‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’: Chris Miller Joins As Showrunner As Jamie Granet-Bederman Steps Down

Peter White
·3 min read

EXCLUSIVE: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is making some executive changes.

Jamie Granet-Bederman & Chris Miller - Credit: NBC
Jamie Granet-Bederman & Chris Miller - Credit: NBC

NBC

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Deadline understands that showrunner Jamie Granet-Bederman is stepping down and will be replaced by The Drew Barrymore Show exec producer Chris Miller.

Granet-Bederman, who has worked with Fallon for 13 years, is transitioning to develop a number of new projects with the late-night host, who has been ramping up his non-Tonight Show projects such as musical gameshow That’s My Jam via his Electric Hot Dog shingle.

Granet-Bederman has been running the NBC show since November 2020, when she took over from Gavin Purcell.

“These last 13 years working with Jimmy have been such a gift. It’s been an honor to have helped him launch not one but two late-night shows, and I will be forever grateful to my amazing Tonight Show family,” Granet-Bederman told Deadline. “And as lucky as I’ve been to have had this experience, I’m even luckier to now explore new horizons with Jimmy. Watching his rise firsthand has been such a privilege, and I can’t wait for what’s next.”

Miller was most recently an exec producer on syndicated daytime talk show The Drew Barrymore Show. He also previously worked with Barrymore, who starred with Fallon in 2005 film Fever Pitch, at her production company Flower Films. He starts in May.

Miller exec produced series such as VH1’s Tough Love, Esquire Network’s Knife Fight and Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet at Flower, and also produced movies including Happy Camp, Whip It, Animal and upcoming The Stand-In.

“It has been an absolute joy to work next to Drew for the past 23 years. She will remain one of my closest friends and confidants as I start this incredible journey with Jimmy and The Tonight Show. I am beyond grateful to be welcomed into the most iconic television institution in history,” Miller told Deadline.

It comes after Nedaa Sweiss, who was co-showrunner alongside Granet-Bederman, left at the end of December. Sweiss, who was always planned to help out in an interim capacity, is developing a new comedy series with NBC and is working on a number of other development projects.

Granet-Bederman is the latest high-profile exec to leave late-night in the last few weeks; The Late Show with Stephen Colbert exec producer Chris Licht was recently named boss of CNN. The CBS show has not replaced Licht with a number of other staffers taking on some of his duties.

It tees up an interesting battle at the top of late-night. The Late Show has topped the ratings for the last five years with a total average of 2.95 million viewers for the 2020/21 season. Jimmy Kimmel Live!, whose future is also unclear given that host Kimmel has ruminated on leaving the space, came in second in the ratings, beating The Tonight Show for the first time in the ABC show’s 18 year history.

The Tonight Show performed well in the 18-49 demo last year and, according to NBC, was the only late-night show to increase total viewership year-over-year between the 2021 and 2022 season.

There is optimism within 30 Rock that The Tonight Show can rebound further in the ratings, particularly in light of Joe Biden becoming President, Licht’s departure and the possible exit of Kimmel. Colbert was undoubtedly boosted under the Trump Presidency, where his constant ribbing and imitations of the former President made him a popular watch for left-leaning late-night viewers.

The Tonight Show was renewed for another five years in May 2021 after Fallon renewed his contract in 2020.

Granet-Bederman began working with Fallon on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. She previously ran the talent department of The Tonight Show as a producer, having been a supervising producer on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is produced by Universal Television and Broadway Video with Lorne Michaels as exec producer.

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