Jimmy Fallon's First Show: The Reviews Are In

Jimmy Fallon's 'Late Night' premiered last night to high ratings and mixed reviews. Most thought it was an awkward start, but acknowledged that judging a show on its first episode isn't necessarily a good barometer of how it will perform in the long run.

"Entertainment Weekly" didn't hold back:

"He did an ultra-ordinary monologue -- one liners about President Obama and the deficit that sounded like material Jay Leno's writers had faxed over from L.A."

"Time" pointed out:

"...His booker must hate him. How else do you explain putting Robert DeNiro on as Fallon's very first guest ever? DeNiro's a huge star, but his reticence is no joke, and the sit-down quickly had Fallon trying to entertain DeNiro with anecdotes, as if he were the guest on his own show."

"WaPo"'s Tom Shales wrote:

"It didn't seem to have attitude, direction or an identifiable style -- a newborn already suffering an identity crisis...It did have a few laughs, however -- and that's nothing to snicker at."

Gabe Delahaye at Videogum acknowledged the talented team behind the show:

"In the end, it seems like the test of this show is going to be if Jimmy Fallon can grow into it. As I mentioned yesterday, he's made so many smart choices in putting this thing together. The Roots and the writing staff are incredible. Even the set is nice. But for the time being, Jimmy doesn't seem to know what to do with all of these treasures."

"Chicago Tribune" TV critic, Maureen Ryan said:

"Sweaty, tense, uptight, nervous, wound-up, keyed up -- pick an adjective. Any one of them would describe Fallon's demeanor on opening night."

Jossip's Drew Grant, in her post "Oh God, This Fallon Show Is a Trainwreck," said of his DeNiro interview:

"Fallon just grinned nervously and read off the cue cards like the trained ape that he is. On the other hand, everyone tuned in to watch Fallon fail, so if he can keep up the schadenfreude numbers until he actually gets good, he might actually have a hit on his hands."

"New York" magazine's culture blog was kinder:

"We liked the show's opening bit, in which Conan O'Brien squelched any rumors of Fallon snubbage by handing over the keys to the Late Night castle in typically self-deprecating fashion. We also thought that the pre-filmed Target Demographics segment was a wry way to address some early criticism that the show might be gravitating too much toward shilliness."