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PREVIOUS, 6:59 AM: A week and a half after ending his stint on NBC’s _Late Night_ with record ratings, JIMMY FALLON last night began his _Tonight Show_ hosting gig in strong form. The

midnight premiere of _THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON_ drew a sturdy 7.1/20  in overnight metered-market results. That’s tied with the 7.1/17 metered-market rating that Conan O’Brien

pulled on June 1, 2009 when he began his short-lived run as host. (UPDATE 11 AM: The final numbers are in, and last night’s Fallon debut actually edged O’Brien’s opener in total viewers,

11.31 million vs. 9.17 million. Among adults 18-48, the two were tied at a 3.8 rating) Fallon’s debut is also up from the 5.4/14 metered-market rating that JAY LENO garnered on March 1, 2010

when he returned to fronting the venerable NBC franchise after O’Brien’s brief stint. Leno’s return received a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49 and was watched by an audience of 6.67 million.

Late night rivals David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel were far behind Fallon last night with both having metered-market ratings of 2.0/5. RELATED: Jimmy Fallon’s First ‘Tonight Show’: Will

Smith, U2, Robert De Niro & Olympic Fever Not unexpectedly, Fallon’s premiere is down (23%) from the whopping 9.2/22 ratings result that Leno’s last _Tonight Show_ got on February 6 –

that was the best the show had done since March 19, 2009, when President Obama appeared on the show as the first sitting president to do a late-night program. Overall, Fallon’s debut last

night was tied with O’Brien’s premiere for the second best overnight metered-market results since March 29, 2009 when Leno left for the first time and got an 8.8/20. We’ll update with final

_The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon _numbers when they come in later. However, with guests Will Smith and U2, his longtime house band The Roots, plus a phalanx of celebrity cameos from

Robert De Niro and KIM KARDASHIAN to Fallon’s former SNL Weekend Update co-host TINA FEY, STEPHEN COLBERT and more, the new _Tonight Show_ host’s debut easily surpassed his _Late Night With

Jimmy Fallon_ launch back in 2009. That March 2nd, Fallon got a 2.3/8 result in metered markets with a 1.2 in the key demo and 2.86 million viewers. RELATED: OPENING MONOLOGUE OF JIMMY

FALLON’S FIRST ‘TONIGHT SHOW’: VIDEO ROBERT DE NIRO, TINA FEY, LADY GAGA & KIM KARDASHIAN SURPRISE JIMMY FALLON ON HIS FIRST ‘TONIGHT SHOW’: VIDEO WATCH ON DEADLINE Starting in its

temporary slot of midnight (Fallon’s _Tonight Show_ moves to its regular 11:30PM on February 21), last night’s debut was partially fuelled by rising Olympics results as NBC had hoped. After

hitting ratings lows for the Sochi Games on Valentine’s Day and Saturday and then rising to a 13.2/21 meter-market rating for Sunday, NBC’s primetime coverage on Monday night snagged a

14.6/22 result – its best since the 18.5/30 of the Opening Ceremony on February 7. Which goes to show you what the return of Bob Costas to hosting duties and a first time U.S. Gold medal for

ice dancing thanks to Meryl Davis and Charlie White. With reports from 55 of the 56 metered-markets and coming right after NBC’s broadcast of the Sochi Olympics’ Opening Ceremony, Fallon’s

final _Late Night_ received a 4.8/12 rating on February 7. Eclipsing the previous high of 4.6/15 after Leno’s last Tonight Show the night before, that’s was the best the former SNL cast

member’s show has done since its March 2, 2009 debut. In terms of putting Fallon’s debut in greater Olympics context, there really is no apples-to-apples. Leno’s 2010 return occurred the day

after the Vancouver Games had concluded on February 28 that year. Otherwise, the best Tonight Show Olympics results of the last few years were Leno’s departure on February 6, the day of

NBC’s bonus day Sochi primetime coverage.