With the recent shuffling of the deck of late night hosts at NBC and the upcoming ones at CBS and Comedy Central, don’t expect the Fox network to get into the late night game anytime soon. When asked by Vulture whether the network would like to add a late night show in the future, Fox chairman Kevin Reilly replied, “I think it’s unlikely. It’s never off of our agenda, but I think it’s unlikely just because of the challenge of launching these [shows] in this fractured universe.”
Unlike the other three major broadcast networks, Fox has never had a stable nightly late night show. The network hasn’t tried to launch one since the disastrous Chevy Chase Show went off the air in 1993. Fox went after Jay Leno around the time of his first Tonight Show exit in 2009 and briefly chased Conan O’Brien a year later after his Tonight Show exit, but the network has opted to stick with its current model of airing syndicated programming in the 11pm hour on local affiliates, which is much less costly and risky than hosting a late night show. It looks like Fallon vs. Colbert vs. Kimmel is going to stay a three-person race.
