Coco Avant Leno

Whether ya like Conan or not, NBC made a dick move, and by no means their first. A conspiratorial part of me wonders if perhaps they did this in hopes that Conan would announce that he would quit, either to place Jay back in his spot or use the heat to oust Jay entirely, since I get the feeling even NBC is beginning to detect the odor of damaged goods coming off of Leno since his 10:00 pm failure. Putting Jay back on after 11:00 pm at this point won't guarantee the ratings he once had before moving, coming off such a well-publicized bust.

How do I weight in on it? To be honest, I haven't really watched late night TV in ages. I've only seen Conan on The Tonight Show maybe three or four times, and Jay's new show not at all. These days I barely even keep up with The Daily Show with Jon Stewart like I used to.

Believe it or not, I used to love Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. I mean, really, reaaally love Jay Leno... but back when he was guest hosting for Johnny. I know it may sound hard to believe not knowing his comedic history, but Leno used to be a genuinely witty, even edgy comedian in his time. When Carson took one of his typical night's off I would actually call friends: "Dude, Johnny's off tonight... LENO'S OWWN!" and I would be doubled over with laughter from the sheer irreverence of Leno's approach to hosting a show that he knows he doesn't have to carry for a living. He's no Carson, but he knows he doesn't have to be. The night he officially took over the desk I tuned in and was openly, visibly crushed. The guy who once hosted the show was now leashed, muzzled, and utterly neutered in order to keep the older audience from tuning out in droves after their childhood icon took a bow. I chalked it up to first-week jitters, to playing it safe until he got his bearings. But Jay, affable and pleasant as he is, never stopped playing it safe. Carson didn't play it safe, and from what little I've seen neither did Parr. Maybe in the last few years Johnny took it easy for a bit, but by then The Tonight Show had become an American Institution and he became one of the last few old school comedians still hosting a comedy program and his audience often reflected that. Other than "Headlines" and the occasional "Jaywalking" I found no other reason to really tune in to The Tonight Show anymore.

Of course Conan O'Brien is a bit of a polarizing choice for The Tonight Show, considering its demographic. Irreverent comedians like Letterman and O'Brien were well-placed past the midnight hour where their surreal weirdness could run unchecked and enjoyed by often a younger audience. Conan, despite his nervous nerdy charm and 1950's Howdy-Doody throwback aesthetic, was still bound to scare the blue-hairs out in the flyover states. Despite years of being on the air and gaining the confidence he once obviously did not have in front of the camera, Conan still doesn't have the ease or old showbiz polish of Letterman, who now at a more prime time hour feels comparatively more like old vaudeville the way Carson once did. Except Dave lost his irreverence but gained an even bigger chip on his shoulder than than ever before. Older audiences jumped ship from The Tonight Show and clung to Letterman like a life preserver, even through his recent controversy. Though whether or not Conan's ratings loss is due to losing that older audience or merely a in bad position following Leno's sinking show still isn't wholly determined -- mainly because NBC hasn't given either Jay nor Conan's shows enough time to cultivate an audience of their own, on their own.

I wonder if there will be another Late Shift movie made out of all this. As always, in the end HBO wins again!