I’ve always been a bit of a late night tv kinda guy. From King Carson (Wikipedia him if you have no reference) and Letterman in his Teri Garr phase, I’ve love the more “raw” opportunities the tube provided when the censors went to bed. That might be why I like New Media so much come to think of it.
It’s public news that Leno is stepping down (never really “got” Leno / still prefer Letterman) and being replaced by Conan O’Brien. Conan O’Brien is being replaced by SNL alum Jimmy Fallon.
Keep reading, this does go somewhere (past the US Weekly angle) …
In what feels like a “let’s throw around some new media buzzwords and maybe we’ll get picked up on that Digg thing” move, Fallon has been (for lack of a better term) beta testing his show online with some new media angles. He’s been trying things – user submitted video, playing the Twitter game, etc. The link above will take you there.
And then, Friday, he showed up as the first “official” guest of Diggnation (video embedded below for those with readers that support. If not, click right through to www.diggnation.com).
I understand the digerati are all enjoying Obamamania right now but people, THIS IS HUGE and needs some reporting and press. A few talking points:
- Jimmy said he’s a “huge fan” of Diggnation and “watches it all the time.” Sure he could be just sucking up but, friends, if the next late night guy feels like he needs to suck up to new media, consider them Apples.
- Jimmy Said he “should have” Kevin and Alex on his show. My predictions for 2007 stated that “Not a single Blogger or Podcaster would get on Oprah for being a blogger or Podcaster” – but I honestly didn’t see this coming either.
- This wasn’t a token gesture, this was a full-on engagement. Jimmy wanted to be part of this and while he looked a bit nervous being on set, I can tell you that Kevin and Alex handled it like the champs that they are.
- CBS bought CNet for $1.8 billion and has yet to put one of their stars in a Cnet show (that I know of at least). Run the numbers and implications on that one.
Either way this is huge news.
And, p.s., deconstruct this thing a little more and you’ll realize too that Jimmy Fallon held his own with Alex and Kevin. After watching this episode you’ll realize that they are the same “level” stars/talent that NBC’s choice to replace Conan.
New media talent, … yeah, we got that.
Bloggers, Podcasters, etc. … can we give this some attention please – or are we just obsessed with Obama’s Blackberry?
