There are very few declarations I'll make confidently about this industry, but here's one: late-night TV is dead, and no host alive today could bring it back.
Often, the instinct is to overcorrect when a legacy figure departs. Networks get anxious. They look to inject youth, style, or some form of disruptive energy into their programming, fearing that continuity equals stagnation. NBC News didn’t go down that road.
There are very few declarations I'll make confidently about this industry, but here's one: late-night TV is dead, and no host alive today could bring it back.