The news cycle has been dominated over the last few months by the cancelation of The Late Show. It’s been off the air for several months now, and people are still discomfited about it. Apparently, that even extends to the late night hosts. Despite evidence that Stephen Colbert’s TV exit has been good news for the Jimmys in terms of ratings, reports indicate Jimmy Fallon is not in a comfortable place. In fact, while The Tonight Show seems on relatively solid footing (for now), it hasn’t been the world’s best year for Jimmy Fallon. His other NBC series On Brand With Jimmy Fallon was a spectacular flop. Critics didn’t like it. Audiences didn’t really watch it. NBC aired it erratically on the 2026 TV schedule before canceling it. Now, an insider alleges it all ties together for the late night host. It’s pretty frustrating that the show didn’t break through and capture people’s imagination. It [also] comes at a time when Jimmy has no choice but to look very closely at what he’s going to do with himself and his career when The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon inevitably comes to an end, along with the entire network late-night TV genre.Speaking with In Touch, the insider also spoke about Fallon’s commitment to the now-canceled TV show, noting the efforts it took to get the competition series on the air. Unlike other newer game shows, including The Floor or 99 to Beat, the concept didn’t basically work right out of the gate, and the whole thing is reportedly upsetting.Jimmy is way more bothered by his show getting cancelled than he is by missing out on Emmy nominations or even getting passed over to host the Emmys this year. On Brand was an idea he came up with, he pitched and sold, and he put a ton of his own energy and time behind it.Of course, the panned On Brand did not land a 2026 Emmy nomination, and I doubt even the late night host was that surprised given the trajectory of the show in Season 1. To clarify, though, Fallon has pitched shows that worked well before. He’s the mastermind behind Lip Sync Battle, the formerly popular series that Tom Holland still constantly gets asked about years later. (The show ran through 2019 before becoming one of the casualties of 2020.) He’s also an actor and a stand-up comedian, so I’m not really worried he’ll find another avenue if and when The Tonight Show ends. However, the insider alleges if he wants to move forward with producing content, his next series can’t end like On Brand. If this is really his path forward in the business, he needs to create another hit and he needs to do so quickly.There’s been a lot of talk about where late night TV is going as The Late Show was replaced with Unleashed with Byron Allen and an entirely new distribution model. Meanwhile, it's been Kimmel’s series, especially, that has picked up in the weeks since CBS took a step back. The Tonight Show remains a solid performer, but as we know late night revenue was reportedly down to $220 million in 2024 after being at $439 million in 2018. It paints an ugly picture about the future of late night, and if the insider is correct, it sounds like Jimmy Fallon is trying to set himself up for the future. I wouldn’t blame him.