Late-night notes: On Jay Leno, Tina Fey, Neil Patrick Harris as David Letterman replacement
This is a story that you are going to see recycled time and time again over the next few months, so you better get used to it. The media is a hungry monster, and right now, it is demanding to be fed more and more information regarding who could be the next host of “The Late Show with David Letterman.”
While it may take some time for all of the rumors to be denied or confirmed, we at least have some of the latest regarding three people who have been mentioned as major candidates for the job in the past several weeks.
Jay Leno – It’s easy to joke about the idea of Jay moving over to CBS, and replacing a job that Letterman held rather than one that Letterman was endorsed to have. But could this actually happen? Speaking per The Wrap at a NBCUniversal press event today, the organization’s CEO Steve Burke said that nothing is stopping Leno from taking it, but NBC is still in talks with him about doing specials down the line.
Tina Fey – Burke also said that Fey, who from our estimation would probably be the leading candidate among people who have never hosted a late-night talk show, would not be stopped from taking the job, but she’s “happy” working in movies right now. Fey also has a lot of projects that she is helping to develop.
Neil Patrick Harris – Speaking to the New York Observer, the former “How I Met Your Mother” star said that it would be an “asinine” amount of work to take on such a job. However, he also didn’t rule out if he would want to do it. We love Neil, but we feel like this would be a bad move for CBS. He’s too similar to Jimmy Fallon, and he’s so much better suited either doing other TV shows or Broadway.
The leading candidate for now is still most likely Stephen Colbert, whose contract is up this year and executives have taken at least some level of interest in.
What do you think of these three as candidates for hosting “The Late Show”? In addition to sharing below, you can click here to get further TV updates in your email inbox.
Photo: NBC