DID NEW YORK REALLY NEED TO GIVE NBC TAX CREDITS TO KEEP TONIGHT?

In his “New York Notebook” column for the London Financial Times, Gary Silverman has criticized New York officials for essentially rewriting the state’s tax code to lure NBC’s Tonight show back to New York after 42 years. The administration of Governor Andrew Cuomo, he said, created a tax break, equal to 30 percent of production costs, to attract any “talk or variety show that filmed at least five seasons outside New York” before a studio audience of 200 people or more. Silverman notes that it didn’t used to be the case that tax breaks were necessary to attract great artists to New York, and then referenced several songs that mention the city. “Cool people come to New York because the neon lights are bright on Broadway, and there is always magic in the air. They come because if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. They come because New York, New York, is a helluva town.” Silverman concluded by wondering whether NBC will give Fallon the freedom to become “something more interesting than a New York tax break.” He noted that on his first show on Monday he engaged in “the kind of relentless cross promotion” of other NBC shows “that makes U.S. network television so hard to bear.”