19th August, 2008
SHOCKER!!! Michael Phelps to replace Jay Leno
The television latenight world has just been turned upside down. NBC has just announced that Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps will be taking over the Tonight Show, replacing Jay Leno. The development is a major setback for Conan O'Brien who was supposed to take over the show. But a funny thing called the Olympics happened. Michael Phelps' record eighth gold medal drew almost 40 million viewers in the 11:30 pm time slot. The entire broadcast had a 32 share!
"With numbers like these from Michael Phelps, we felt it was critical to find a place for him on our network on latenight," says NBC Entertainment co-chairman Ben Silverman. "Michael is funny and has a wonderful personality and will be a great host on 'The Tonight Show' and we expect to keep these stunning ratings."
NBC is already planning to construct a swimming pool where Phelps will dive-in occasionally instead of doing a monologue. Silverman says viewers can't get enough of Phelps and his star will keep shining once the Olympics goes off the air. Now that NBC has reneged on the deal made to O'Brien, the "Late Night" host will be owned a penalty fee of about million. Jimmy Fallon will take over Carson Daly's "Last Call with Carson Daly." Carson Daly has been offered a role of weather man on a planned fifth hour of the "Today" show.
Tags: hollywood, michael phelps, photos, style, televisionPosted at 6:12 am | Comment (0)