Now what really bugs me is this latest drama involving NBC's late night programs. For those not in the know, this is what happened:
- Jay Leno wanted to retire from The Tonight Show.
- Leno was given a new show on a prime time slot, The Jay Leno Show.
- Conan O'Brien, whose old show Late Night comes after Leno's old The Tonight Show, became the new host of The Tonight Show.
- Several months passed and both shows' ratings plummeted.
- NBC is deciding to move Leno's show to his former The Tonight Show slot.
- O'Brien's show meanwhile would be bumped back to his former timeslot which is after midnight.
- O'Brien threatens to leave if such a change take place.
While it may seem at first glance to be nothing more than corporate powerplay, one couldn't help but notice that in this issue, it would seem that O'Brien and his crew are the ones getting the short end of the stick.
I'm a Conan O'Brien fan, I admit it. And while I don't exactly like Leno, I don't hate him either. It's just that to me, I find Conan's in-your-face New York humor to be funnier than Jay's very common California style. And when I come to think of it, this is probably one reason why viewer ratings dropped. NBC gave Leno a new show which is basically a copycat of his old show while forcing O'Brien to move to LA and perform in an environment that is completely alien to how a lot of fans came to like and know him.
It is truly disappointing that in an effort to salvage their money while at the same time trying to satisfy everybody, NBC managed to insult a lot of people instead, not the least of which is O'Brien who has been loyal to the company for many years. The Tonight Show has been around for decades, starting with Carson, then Leno, and now O'Brien. And now because of lowered ratings, the show seems to be headed to oblivion all because of a bad corporate move.
If O'Brien leaves, one rumored option for NBC is for them to restore Leno back to his old show. The problem however is, it's really not Leno or any host that is now determining if a late night show remains sellable, it is the audience. And with audiences now having more choices for late night entertainment such as the internet as well as other media, viewership would still go down regardless. NBC now only seems to be trying to salvage the 20th century late night entertainment formula and trying to keep it alive for the new century.
With that being said, I would have to say that Jay Leno should just step down. He had had his fun as the king of late night and maybe it's high time that he pass the torch to someone else, O'Brien in this case. While it is true that O'Brien still has a lot of work ahead of him in order to establish himself in his new timeslot, given the right amount of time, the viewers will come back, maybe not in droves but they will.
Also, O'Brien and his gang have already put a lot of effort into making the show their own. It surely was a big gamble to move from New York to California and try to bring in the laughters from such a different setting. It would seem ungrateful for NBC to put them back in the sidelines just because they don't sell that much - yet. Even Leno had to take time to establish his own audience after Johnny Carson left.
Regardless of which side of the fence we are in on this debate, we could all agree that late night is and will always be meant for laughter and mindless fun. All we could hope for is for this issue to have a resolution soon so that we can all go back to reclining on our chair and having a laugh on the skits and the monologues these guys throw at us.
To Conan, Max, La Bamba, and that dog with the bad mouth, here's me showing my support to you. d(o_od)
Photo from cinematicallycorrect.wordpress.com
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