Talk Show or Multimedia Experiment?

In his review of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Slate’s Troy Patterson is onto something.

Evidence suggests that Late Night With Jimmy Fallon is not a normal talk show—or even an abnormal talk show in the self-ironic tradition Letterman pioneered—but a mutant multimedia experience, part chatfest and part reality show. It is an R&D attempt to reinvent the format for the way we live now (as perceived by a network generally agreed to have no idea what it is doing but—anything’s possible—may even be on to something). This involves hyperactive interactivity and abundant oversharing. While some of the Web videos are strictly farcical, that on-camera pep talk of Michaels’ stands as a jarringly earnest affair highlighting Fallon’s vulnerability. Another—I can’t bear to know if this was a product placement—captures Fallon going in for laser-eye surgery; the dull first half discovers new levels of moving-image banality, the graphic second half outdoes Un Chien Andalou. When Fallon isn’t on Facebook, he’s snapping pictures like a tourist in his own life or Twittering like a sincere little schoolboy: “1st show done. I was a bit nervous. But overall really happy. Phew!”

via Late Night With Jimmy Fallon reviewed. – By Troy Patterson – Slate Magazine .