Last year, when Jimmy Kimmel did his first Oscar-night broadcast, he had easier material to work with.
“‘Brokeback Mountain’ was a huge comedy umbrella going into the Oscars,” Kimmel said last week. “This year, child-molesting movies – they’re just not as much fun.”
Ellen DeGeneres will stop by, fresh from Oscar hosting duties; Dr. Phil and Gwen Stefani also will be guests. But much of Kimmel’s show is intentionally unplanned and will be figured out while the Oscar telecast is underway, he said.
Kimmel is on the rise at ABC.
The network is giving Kimmel a double vote of confidence. Not only will he have his second post-Oscar special tonight – “Jimmy Kimmel Live: After the Academy Awards” (following the Barbara Walters gabfest) at 11:35 p.m. on KMGH-Channel 7 – ABC also confirmed last week that Kimmel is close to a multi-year extension of his current contract. That will keep him in place beyond the 2009 season, when NBC’s Conan O’Brien is scheduled to take over for Jay Leno. Kimmel’s show was previously signed through 2008.
Improved ratings for Kimmel’s late-night hour have impressed ABC enough to stick with him.
Late night is where he’s comfortable, whether plugging mainstream fan favorites (the Clay Aiken crowd of seniors was quite voluble), or hosting more idiosyncratic guests (last year’s snakebite video remains a hit on YouTube, showing Kimmel being tended by paramedics and rushed to the “Grey’s Anatomy” doctors).
The studio crowd varies inside the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, but the home audience is reliably young.
“Every now and then,” he said, “the audience looks like they emptied out a methadone clinic and pulled them in by their nose rings.”
Tonight’s show represents a serious push for Kimmel, a timeslot that automatically delivers a ratings bump as part of the second-most-watched night of TV (after the Super Bowl).
Last year’s Oscar night special yielded “5 million viewers, more than twice our usual audience,” he said.
Kimmel is a fan of DeGeneres. “I watch (awards shows) closely, I’m very critical. I thought she did a fantastic job” when she hosted the Emmys in 2001, under unusual pressure post 9/11; and in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina.
Still working the fringes, Kimmel said he’s not expecting an invitation to host the Academy Awards anytime soon.
“I’m still in the American Music Award host category.”
The new contract with Kimmel has prompted another round of speculation about the future of television’s late-night wars. By throwing in with Kimmel for the long haul, ABC sidesteps what might have emerged as a bidding war for Kimmel’s services. Industry observers have noted that Kimmel might have been a perfect fit for Fox, which has announced its intention of getting back into the late-night wars.
The extension of Kimmel’s gig also represents a win for the entertainment side over the news side at ABC. The two division have been at odds since ABC’s bungled attempt to hire David Letterman from CBS to take over the slot held by “Nightline.”
Kimmel’s hour is expected to remain in the same timeslot (weeknights at 11 p.m. on Channel 7) as long as “Nightline” stays on the air (at 10:30 p.m. locally.)
Kimmel said he is “just as curious as you are” about what might happen to late-night at NBC, with Carson Daly – or maybe even Jimmy Fallon – ready to succeed Conan O’Brien, who is ready to succeed Leno. Doubters have suggested the announcement of Leno’s retirement and O’Brien’s ascendancy was made so far in advance, it can’t work. Kimmel is betting it will happen.
“Leno made a deal, and he’ll stick by it. I can’t imagine them going through a bloodbath.” (Pause.) “Actually I would like to do two shows, just zip over to Burbank.”
He’s only half-kidding.
“I’m an insane workaholic,” he said.
He and longtime girlfriend comic Sarah Silverman help each other write material, he said. He’s extremely self-critical.
“I don’t trash my office after every show but there’s no point to me in focusing on what went well. Focus on what didn’t go well.”
TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.
