A Truly Uninformed Opinion on the Conan/Leno Thing
January 13th, 2010 . by Tim Babb (TANcast's #1 Host/Editor Fan)A long time ago, in an NBC office far far away…
First of all, does it strike anyone else that this happens so soon after Comcast buys NBC/Universal? They weren’t content with fucking up our TV viewing experience in the delivery…they wanted to fuck it up at the source!
So, from where I sit (which is, admittedly, a position that makes me just as uninformed as the next asshole) this just sucks for everyone. But what I mainly see is a lot of blow back hostility directed at Jay Leno. Now I know not a lot of the “cool kids” are down with Jay Leno but I feel he is to late night what Larry the Cable Guy is to stand up…he’s not on the edge doing the things that no one’s done before, he’s serving a large niche and serving it extremely well.
Leno was number 1 when he was forced to retire 5 years ago and he was #1 the day he went off the air. You can’t blame him for wanting to stick around, he did the job he was supposed to do and got pushed out for it.
Please don’t take this to mean I’m on “Team Leno” (as if being on any “team” makes a difference). Conan earned his shot and he deserves the chance to make it work. I’m on “Team Fuck NBC.” They are trying to have their cake and eat it too and it just doesn’t work. You can’t have both Jay AND Conan. There can be only one rooster in this hen house (or peacock, I guess). Choose one and let the other go.
January 13th, 2010 at 3:39 am
You’e completely right Tim, especially in your description of Leno. He is the beige of entertainers, nothing offensive about him, and nothing remarkable about him either. He simply served a purpose at NBC in filling a seat vacated by the ever so much better Johnny Carson. I, however, feel that some of the blame DOES rest on Leno’s shoulders as I feel that his ego will not let him see that very “beigeness”. I guess I feel this way since I really don’t think that he paid his dues in his ascent to Tonight Show host.
As for Conan, I see just the opposite. Here is a person who HAS paid his dues, stepped into Letterman’s old time slot with no hosting experience and made the show his own. Plus, I feel that he has a much greater respect for the tradition of The Tonight Show than Leno has (It comes across that this is just another stand-up routine for Leno).
Regardless, only one person should be doing the Tonight Show, and it should run right after the local news. If NBC actually MADE Leno retire while he was #1 in order to put Conan in, then they need to live with their decision and suck it up…
January 13th, 2010 at 6:11 am
Ditto.
January 14th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
I also never saw it as Leno v COnan (though I love the pic!), but Conan v NBC. And so far, I think Conan’s shown nothing but class.
Yeah, I think that’s it. No second comment to follow.
January 23rd, 2010 at 4:34 pm
u r awesome at photoshop.