Jimmy Kimmel has divulged a cheeky text he sent Jimmy Fallon after learning the TV host had an episode of his late-night show culled . It was revealed this week that NBC is cutting back The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon from five nights a week to four, with reruns airing on Friday nights. The major decision comes just months after the network announced it was eliminating the house band from Late Night with Seth Meyers due to budget cuts.
For the past few seasons, Fallon has consistently taped new Friday night episodes despite his competitors, including ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! , CBS’s The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show , only taping four each week. Speaking on Saturday (7 September), Kimmel said that all the late-night hosts have a message group set up, and that they congratulated Fallon upon discovering the news. “As a group, we have a text chain of all the late-night hosts and we sent all of our congratulations to Jimmy Fallon for getting Friday off,” he said at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Appearing to address reports questioning the future of talk shows, Kimmel then quipped: “There is no future for late-night.” Late-night viewership has declined in recent years due to networks being forced to take money-saving measures. “Sadly, it’s the reality of broadcast and a shrinking market – streaming eating into this, and YouTube eating into that,” Late Night with Seth Meyers ’s associate musical director Eli.