Jimmy Fallon returned strongly to late-night TV based on early ratings returns. Monday night’s debut of NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” scored a 2.3 rating/8 share in metered-market households, giving the franchise the highest metered-market rating since January 2006. Last night’s premiere was up 35% over the time slot’s previous season-to-date average (1.7). “Fallon” had a 55% retention of its “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” (4.2/10) lead-in, up from the 46% average lead-in retention for the season-to-date. “Fallon” featured guests Robert De Niro, Justin Timberlake and Van Morrison. Mr. Fallon’s line-up faced stiff competition from ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” which had recent “The Bachelor” star Jason Mesnick, and CBS’ “Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson,” which featured guest Paris Hilton. In its time period, “Fallon” edged out “Ferguson” (1.7/6) by 35%, while in the 12:30 a.m. head-to-head half hour “Fallon” (2.7/9) beat “Kimmel” (2.3/8) by 17%. Mr. Fallon’s debut episode also beat out the debut episodes of other late-night programs, including CBS’ “Ferguson” (1.8/7 in Jan. 2005), ABC’s “Kimmel” (2.0/7 in Jan. 2003) in its regular slot and CBS’ “Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn” (1.7/7 in March 1999). (Editor: Baumann)

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Posted Tue, Mar 3 2009 11:56 AM by News