Sometimes I feel out of touch with the rest of society.
For example, I’ve never understood the appeal of Jay Leno.
The comedic stylings of Conan O’Brien are more my speed, and I’ve been a quasi-regular watcher of Conan’s for the past 15 years. When The Civee and I first got our DVR two years ago, Conan’s Late Night was the first show that got added to the record list. And when Conan took over the hallowed Tonight Show last June, I couldn’t have been happier. As Conan took over Late Night, Jay moved to 10:00 and the once great NBC saw the ratings for its last hour of primetime drop off a cliff.
Well, it looks like NBC is putting the Jay Leno Show (or, as it’s known in my house, the Talentless Jay Leno Show) out of it’s misery. But the effects may not be good for Conan. From the New York Times:
NBC executives held discussions with both Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien Thursday about the future of the network’s late-night lineup. And while executives said that no final decision has been made, they did not deny that the network is considering moves that could include returning Mr. Leno to his old job as host of “The Tonight Show.”
NBC executives said a decision would definitely not be announced Thursday but did not deny a report posted by the website TMZ that NBC was considering making the switch and replacing Mr. O’Brien at “Tonight” with Mr. Leno.
So what would they do with Conan? They can’t exactly move him and his crew back across the country and give him his old show back because that would upset Jimmy Fallon.
Back in the day, CBS had a reputation as the old folks’ network and NBC was cutting edge. Kinda sad to see the network that brought you the A-Team, Knight Rider and Seinfeld fall like this. Sure, they’ve got things like The Office, Chuck and Conan (still under contract), but this is just digging an even deeper hole.
Don’t worry, fellow tall pasty one, I’ll still watch ya.