Names and faces

Jimmy Fallon made his debut Monday as the new host of The Tonight Show in an inaugural broadcast that was heavy on star power and sought to capitalize on the franchise’s new digs in New York City after 42 years on the West Coast. History loomed large throughout the broadcast, which opened with a sequence directed by Spike Lee featuring Fallon at famous New York landmarks. The program was taped at the fully refurbished Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. “I’m Jimmy Fallon and I’ll be your host … for now,” cracked the 39-year-old, in a nod to the infamous clash between his predecessors Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. His opening night guests were Will Smith and the rock group U2. Fallon and his producers pulled out all the stops for a segment in which a cavalcade of celebrities strolled onstage to hand the host a crisp $100 bill - each apparently having bet (and lost) that he’d never become the host of Tonight. First up was Robert De Niro, Fallon’s inaugural guest on Late Night in 2009, who was followed by Tina Fey, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Kim Kardashian and a bewigged Lady Gaga, among many others. Last to ante up was Fallon’s new time-slot rival, Stephen Colbert, who poured a bucket of pennies over his new competitor.

Since arriving in Atlanta just a few weeks ago, Sam Champion hasn’t had much time to take in the local color, other than the overwhelming whiteness of snowstorms. A rash of extreme weather across the nation has also kept him scrambling in his new role as Weather Channel managing editor. Meanwhile, he’s readying his new Weather Channel morning program, which debuts March 17 and will return him to the morning scene from where he hailed as weather anchor on ABC’s New York-based Good Morning America. During a phone conversation squeezed between his numerous duties, Champion shared details about the new show, including its title: America’s Morning Headquarters with Sam Champion, or, for short, AMHQ. The three-hour broadcast will air weekdays at 6 a.m. Central time, “with a brand-new take,” Champion said, “on what it takes to get America up and moving in the morning.” The conditions and forecasts will be graphically displayed in a way Champion describes as “almost like 3-D, putting the viewer in the middle of this information. I think it’s something you haven’t seen before.”

Front Section, Pages 2 on 02/19/2014

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