Late Night with Seth Meyers

Needs improvement, but it’ll make it. The goal should be to fit the show to Meyers’ obvious strengths, not try to fit Meyers to the show’s template.

Meyers's first monologue was all down-the-middle one-liners, delivered in the exact "Weekend Update" cadence.... Meyers settled in more once he sat down at his desk.

Late Night with Seth Meyers felt totally professional and not at all embarrassing--which means it also felt standard and boilerplate.

Meyers is likable and pleasant, and the first show probably isn't a good indication of what his Late Night will eventually be like. In the early going, though, there isn't much fresh happening there.

With all of the hype leading up to Meyers's debut on Late Night, it was disappointing that his opening monologue was scrappy.... On his own, Meyers was merely OK, especially considering that Fred Armisen, who leads Late Night's house band, was such a nonentity. Then Amy Poehler came on and everything was just splendid.

His monologue was staccato and hit and miss--sounding more like his "Weekend Update" bits than a real monologue. And his first attempt at a recurring bit, "Venn Diagrams," was overly clinical and less than funny, despite some good material.... The back-to-back segments of Poehler and Biden offered an early hint that Meyers really can do interviews and that worries over that element of his arsenal are exaggerated.

Right now he’s as bland as Carson Daly.

Meyers is talented and interesting enough that I shouldn't be watching his premiere and wishing that Stefon had shown up instead of Joe Biden.... The monologue was nothing much. Meyers at least seemed instantly comfortable, at home, once he finished a string of so-so punchlines and sat down behind the desk.