Report: ‘Tonight’ Show Returning To Its Roots

A move to New York would return “Tonight” to its roots, after an absence of more than four decades, according to a story by Bill Carterat nytimes.com.

Beginning in 1954, it was broadcast every evening from Manhattan, first from the Hudson Theater with Mr. Allen as host, followed by Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, both of whom worked at 30 Rockefeller. But in 1972, Mr. Carson, looking for easier access to Hollywood guests, as well as a different lifestyle, moved the show permanently to Burbank.

Fallon now occupies the studio where Mr. Carson was working in the 1960s and early 1970s. His “Late Night” show is broadcast at 12:35 a.m. Eastern time, after Leno on “Tonight.”

A New York “Tonight Show” will join a metropolitan landscape already filled with late-night comedy programs, including “Late Show With David Letterman” on CBS and shows featuring Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central. One lingering question is what NBC will do with its “Late Night” franchise, which has always been based in New York.

O’Brien hosted that program before Fallon, and it had been speculated before his ascension to “Tonight” that he might try to keep working in New York, where he had thrived. But at the time, NBC insisted “Tonight” had become a Hollywood-centric show and needed to stay in California.

Fallon has quickly impressed NBC’s new management under Comcast, and his succession has been widely expected for at least a year. The only question has been when.

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