Years ago, when David Letterman left NBC to get his own 11:30 p.m. show, opposite the Tonight Show, I started watching his replacement, Conan O’Brien. He wasn’t funny. His band was mostly lame. Great musicians, but no original sound. Letterman’s band, led by Paul Shaffer, like the Tonight Show band led by Doc Severinsen, had a personality. It still has that personality today since most of the members have been with Dave and Paul since the beginning.
Since Letterman’s debut at 11:30 p.m. I’ve had to flip between Leno, host of the Tonight Show after Johnny Carson retired, and Letterman’s The Late Show. Then, just over five years ago Leno announced he would retire in 2009 and hand the Tonight Show over to Conan O’Brien. Problem solved. I would no longer watch the Tonight Show.
Years ago it was a common thought Letterman would replace Johnny Carson once the Late Night King retired. NBC freaked out everyone when they announced long-time Tonight Show guest host Jay Leno would follow in Carson’s chair.
Letterman got fucked. So, when his contract expired, Letterman took up the offer from CBS and switched networks. Letterman is still funny. He got Sarah Palin all wound up when he made a joke about Sarah’s single mom daughter and Palin tried convincing everyone the joke was about her as yet to be single mom daughter.
Letterman apologized, sincerely it should be added, but Palin kept bashing Dave and even took part in a little cabal of nutcases trying to get Dave fired from his job. So, Letterman went back on the offensive and now Palin is a joke at least once a day.
Well actually, Palin is the joke. But more on her later.
Anyway, since August 30, 1993, I’ve had to split my TV time between Letterman and Leno and now, since 2000, I don’t watch either until the Colbert Report is over at midnight. Well, since June 1, 2009 I don’t really bother with the Tonight Show, even though I did give Conan a try couple of times. He just isn’t funny.
In September 2009 NBC began it’s prime time experiment with Leno coming on at 10 p.m., before the local news. I watched it a few times since it’s pretty much just an earlier version of Leno’s Tonight Show. Leno is still funny. Most of the bits he did on the Tonight Show are seen on his early program, my favorite being “Jaywalking.”
But that all changed recently. Leno’s rating at 10 p.m. have been abysmal, due more to the fact that viewer habits at that time slot had been entrenched and people were not giving up their favorite 10 p.m. shows to watch Leno.
Add that to the Tonight Show slipping in the ratings and you have “the suits” of NBC tripping all over themselves to find a remedy. Over time, as other 10 p.m. programs finished their runs and went off the air, Leno probably would have picked up viewership, but who in TV has patience these days?
So the remedy the suits came up with was simple — and downright cruel to Conan O’Brien: Leno would do a half hour show at 11:35 and the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien would start at 12:05.
Since it’s inception the Tonight Show’s start time has been 11:30-35 (10:30 in the Central Time Zone). For decades I watched Johnny Carson nearly every night. Before Carson there was Jack Paar and … sheesh, I’ve forgotten his name. There have been a few hosts before Carson, but it was Johnny who made the Tonight Show a brand. He was the host for 30 years? Close to it anyway. On his last Tonight Show broadcast, Bette Midler sang to him from the guest’s chair, one of the most touching moments in late night television.
Had it been Carson’s choice, Letterman would have taken over the chair of the Tonight Show.
The promise for O’Brien, made by the suits at NBC was that he would be the host of the Tonight Show (I’m not sure how long the contract is for) at it’s regular time slot which starts at 11:35 in most time zones. O’Brien moved his family, band and entourage from New York City, where he did the Late Night Show after the Tonight Show.
Now, just over seven months into his turn as the host, the suits have decided to “change” things. Yeah, moving Jay Leno out to make way for Conan O’Brien was a big mistake, but bumping the Tonight Show and O’Brien? NBC screwed both Leno and O’Brien and now Conan is going to walk. Good for him. I may not like his humor, but he deserves better. The rumor is, he will get a late night show on FOX. They haven’t had a successful late night variety/talk show since Arsenio Hall, and that was a long, long time ago. Maybe Conan O’Brien will carry on where Hall left off.
Then there is Sarah Palin, the newest commentator on FOXNews. If anyone believes she quit her job as governor of Alaska for the good of her state has to be living in a fantasy world. Since quitting and going out as a celebrity, the faux hockey mom has made millions of dollars on her book, speaking engagements and now her deal with FOX.
The woman had one thing and one thing only in mind when she decided to quit her job—MONEY! And lots of it. Had she fulfilled her term as governor, she would have faded from the public eye and all the money she is getting now wouldn’t have been there in a year or two. Sarah Palin, like many of her fellow conservatives, is a lying fraud.
Going rogue … what bullshit! Sarah Palin has gone greedy! No harm in that, but she could at least be honest about it.
The best thing about late night television: watching Letterman use Sarah Palin as the butt of his jokes. The perfect exposition for the ass that is Palin.
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