Philadelphia station to give late-night talk a try

“Mike” looks to break the mold in local TV

With the future of late-night TV iffy after the cancellation of CBS’ The Late Show, one local station in Philadelphia is jumping into the ring. 

Fox-owned WTXF Philadelphia (known as Fox 29) will air Mike, a new late-night talk show hosted by Mike Jerrick, beginning September 8 at 11:30 p.m. ET, competing with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon. The show features traditional late-night fixtures (such as a desk, couch, sidekick, etc.), celebrities and newsmakers, stand-up comedians, musical performances, and Jerrick breaking down the news of the day. But unlike his competitors, Mike runs for only a half-hour.

“[Mike]Douglas, Carson, Paar, Letterman, Leno, and now, Jerrick. Mike will remind viewers why this format has been successful since the earliest days of television — because it is the perfect way to end each day with a laugh. And with Mike Jerrick at the helm, there’s no telling what will happen next”, said WTXF director of local original programming Tom Louden, who added Douglas’ name as he hosted a popular syndicated daytime TV show from Philadelphia for Group W Productions at KYW-TV from 1965 to 1978, before moving to Los Angeles, where it lasted until 1981. Celebrities who appeared on the show from Philadelphia included the late John Lennon, who co-hosted for a week. 

Jerrick has co-hosted WTXF’s morning news show Good Day Philadelphia since 2009, and had an earlier stint on the show from 1999 to 2002. Jerrick also hosted programs on CNBC, Fox News,  Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy), and HBO. 

In 2007, Jerrick was paired with Juilet Huddy to host Twentieth Television’s answer to Live With Regis & Kelly called The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, which competed with the show in most Fox-owned markets including Chicago (where it also had to compete against ratings juggernaut The Oprah Winfrey Show) until June 2008, when it shifted to 10 a.m. to make room for another hour of WFLD’s newscast.  After expanding to other markets outside of Fox-owned stations, The Morning Show ended on June 12, 2009, the same day analog TV signals were shut off across America. 

We rarely see a local, late-night talk show in the marketplace. Two previous local Chicago efforts hosted by Michael Essany and Leon Rogers respectively, weren’t successful. Cubs announcer Jeremiah Paprocki hosts a local late-night show on YouTube on a sporadic basis.

Mike comes at a time when late-night’s future is in question, after CBS canceled Colbert’s show, reportedly due to losses of millions despite leading in the late-night race, as Fallon and Kimmel also face a questionable future, as viewers continue to abandon the daypart. Pressure from the Trump White House may have also contributed to Colbert’s cancellation, as he was a frequent critic of the President in his monologue. 

The move also signals an increasing willingness by stations to produce local content, which puts a dent in the first-run and off-network syndicated market. In Chicago, WFLD is adding a new two-hour lifestyle show called Chicago Now starting September 8 (and is already airing on the Fox Local app), and is expanding its Chicago Sports Tonight Sunday night show to weeknights to join WGN-TV’s GN Sports in that space. WGN, which already added Spotlight Chicago and Daytime Chicago to its daytime lineup over the last few years, is adding Take Two at 2 p.m. next month, which is a recap of WGN Morning News’ highlights and “stuff from the vault”, meaning whatever Bozo clips they can find. When Mike premieres, WTXF’s local product count will total 13.5 hours a day – the most of any station in the Philadelphia market. 

So if Mike is successful, will it expand nationally? Don’t count on it. Fox hasn’t aired a late-night program since the failure of The Chevy Chase Show and the syndicated Magic Hour and has no desire to join a daypart the networks are looking to abandon. Being a local show suits Mike – and Fox Television Stations – just fine.