NBC Makes Huge Change to 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'

'The Tonight Show' will only be airing four nights a week instead of five.

By Megan Behnke

Fans will be seeing less of Jimmy Fallon every week. Variety reports that NBC will be moving The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to just four nights a week, airing Monday-Thursday. Repeats of the late-night talk show will air on Fridays instead of a new episode. The reason is due to "shoring up the economics of the programs as audiences move away from watching TV in linear fashion," according to the outlet.

The Tonight Show is the latest late-night talk show to go the four-day route, with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and The Daily Show airing only four days a week. The new schedule should also help with the workload, as Fallon would often tape two shows on Thursdays, so one will be ready to go the following night. He also works on NBC game shows Password and That's My Jam.

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(Photo: Andrew Lipovsky/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

This is not the only late-night change that NBC has made in recent months. In June, it was reported that longtime house band 8G Band would not be returning to Late Night with Seth Meyers due to budget cuts. Similar changes have been made across the networks, as many are trying to cut down on costs. As for The Tonight Show, the one-less night shouldn't be too bad, especially since a lot of late-night talk shows have been doing the same, but it will be weird to tune in to Fallon on Fridays, only for there to be a repeat.

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News of The Tonight Show's schedule change comes just a month after Jimmy Fallon received some crushing career details. He previously recorded an original song with Meghan Trainor for Jerry Seinfeld's Unfrosted. But unfortunately, "Sweet Morning Heat" flopped terribly. At least the schedule change isn't that bad, and it leaves Fallon open to do more projects if he's not always focused on The Tonight Show. It should be interesting to see how it does.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon should not be changing anything else, at least for now, and Fallon doesn't seem to have any plans to step away from the show any time soon. The schedule change shouldn't be too hard to get used to since a lot of other late-night talk shows have been doing the same, but fans shouldn't be surprised if more changes are on the horizon.

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