Somehow, in 2015, we still live in a world where there are more white dudes named James (two, with a third on the way next month) hosting late-night talk shows than women (zero). One of those Jameses, Jimmy Kimmel, recently addressed this disparity in an interview with the Daily Beast.
“You know, TV networks are stupid,” Kimmel says. “There’s this idea that women have to host the shows in the daytime and men have to host the shows in the nighttime. What will happen is some woman will come along, be super popular, do a great job, and all the other networks will say, ‘We must get a woman on the air!’ They’re sheep, and that’s the way it goes, and somebody needs to lead the way.”
This is very true, and you don’t have to look all that far for proof. The success of shows like Empire and Fresh Off the Boat has networks scrambling to look for their own “diverse” shows, as though the concept that one might succeed is some insane, groundbreaking news. Good on Kimmel for saying it out loud, though.
He adds, “If Ellen, Tina Fey, or Amy Poehler decided they wanted to do a late night talk show, it would be no more than three minutes before they’d be given the opportunity. But some of the women that are attractive to networks are too big for it.”
This part’s a little trickier. He’s not wrong that people would probably trip over themselves to give Fey/Poehler/Ellen a shot, but the problem there is that the network gigs rarely open up, and almost all of them are filled with new-ish hires. Once Letterman leaves, Kimmel will be the longest tenured host at 12 years, and Colbert will be the oldest at 50. For one of the spots to open up in the next 15 years or so, a James, Stephen, or Seth is going to have to get pulled off the air or walk away earlier than Leno, Letterman, or Carson did. Not impossible by any means, but not super likely, either. So unless/until that happens, the best shot in the short term is probably cable. Which, according to the throngs of people who want Tina Fey to host The Daily Show, might not be that bad.
