re: .

Leno was more mainstream and broad appeal, he feasted on the best bookings because he was inoffensive and anchored in LA

Conan's "I can't believe they gave a goofy guy like me a talk show" was too polarizing at 10:30, mainstream America didn't get the joke

Letterman prided himself on doing the edgy "anti-mainstream" talk show at NBC. That would have been a disaster on TTS. He went more mainstream at CBS and lost his edge

Fallon is custom built for Facebook and YouTube clip viewing, while Colbert just expanded his Comedy Central show schtick and is living on the anti-Trump crowd. So is Seth Meyers. He is doing a Weekend Update show with a celebrity guest in the middle

The only guy doing a broad semblance of the old Tonight Show is Kimmel but the audiences are so fragmented no one will ever see ratings like Carson enjoyed. We are just in a different time now