It looks like Jimmy Fallon‘s late night show won’t be going the way of Chevy Chase. According to Variety, Fallon is already beating Conan O’Brien‘s ratings:

Jimmy Fallon finished his first week as host of NBC’s “Late Night” franchise on top, beating all cable and broadcast competition while also besting incumbent Conan O’Brien’s season average.

In addition, Fallon’s was the most watched premiere week for a latenight yakker in the last decade, bettering the bows of “The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson” (2 million viewers in January 2005), ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (1.7 million in January 2003) and “The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn” (1.5 million in March/April 1999) 

Obviously, this is good news for Fallon’s house band, The Roots, who happen to be the best live show in Hip-hop and deserve a much better gig than being the house band on a late show. But it looks like this might end up having been a good business decision after all.

Incidentally, if you’re a fan of Roots frontman Tariq Trotter aka Black Thought, you should check out Nick Charles‘ review of his latest venture into acting. The first film I ever saw Trotter in was Brooklyn Babylon, which is basically “Othello and Juliet” set in Crown Heights, if you get my meaning. Not a great flick, and Thought wasn’t terribly impressive, but the film noted some interesting cultural and symbolic similarities between West Indian culture, Rastafarianism, and Judaism.

— A. Serwer