ABC has handed Jimmy Kimmel a ratings headline worth savoring: Jimmy Kimmel Live! opened the 2026-2027 season with 2.29 million viewers, putting it No. 1 in late night. The result comes after a turbulent stretch that included political clashes, Donald Trump’s repeated attacks and a highly publicized suspension in 2025. Now, Kimmel is entering another season with something late-night hosts rarely get to enjoy after a controversy-heavy run: measurable momentum. 

For Kimmel, his political comedy has repeatedly put him in Trump’s crosshairs after his 2025 suspension. ABC eventually brought the show back, and its return drew 6.3 million broadcast viewers despite some stations refusing to carry it. There is another subplot to Kimmel’s late-night story, though, and it is considerably less combative: his relationship with the other Jimmy behind the desk.

ABC’s September 29 announcement puts Jimmy Kimmel’s latest number into a larger ratings picture. The show averaged 2 million total viewers during the 2025-2026 season, its most-watched season in eight years, dating back to 2017-2018. Its 2.29 million viewers during the first week of the new fall season also put it at No. 1 across late night in its 11:35 p.m. ET/PT slot. 

The previous season also gave Kimmel a strong finish, with Jimmy Kimmel Live! averaging 2.34 million viewers in its final week and ranking No. 1 among Adults 18-49, the demographic advertisers closely track. That makes the latest figure more than a single premiere-week blip.

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Yet while Kimmel has sparred publicly with Trump and found himself at the center of a major ABC controversy, his show has continued to use the familiar machinery of celebrity interviews, political jokes, comedy bits and musical performances. ABC still lists the program in its traditional 11:35 p.m. slot. 

That competitive late-night machinery makes Jimmy Kimmel’s friendship with Jimmy Fallon an especially entertaining footnote. During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Kimmel pushed back against Stern’s suggestion that his friendship with Fallon was somehow performative. Kimmel said he could not imagine anyone not having fun around Fallon and pointed out that he was actually planning to have dinner with him.

The exchange came with an unusually revealing reminder that the supposed rivals of late night do not necessarily live their professional competition off camera.

Stern himself helped spark the friendship. In 2017, he arranged a dinner after learning that Kimmel and Fallon exchanged emails but rarely socialized. The connection stuck, with Fallon later spending time at Kimmel’s Idaho fishing lodge and the pair even swapping shows for an elaborate 2022 April Fools’ stunt. That history gives Kimmel’s latest ratings race a fun wrinkle: the late-night scoreboard may count viewers, but behind the desks, the hosts can still be friends.

For Kimmel, the 2.29 million figure arrives after one of the most complicated chapters of his career. Whether the number develops into a sustained trend will depend on the rest of the season, but for now, Jimmy Kimmel Live! has started 2026-2027 from the top of the late-night ratings table.

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What do you think about Kimmel’s latest ratings run? Share your thoughts in the comments.