And so it goes.
On January 22nd, we’re poised to lose Conan O’Brien as a fixture of late-night television – at least for a time, if NBC’s proposed contract settlement is carried out. (It’s been said that they’ll ban Conan from hosting a new show for anywhere from 1-1/2 to over 3 years, evil bastards.) It’s a poignant thing, what feels like an end of an era. After all, Late Night With Conan O’Brien debuted when I was just entering the 8th grade, and I remember it being a minor mark of bad-assery if you were able to sneak out and watch it after your parents went to bed. (Hey, this was 1993. No one had the internet and we took our small rebellions where we could get them!)
Myself, I didn’t really discover my interest in the show until the late ’90s, when I was a little more worldly and appreciative of the ribald humor. And even though he’s 17 years my senior, Conan always felt like that massively cool (yet utterly dorky) older brother who was whip-smart, humorously self-deprecating, and would do just about anything for a laugh. And it was that perfect blend of brilliance and dweebery that made him so endearing to so many in my generation. You know, my grandparents always preferred David Letterman. My parents were occasional watchers of Jay Leno. But Conan – he belonged to us. We of the “X and Y” generations – the ones who prefer our humor with an equal dash of snark and smarts, and an extra dose of jackassery. And what can I say? I feel an especial kinship to the man, given that we’re both tall, Irish gingers who are practically translucent. ;-)
Heh … I just re-read what I wrote and it almost sounds like I’m giving a eulogy. But it doesn’t feel so far from the mark. Honestly, I never thought The Tonight Show was right for Conan. It was too steeped in certain expectations and traditions – and above all else, too damn early in the schedule. Talk about crampin’ mah style! After all, Late Night was the reliable show you could turn on after a night of watching bad movies over beers with good friends. It was just late enough to fall asleep to, and just early enough so you could watch the whole thing and still have hope for a reasonable amount of sleep before an early morning class or commute. While Conan certainly had the moxie to reinvigorate The Tonight Show back to its Carson-esque glory, who knows if it would have worked out – even had dumb ol’ Leno actually retired as promised.
Speaking of which, many people are looking to Leno as the bad guy in this equation, and I’m not sure what I feel. It was a shitty stunt to pull – to decide in 2008 that instead of moving on, he’d start hosing his own talk show as a lead-in to the Conan-helmed Tonight Show. But I suppose we can’t fault him completely for the abysmal ratings that his 10pm spin-off received, which effectively led to a domino effect against the rest of the late-night lineup. Still, why is NBC being Leno’s bitch? Why are they so dead-set on keeping him happy? Why not put him on a six month hiatus and see if Conan’s ratings improved without Leno mucking up the lead-in? It seems like so much could have been done without resorting to NBC’s attempts to “demote” Conan to his previous time-slot. I agree with his statement – which I’ve heard had Conan in tears while writing it – in which he asserted that changing The Tonight Show’s format and schedule would effectively destroy the show. It could have been heading for destruction (maybe even cancellation) anyway, but Conan is a resilient fellow who pulled Late Night out of creative and ratings-based slumps before. I’ll bet he could have done it again. But I guess now we’ll never know.
So I’m with Coco – whatever that means, at this point. Boycotting Jay Leno? No problem, I never watch him to begin with. But what’s left to do? Hope that Conan finds a loophole in the settlement that would maybe permit him to produce a web-based show until the dust settles? It could be a brilliant maneuver, and I’m sure that sites like Funny Or Die would love to partner with him to produce something groundbreaking and awesome. I guess we’ll just have to wait to see. But one thing’s for certain … The jolly red giant may be lost, but not gone forever.
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