Gen X – Extreme Blonde Moments

flipcup This morning a tease of a Page Six article: NBC worried Jimmy Fallon’s boozing got ‘out of control’ grabbed my attention. I love Jimmy Fallon and some nights fight to stay awake just to see him so I can go to sleep giggling. Thankfully it linked straight to the article so I could skip the main page headline and picture of Kim Kardashian. GAG!

Since the late night guards changed a few years ago from Leno and Letterman to Kimmel, Fallon and Colbert, the show content has, not surprisingly, changed as well.

carnakthemag Gone are the Johnny Carson days with his, boisterously laughing from the sidelines, sidekick Ed McMahan, and his orchestra, led by Doc Severinsen. The bygone “Mad Men” era of weeknight cocktail parties when people stayed up to watch the 11:00 news and couldn’t wait to see who Johnny’s guests would be each night! It was accepted and even slyly joked that his coffee cup, and those of his guests, held things other than coffee while they:

Talked about movies
Tame news topics
The host or a guest up and coming comedian made jokes
The guest might sing a song to the accompaniment of the orchestra
The host did skits that were aimed at a generation of adults that thought, Carnac the Magnificent, dropping pumpkins from the tops of buildings, or a man with a sledgehammer smashing watermelons was entertainment

Now ratings are the king.

poopwaterwithhgates Generation X and Millennials aren’t likely to tune into late night shows to see a host drone on about politics, to hear a celebrity talk about their latest movie, or, God forbid, reality show. They will tune in to watch Jimmy Fallon drink poop.

Jimmy Fallon has been very good for NBC. His admittedly drunken, or maybe just buzzeddriving heavily buzzed (but kids, as the commercials say: Buzzed driving IS drunk driving!), exploits on the air brought in viewers they had, lost in the post Carson, Jay Leno years to CBS when David Letterman cut into their late night dominance.

martiniswithfergie Fallon has a freshness, he’s funny, witty, creative, can carry a tune, he is Gen X, and has a huge network of Gen X and Millennial friends, which is the demographic NBC needed to grab.

While viewers obviously don’t want to see Fallon injure himself, get divorced or get fired, they do tune in to see him:

Perform duets with Justin Timberlake and other singers
Drink Poop Water with Bill Gates
Do Lip-Sync battles with the stars
Play Flip-Cup with Margot Robbie
Make and drink fancy martinis with Fergie
Host Celebrity Drinko (They all want to play)

For what it’s worth, the Page Six article does include a quote from NBC downplaying and denying any suggest that they are upset or questioning the host of the Number 1 rated late night show: “Bob Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, told us, “Jimmy is one of NBC’s biggest assets, and we’re extremely proud that ‘The Tonight Show’ continues to be the late-night leader in all metrics, including ratings and social-media awareness. He’s in a class by himself, and we’re also looking forward to him hosting the Golden Globes in January. As a producer and star he delivers over 200 hours of television a year, and any suggestion that we have concerns about his behavior or have given him any kind of ‘warning’ is completely false.”

NBC can make sure he’s safe on the set and can insist he use a driver on their time to and from the studio, etc. From what the article on Page Six says, it appears he is taking the steps to make sure he stays in control during the rest of the time. As long as all parties are safe, I say to those commenting from the peanut gallery, “Stop.” Hmmm

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generation-x While the Millennials are the darlings of the media (think Taylor Swift), Generation X (35-55 years old) are the parents of school aged children, and are/will be the leaders in government, industry and education for the next couple of decades. Hmmm

I am a proud 48 year old member of Generation X. I grew up in a rapidly changing medical, financial, social, and political climate. Between 1967 (when I was born) and 1985 (when I turned 18) a lot was happening in the world:

Flower Power is at its peak in California 1967
Civil Rights Champion Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated 1968
Man walked on the Moon 1969
Sitting US President, Richard Nixon, resigned amid the Watergate scandal 1974
Punk Music Exploded onto the scene 1976
Ronald Reagan elected US President, his inauguration ushered in an ultra conservative era 1980/1981
AIDS Epidemic began 1981 (Rock Hudson becomes most “famous” face to die of AIDS 1985)

In the preface to Generation X Goes Global: Mapping a Youth Culture in Motion, a collection of global essays, Professor Christine Henseler summarized Gen X as “a generation whose worldview is based on change, on the need to combat corruption, dictatorships, abuse, AIDS, a generation in search of human dignity and individual freedom, the need for stability, love, tolerance, and human rights for all.”

Born between 1961 and 1981, the roughly 84 million members of Generation X have been described in the media as

Latchkey Kids: Kids who came home to empty houses after school because their parents were at work or often away – I say this encouraged a strong sense of independence, inventiveness and entrepreneurialism.
The MTV Generation: Music Videos, Grunge, Alternative Rock, and Hip Hop are some of their contributions.
Heterogeneous: Embraced acceptance of social diversity: race, class, religion, ethnicity, culture, language, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
Revolutionists: Instead of replacing individual leaders as their parents did via the vote, Gen X employed social, economic and consumer pressure to enact systemic and institutional changes.
Highly Educated: According to a 2009 US Census Bureau report, Gen Xers have achieved higher levels of academic achievement than any generation before them.
First Generation in the Internet Age: 97% use the Internet, 75% use Online Banking, 62% use Social Media.

On the social front, members of Generation X:

Witnessed and learned resilience from the economic struggles their parents faced in the 1970’s (End of Vietnam War; Recession; Worldwide Oil Shortage; High Unemployment; High Inflation)
More likely to be workers – 86% of adults work 40 hours or more weekly
More likely to be satisfied with their lives – giving an average score of 7 out of 10
Life revolves around the family – 2/3 Married and 71% have children – 80% of parents expect their children to attend 4 year college
Involved in their communities – Schools (PTA), Religious Organizations, and Local Sports Clubs

While my parents were very definitely of the Baby Boomer Era (those born post WWII but before 1964) they were different than many of my friends’ parents. Mine were high school students in the mid 1960’s, my dad served 4 years “in-country” during the Vietnam War, neither graduated from college, yet we lived a pretty upper-middle class lifestyle despite the challenges they faced raising a young family in the 1970’s and 1980’s. My parents’ attitudes more closely aligned with Generation X in many ways. They were quite involved in our lives, they coached our teams, took part in school functions, my father had his own business and they encouraged our independence and resourcefulness, not via the latchkey, but rather via a focus on education and participation in this thing we call life.

The media wants tag Millennials (A.K.A. Gen Y/ those born mid 80’s to mid 2000’s) as “World Changers.” They may very well end up being great, but I believe that it is Generation X that has truly brought meaningful change to the world. Without the fearlessness with which my generation attacked life, challenging old ways of doing things and striving for bigger, better and more of all things from science and technology to arts and entertainment, the Millennial Generation would have no spring board from which to jump into improving the future.

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