Fallon Files: Jimmy Defies Haters (Us), Stays Winning

Welcome to the Fallon Files, a weekly-ish series chronicling only the lowest lows of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

It brings me no pleasure to tell you this, but Jimmy Fallon is on fire right now. You might not be aware because you probably don’t watch network television, but Jimmy is currently producing a reboot of the game show Password on NBC. This might be impossible to believe, but it is a huge hit.

The concept of Password is simple: There are two teams of two people each, and they take turns trying to guess a word based off of a one-word clue. “Is that not kind of boring?” you might ask. Yeah, it is pretty boring to watch randos play a parlor game — which is why there are celebrity guests on this show. Jimmy has been on multiple episodes so far, and stars like Jon Hamm and Meghan Trainor have lent their time, as well. It’s also hosted by Keke Palmer, so that’s fun.

“I don’t know, it still sounds like you can only watch so many rounds of this before it gets old,” you may be thinking. YEAH, I KNOW. Sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled. We must be the only two people with any functioning brain activity left here, because you’re right, it does get old. This concept was probably more entertaining when there were only three channels and the other two were airing Gunsmoke and a show that ripped off Gunsmoke. That has not stopped this current iteration from being a ratings hit.

The L.A. Times reported that Password’s first episode was the most-watched premiere of the summer across all the broadcast networks, averaging 4.2 million viewers. That is what counts as “a lot” on broadcast TV these days. Here is a taste of the show that has gripped the nation:

Make your own judgments, but I think it sucks. All love to Palmer for getting a check, though.

In other Fallon news, the Tonight Show’s YouTube channel just surpassed 30 million subscribers. The next time you’re in a semi-crowded room, I want you to look around and consider the fact that someone in your immediate vicinity probably subscribes to Jimmy’s YouTube page. The chill you might feel in that moment is the thing that keeps him, our new national menace, going, so please try to refrain from any visible discomfort lest you empower him to create hundreds more hours’ worth of mindless celebrity television programming.