The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon has been a staple of NBC’s late-night line-up for six years now, offering up exciting celebrity guests and entertaining musical stylings. However, the talk show has seen its fair share of behind-the-scenes changes since debuting in 2014. Not unexpectedly, The Tonight Show is going through yet another round of creative reorganizations.
Last year, Jim Bell stepped down from his gig as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’s showrunner. Bell had been promoted to the role in 2018 following Mike DiCenzo's departure. In November 2019, Gavin Purcell took over the reigns of the late-night show from Bell despite having landed an overall development deal with NBC Universal in March of last year. Per Deadline, Purcell has stepped down to carry on with his development deal and is being replaced as showrunner by Jamie Granet-Bederman.
Joining Jamie Granet-Bederman as co-showrunner is The Tonight Show’s former head writer, Nedaa Sweiss, who will share the responsibilities through the end of 2020. Sweiss will not stay on as co-showrunner after that because she is currently developing the comedy series Real People for ABC. She is also developing a series over at CBS, and it seems that she will merely assist in the transition of Granet-Bederman before leaving the late-night show to carry on with her other duties.
In any case, the newly-named showrunners are yet another change for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which in the past, has struggled to maintain its team for very long. Jamie Granet-Bederman has been with The Tonight Show since its inception and was previously a supervising producer on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Who knows? Perhaps Granet-Bederman will have the magic touch and will remain with The Tonight Show as showrunner for a few years longer than her predecessors.
The change isn’t very shocking considering the show’s history of behind-the-scenes rotations. Jamie Granet-Bederman’s promotion marks the fifth time The Tonight Show has changed showrunners. Meanwhile, Gavin Purcell’s exit marks the first major creative change the NBC show has seen in 2020 thus far.
That is, if we’re not counting the late-night series’ move from the studio to an At Home format in the spring due to the impact of COVID-19 and the film and TV industry’s subsequent shutdowns in response to it. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon was the very first late-night show to head back into the studio following months of Jimmy Fallon filming remote episodes. Since then, it's been settling in quite comfortably in its home studio, which is still sans a live audience.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs every weeknight at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC. For more on what to watch for the remainder of the year, be sure to check our 2020 fall TV premiere guide.
