NBC has teamed up with smartphone maker Samsung to shoot an episode of the Tonight Show entirely using the new Galaxy S10+.
Viewers saw Monday's episode without the usual opening monologue or sit-down interviews with celebrity guests. Host Jimmy Fallon instead kicked off the show by telling them the episode will be captured using Samsung's Galaxy S10+ smartphone.
The TV event was part of an advertising deal NBCUniversal made with the South Korean tech company.
The 'Tonight Show' Shot Using The Galaxy S10+
The Tonight Show opened with Fallon standing outside the Sixth Avenue entrance of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where the show is filmed daily.
He welcomed viewers by telling them that the episode will be a little different from its usual format as it will be shot entirely using several Galaxy S10+ phones. He asked them to join him on a tour around New York before catching a ride in a cab.
The show then transitioned to its opening credits, with voice-over man Steve Higgins introducing the episode's guests former UFC champion Conor McGregor, stand-up comedians Michael Che and Rachel Feinstein, and Rao's co-owner Frank Pellegrino Jr.
Throughout the evening, Fallon, Higgins, and the show's house band The Roots went to different part of the city while shooting scenes with the Samsung phones.
The gang dined at New York's famous exclusive restaurant Rao's and delivered some meatballs to a few firefighters around town. They also took a sneak peak at The Django jazz club.
Fallon interviewed McGregor at a New York Irish pub and caught up with Che at the Comedy Cellar. He also showed Feinstein performing her stand-up routine at the comedy club.
The highlight of the episode came when Fallon and The Roots performed a few tunes with the legendary New York City skyline serving as a breathtaking backdrop.
The new format featured in the Tonight Show episode offers a fresh new way for viewers to watch their favorite programs. Shooting the show using the Galaxy S10+ provides a different depth of interaction not often seen on television.
Samsung has billed the Galaxy S10+ camera as professional quality, and based on the quality of the show's video, the smartphone certainly did not disappoint. Despite the episode being shot entirely at night, the camera was still able to capture the scenes adeptly.
NBC And Samsung Partnership
It looks like NBC viewers can expect more shows experimenting with different formats.
Mark Marshall, president of advertising and client partnerships at NBCUniversal, believes this type of programming could become the next big thing on TV.
"I think these types of partnerships are going to become, hopefully, more frequent and done to this level," Marshall told Variety.
The deal between NBC and Samsung will also have other shows shot using the Galaxy S10. These include NBC's Today and Bravo's Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. The idea is to show how Samsung smartphone users can shoot their own high-quality videos with Galaxy S10's camera.
This is not the first time popular TV shows dabbled with the latest gadgets to get sponsorships from some of the biggest tech companies around.
SNL's Kyle Mooney shot a short video using the Google Pixel 3 smartphone. The clip was shown as an ad during a December episode of the show.
Meanwhile, CBS's The Late Show also aired a segment where host Stephen Colbert featured the Google Nest video doorbell.
