Jimmy Fallon Debuts

On Monday, the Jimmy Fallon era of Late Night began.

From what I've seen so far, the reviews are not exactly glowing.

I have to agree. It was a tough first show.

It began with Conan O'Brien in Fallon's dressing room. That was funny, a nice way to hand over the torch.

Fallon's monologue wasn't great. With the help of house band, The Roots, there was a "slow jam" news segment. I didn't think that was all that great.

Another bit highlighted a target demographic -- blonde moms. It was pointless.

A game with audience members, "Lick it for $10," was really bad. Three people from the audience licked items, like a lawn mower and a goldfish bowl, to earn $10. They did the licking to a drum roll and then the tape was replayed in slow motion with porn soundtrack type music. I don't think we'll ever see that bit again. It sucked.

Robert DeNiro was Fallon's first guest. The joke was DeNiro didn't talk much. That was kind of predictable. Surprisingly, DeNiro was in a taped comedy bit, "Space Train," supposedly a clip of a movie he and Fallon did together. It really was lame.

Justin Timberlake was the second guest. (DeNiro moved down the couch rather than leaving.) Timberlake was more energetic and entertaining than DeNiro. He and Fallon did a little reprise of the bit they did a couple of times on Saturday Night Live, "The Barry Gibb Talk Show." Related to that, Timberlake presented Fallon with an autographed picture of Barry Gibb.

Van Morrison was the musical guest. And that was it.

I know I'm sounding pretty negative, actually really negative.

But I think Fallon will succeed. He's likable, and he is funny.

It takes a while for a host to settle in to a late night talk show. He has to get his own rhythm going and develop comedy bits and characters that the audience will embrace. It would be impossible for Fallon to waltz in and replace an established show like Conan O'Brien's version of Late Night. It took a couple of years before O'Brien seemed remotely at ease with his hosting gig, and things eventually turned out pretty well for him.

Fallon has an advantage over O'Brien as a rookie host in that he is already familiar. O'Brien's face and personality was virtually unknown to TV viewers. That was really a jolt when O'Brien took over the reins from David Letterman.

As rocky as his first show was, I think Fallon will work through the transition relatively smoothly. He'll get comfortable and the audience will get comfortable and all will be well at Late Night.