REPORT: NBC Commits to Jimmy Fallon as 'Tonight Show' Host; Show Will Return to New York City

When the news broke a few weeks ago that NBC was beginning to enact a plan to send Jay Leno into retirement (again) and replace him with Jimmy Fallon as the host of The Tonight Show, a lot of Fallon fans expressed concern that moving Fallon from his New York City home to Los Angeles, the current home of The Tonight Show, would rob Fallon of much of what makes him so entertaining. The host is from the east coast, made his name in New York City as a member of Saturday Night Live and thrives in the city as host of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. On top of all that, I'm guessing The Roots — the best band in late-night TV and an integral part of Fallon's show — wouldn't follow him to California.

It looks like the Fallon faithful won't have to worry. Not only has NBC made a commitment to Fallon as the next Tonight Show host, but the network is also preparing to return the late-night franchise to New York City, according to a New York Times report.

While the network has yet to complete a deal, it has made a commitment to Jimmy Fallon, the current host of its “Late Night” program, to have him succeed Jay Leno as the next host of “Tonight,'’ according to several senior television executives involved in the decision. The show would move from Burbank, Calif., back to New York, where it first started in 1954 with Steve Allen as host.  

NBC has quietly begun work on a new studio in its headquarters building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza as the home for the new “Tonight” show. The studio is part of a general reconstruction of the building being undertaken by Comcast, which this week completed a full takeover of NBC Universal.  

An NBC spokeswoman declined to comment on the move, other than to say the network was building a new state-of-the-art studio for Mr. Fallon.

With the relationship between NBC and Leno growing increasingly icy, I'm not shocked that the network is moving forward on these plans. The Times report says the switch to Fallon will happen by the fall of 2014, at the latest.

A lot of Conan O'Brien fans believe that the comedian's move from New York City to Los Angeles when he inherited The Tonight Show from Leno played a role in hurting his chances at survival. Like Fallon, O'Brien had built his career in New York City and definitely lost something when he moved across the country.