"Tonight Show" and "Got Talent" Coming to NYC

"The Tonight Show" and "America's Got Talent" are coming to NYC.These moves will create jobs in NYC and enhance opportunities for NYC-based stars of the future.

Tonight Show

From AM New York:

Jimmy Fallon will be the next host of "The Tonight Show," which is coming back to New York.

NBC confirmed Wednesday that Jay Leno will end his 22-year tenure as host and pass the torch to Fallon after the network wraps up its coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The network said the show will return to New York, news that excited city and state leaders.
"It's the perfect symbol of incredible comeback we've worked to create in our city's film and television industry," Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The new "Tonight Show" will have a new set at 30 Rock. Leno, 62, and Fallon, 38, joked on their shows about speculation of their respective futures, and continued the wisecracks Wednesday in their statements about the announcement.

"I'm really excited to host a show that starts today instead of tomorrow," Fallon said.
"Congratulations Jimmy. I hope you're as lucky as me and hold on to the job until you're the old guy. If you need me, I'll be at the garage," Leno said.

The "Tonight Show" originally filmed in New York until 1972, when Johnny Carson relocated to Burbank, Calif. Bloomberg said it was natural for the show to come back to Gotham because its TV and film industry has been booming over the last decade.

There are 130,000 New Yorkers who work on TV productions, a 30% jump from 10 years ago, according to the mayor.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is planning to extend the state's 30% tax credit for productions that includes a stipulation for major talk shows.

"The original 'Tonight Show' ushered in the modern era of television, broadcast here from New York. It is only fitting that as 'The Tonight Show' returns to our state, it will be headlined by New York's own native son and resident, Jimmy Fallon," Cuomo said.

America's Got Talent

From CNS News:

NBC's "America's Got Talent" is moving from New Jersey to New York City's Radio City Music Hall.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the announcement Wednesday.

The eighth season of the popular talent competition will air live from the landmark theater twice a week, starting July 23.

The show is relocating from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

Cuomo says the move will create more than 500 jobs and generate $100 million each season. New York State recently extended its Film Production Tax Credit to attract television shows to the state.
Supermodel Heidi Klum was recently added to "America's Got Talent" as a judge.

Stop and Frisk Back in the Headlines

Last week, NYC's disgusting Apartheid stop-and-frisk program returned to the headlines as the new police chief endorsed the practice while admitting that he's been a victim of it.  

New Police Chief

Phillip Banks III is the ultimate Uncle. Tom.  He took time last week to endorse the use of stop and frisk tactics in NYC to harass and humiliate people of color in our city. But, he supports the racist approach to policing that Mayor Bloomberg has made the centerpiece of his mayoralty while admitting that the practice victimizes people of color. Phillip Banks III, as a person of color, has actually been victimized by the practice. Yet, he supports the practice fully and wishes to see his fellow New Yorkers suffer from it. 

All of us should have just as much contempt for Phillip Banks III as we do for Ray Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg. In fact, one could argue that Phillip Banks III should be held in the highest contempt because he supports the racist stop-and-frisk program while possessing familiarity with the burden it imposes on law-abiding New Yorkers. Phillip Banks III knows that 90% of stop-and-frisk victims are people of color and that 90% of the stop-and-frisk victims are not even issued a summons. Moreover, Phillip Banks III knows that despite the stop-and-frisk programs avoidance of stops of white New Yorkers, those white New Yorkers who are stopped are twice as likely to have illegal guns or illegal drugs as the people of color who get the attention of the NYPD. 

While Bloomberg and Kelly seem to enjoy the Apartheid system for the control and power it affords them, Phillip Banks III enjoys the practice of actually subjugating his sisters and brothers throughout our great city.

So, Phillip Banks III must resign now. We cannot afford to tolerate the Bloomberg Apartheid a day longer. If Bloomberg, Kelly, and Phillip Banks III won't leave quietly, we must all raise our voices loudly and force them out immediately.

NYPD Inspector General

Predictably, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly opposes independent oversight of the NYPD. As the City Council looks to mandate an Inspector General for the NYPD to investigate police abuses, Ray Kelly states that such an approach would endanger the public. In essence, the public is only safe if the NYPD has unlimited freedom to break laws and violate constitutional freedoms. Of course, he's wrong. We won't be safe until his power is taken away. We'll only be safe when the NYPD is forced to respect the rule of law and reduce their abuse of people of color in our city.