? Because Colbert dropped the “Colbert Report” character and just hosted the show as himself with very little political humor. He even joked that he would do one or two jokes about the current president, much like stopping himself from eating too many cookies. But then, after a few changes in showrunners, Colbert and his team decided to do more and more political humor with the host’s personal politics in plain view. And soon, Colbert started beating Fallon in the ratings.
Also, FOX News keeps touting that their “late night”-style show with Greg Gutfeld consistently gets the best ratings. Can anyone honestly say that Gutfeld’s show has no political bent? Is he being erroneously called “The King of Late Night” because he goes after all sides? No. He has more viewers because his show is on simultaneously across the entire country: 10 p.m. on the East Coast, 7 p.m. on the West Coast. And in none of those time slots is Gutfeld competing directly against Colbert in the same time slot. It’s a late-night-style show that’s on in prime time.
Does that mean that late-night talk shows have to go political to get the biggest ratings? Also no. People always go back to that 1979 interview with Carson on “60 Minutes,” but there’s another quote from Carson that no one ever quotes. In 2004, when Conan was announced as the future host of “Tonight” in five years, Johnny called him to wish him luck. One piece of advice he gave O’Brien was, “Just be yourself. It’s the only way it can work.” Colbert was able to be himself after finding a way to include political satire in his monologue. Kimmel was able to be himself after seeing that the thin-skinned man-baby in the White House was eroding the norms and underlying structures of American governance just so that he and his lawbreaking friends could stay out of jail, and so that he could make more money off the backs of the American taxpayer while building monuments to his own ego.
Johnny Carson was the gold standard. Even Letterman considered himself to be nickel-plating compared to him. But Johnny was also a man of his time and culture. He turned the role down a couple of times before his second wife convinced him to at least try. He wasn’t heaven-sent or divinely plucked. He was a guy who knew how to command an audience and make it look effortless at a time when the audience wanted to go to sleep with a smile. Late-night audiences today don’t want just a smile. They want catharsis. They want assurances that what’s going on in the country and the world is not normal, because it certainly is not. If you’re not interested in that, CBS has episodes of “Comics Unleashed” from 2006 that you can watch. I hear that ol’ chunk of coal Norm MacDonald is a real hoot.
Does this mean the end of the nightly “guest host” that I have been waiting for?
Fard, you missed my point. Yes, Television evolved, yet DEVOLVED. Politics does not bring people together. This is a fact. Broadcasting became about reaching younger audiences, NOT broad based audiences because of niche cable networks. I totally agree with you. However, this has greatly played into the fragmentation and lower ratings of traditional Broadcast Late Night Television. Now, we can shop for the News or “Entertainment” that appeals to our own Ideology while blaming others for being “partisan” or “biased.” Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Internationally, the comedy shows that are more successful and more likely to be remembered are topical and filled with political commentary(See Spitting Image in the UK and Les Guignols d’Info in France, that were brutal with politicians) . TV executives in Latin America loves this idea of TV comedy without politics and with the view from nowhere, but even there the shows that people are more fond of are more topical, with some level of politics.
thanks Bill
Bill rocks when it comes to these stories. Bill had the inside story because he developed trusting relationships with all of the key players both on air and behind the scenes in Late Night Television.
“Because, as it turned out, the network really was pondering a future without him.”
Well, yes, because Carson hinted himself that we wasn’t long for continuing to host. He turned 65 in 1990 and being 65 in 1990 is different than turning 65 in 2026.
His health issues from smoking heavily were popping up and a M-Thu schedule was something he didn’t want to do well into the 1990s. NBC wanted to ease him out, yes, but he was more than willing to leave.
What Kimmel and ABC has that NBC and Carson didn’t was a show losing $40 million per year and rising due to cord cutting and declining ad revenue.
Mr. Carson “probably” had planned on leaving in October of 1992, his 30th Anniversary as the King of Late Night Television. It was stated that Jay signed a contract guaranteeing him the “Tonight” show “whenever” Johnny “chose” to leave. Helen Kushnick wanted to move the game along. When did Jay sign this contract? There was an episode where Mr. Carson joked about the “suits” being there about a week before he announced his retirement. Was this the week that Jay signed? Then, the “SNL” “Carsenio” skit aired and the following week, Mr. Carson made the announcement at the affiliates/advertiser convention.
According to AI and Wikipedia, the SNL aired the infamous “Carsenio” sketch on the 5/18/91 episode (George Wendt hosting) which was several weeks after the April, 1991 retirement announcement.
But I definitely could see him asking for the October 1992 date.
Incorrect. Mr. Carson announced his retirement on May 25(?), a week AFTER the “SNL” sketch. He re-upped with NBC in April (1991) after Brandon Tartikoff, NBC’s legendary programming emmissary, returned after being seriously injurred in a car accident earlier in the year.
There is no evidence that Kimmel’s show is losing $40M a year. Using CBS’s numbers do not really correlate. I’m sure ABC has found ways to cut costs (including paying Jimmy for 9 months out of the year) that CBS chose not to do before it was suddenly too expensive to continue.
Jimmy is still working. He is hosting the game show.
Riiiiiight
Kimmel is gonna be on the air for decades to come…as his audience is literally dying off by the hour.
ABC will probably still want to be in business with Jimmy, but not as a Late Night host. He is doing a great job on the game show.
That only old people watch late night?
Boy, you’re too fucking stupid to be posting here!
Wow….after reading all of these comments I know I need to never again look at Latenighter. The vicious hate spewed by the commenters and the obvious lack of edumacation is pretty obvious. Even worse, the publisher of Latenighter has fostered this free-for-all within the publication. Why would so many people comment to say they don’t watch, when the website is called ‘Latenighter”? Do they tune in just for the Ozempic and catheter commercials?