If the rumours are to be believed anyway.
This upsets me. As everyone knows, Conan is my favourite late night personality, and I watch his show whenever I can. If they are true, it's really not fair to dump him so quickly. The Tonight Show has undergone a large (and positive) change this year, so of course viewership is going to be down. And to put that dunce, Jay Leno, on just before Conan is obviously going to affect the ratings of The Tonight Show, and not in a positive way. Who came up with the "brilliant" idea to get rid of five hours of prime time programming anyway? With Leno spouting his mouth about taking back The Tonight Show if offered to him, of course NBC is going to be tempted. Leno gave them good ratings because his demographic was much older than Conan's. I'm more in Conan's demographic, and I know I can't watch his show all the time because of school obligations and social commitments. That's the norm, plus many people my age don't watch any light night tv.
This reminds me of what I read about his very beginnings on Late Night. I don't actually remember any of this happening since I was a wee tyke, but from what I've read, he was almost fired several times in his first few years. But he started in '93, can't NBC have a little faith in him by now? He's a funny dude, and they should know it.
It's clear that NBC is scrambling because ratings are falling everywhere. I can't see lasting past this season because ratings have been taking a nose dive and it's expensive to produce. Plus the quality of the show is not great. I mourn for the first season when the show was actually....gasp!....good. Now I watch it mostly out of habit, and because I want to know how it ends. They're probably canning Trauma as well, from what I've read, and that's a show that has been getting better and better.
Therefore, if they get rid of Conan, I'll most likely have no reason to watch NBC anymore. Am I the only one who sees the network either doing a large restructuring or going under sometime in the next few years? It is not doing well at all. Maybe one good thing that would happen if Conan gets fired is that at least he's off that sinking ship. Surely another network will snatch him up.
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Having worked on the Conan O'Brien show in his darkest day - the first year he was on the air - I can say that you can never count Conan out. I figured he wouldn't have a show in year two, when NBC offered Conan's job to Greg Kinnear, who declined to take it.
ReplyDeleteMiracles do happen!
The difference this time, though, is that Seinfeld is a known quantity and NBC-loyal, and might actually consider doing the show. The only person more beloved at NBC than Seinfeld is Bill Cosby!
Also bad news for Conan is that the post-sex-scandal Letterman keeps getting better - as a show and in the ratings.
Last night's Letterman had me crying with laughter - Dave got into a $25,000 cupcake vehicle and rammed into his set:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWv4Vy_zLaI
Earlier in the week, Martin Short destroyed with his special holiday anti-suicide song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiXWCSX64q0
Leno will probably get cancelled soon (yay!), but I think they've gotta give Conan at least a year on the job.
In the meantime, it's Letterman and Ferguson for me!
You worked on the show? I didn't know that, that's awesome!
ReplyDeleteYou are right about Seinfeld, I have gotten the impression that he likes NBC very much, especially since his show aired on the network for so many years.
I flipped to Letterman last night and saw a brief clip of the cupcake vehicle, and was wondering what he was doing with it--I'll have to give that clip a watch. I also caught the anti-suicide song, and it was indeed funny. I do like Letterman quite a bit, and used to watch him more when he wasn't competing with Conan.
As for Leno, it'll be a bright day in my books when he is cancelled. Hopefully then Conan's ratings will improve.
that is really cool!!!
ReplyDeletegreat posting too Jen.
It seems to me that Conan is trying too hard to cater his show (even his on screen behavior) to "his new audience". When he's dancing on his desk and flirting awkwardly with female guests, he is at his best. But that's apparently too quirky for his new time slot (boo!!!).
I love how nobody is talking about Jimmy Fallon throughout all these rumors.
What's your take on that show?
I've noticed a bit of a difference in his behavior, but to me, he's still rather awkward and funny (at least in the monologues, anyway). NBC could also be trying to reel him in as well, who knows?
ReplyDeleteAs for Jimmy Fallon, I only watched his show once (his first show), and I wasn't impressed with it. I have heard that he has improved considerably since then. Since Fallon's audience and Conan's audience are very close to being the same demographic, I think viewers are being split between the two right now.