The late night TV wars have really heated up recently with Colbert finally taking over the first place spot from The Tonight Show. Now, it looks like a big behind the scenes change at the NBC talk show might be just the thing Jimmy Fallon and crew need. The Tonight Show's head writer, A.D. Miles, will be stepping down from the show after the next few weeks.
Word came down today that A.D. Miles would be leaving The Tonight Show, but, according to The Wrap, this is something that's been in the works for quite a while now. Miles is planning to move back to Los Angeles to devote more time to his acting career, as well as writing for sitcoms and movies. Along with being head writer on The Tonight Show, fans would recognize him from sketches on the show, where he played the goofy Camp Winnipesaukee counselor Mr. Fletcher. Miles has been working with Jimmy Fallon since the SNL alum took over Late Night from Conan O'Brien in 2009. Miles was also head writer on that show, and then made the move over to Tonight when Fallon did in 2014, meaning that the two have been collaborating on late night shenanigans for eight years and over 1,500 episodes of television.
The next few weeks will see A.D. Miles continue to write skits for the show, and he'll still work with Fallon on an animated feature that the two have planned.
Seeing as how it seems that this change has been on the books for a while, it's probably unlikely that it's related to The Tonight Show losing its first place late night seat to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, although it would be natural to make that assumption. Colbert has been first in the ratings for about seven weeks now, and his reliance on political humor seems to be the thing that's put his show on top. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, we were hearing rumors that Fallon and his team were looking to bring in some more pointed political humor to see if it would stem the tide of lost viewers from Tonight.
All in all, this would appear to be a crucial time for The Tonight Show. So, how will such a major change actually work in the show's favor at this point? Well, while no new head writer has been appointed as far as we know, this, obviously, gives the show a big opportunity to find someone whose sensibilities more closely align with the changes in the writing that the show is hoping to make in order to try and really give Colbert a run for his money again.
Well, we'll be sure to keep you up to date on all the news related to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as it becomes available. In the meantime, be sure to check out our midseason premiere schedule, summer premiere schedule and Netflix premiere schedule to see what else you can watch in the coming weeks.
