What Will Conan Do? | The SendMe Stage

January 13, 2010
What Will Conan Do?

Says the long-time late-night talk show host: “My name is Conan O’Brien and I may soon be available for children’s parties.”

Well that SUCKS. I’m going to put this out there: Jay Leno is being a douche. First he says he’s retiring (after like 85 years on the job at the Tonight Show) and passes the torch to Conan O’Brien, who has worked incredibly hard to earn the spot coined by Johnny Carson. Then Leno’s like “Well wait, I have an idea…I’ll just take over five primetime TV slots with a show exactly like the Tonight Show, only an hour earlier! Brilliant.”* I mean, I don’t know how anyone could have thought this would work.

Needless to say, NBC’s lineup is totally effed up now. But, who gets the raw deal? Conan O’Brien. NBC wants to move Jay Leno back to the 11:35pm nightly time slot, which would push the Tonight Show back to at least 12:05, if not 12:35…talk about unfair.

Conan released a long statement today which, in my opinion, was actually very poised and gracious. Of course, the statement did not come without bitterness as he wrote: “But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.”

He also stated that he would not participate in the Tonight Show if it were to be pushed back to 12:05 (or later), noting that it would be unorthodox and strange to change such a pivotal, historical television tradition. Plus, he so rightly added that it would be unfair to Jimmy Fallon (a subtle punch to Leno, I hope).

We’ll see what happens. But, in my opinion, this is what should happen: Leno should retire, and Conan and the Tonight Show should remain the same. But I’m not an NBC executive, so who cares what I think, right?

*Disclaimer: this is not an actual quotation made by Jay Leno.

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