Late Night Television

[Robert de la Cheyniest]

A very classy response from Conan. As a die hard Letterman watcher during my high school years I've always hated Jay Leno with a passion (also he's not funny) and this definitely doesn't help that opinion. But more importantly, who the hell is running NBC right now? Jesus!

[Matt]

Moving Leno to 10 was that idiot Ben Silverman's idea. If he hadn't already left NBC, I'm sure he'd be fired over this debacle. The best thing NBC could do is to cut Leno loose and give him a development deal. Or stick him on Sunday nights.

For me, messing with The Tonight Show, one of the greatest continuing institutions in TV history, is not an option (and I probably watched Leno's version maybe 10 times and never all the way through). You might as well cancel TV altogether.

I don't think jumping to Fox would be a good move for Conan. They have no established late-night presence and a terrible history of previous late-night endeavors (Chevy Chase Show, anyone?). Furthermore, any late-night show on Fox would probably come on at 11:00 (Eastern), after the 10:00 local news and a half-hour of, what, TMZ (that's what's on my Fox affiliate)? They think people are going to stick around? And not be watching the better local news at 11? Or a rerun of Seinfeld?

[Highway 61]

I don't think jumping to Fox would be a good move for Conan. They have no established late-night presence and a terrible history of previous late-night endeavors (Chevy Chase Show, anyone?). Furthermore, any late-night show on Fox would probably come on at 11:00 (Eastern), after the 10:00 local news and a half-hour of, what, TMZ (that's what's on my Fox affiliate)? They think people are going to stick around? And not be watching the better local news at 11? Or a rerun of Seinfeld?

You know where I'd like to see Conan go? HBO. Not just for the lack of censorship, but I have to think pay cable would allow him to do longer interviews with more interesting guests.

Still, I'm more optimistic about Fox than you are. They're a far bigger network today than when they did the Chevy Chase and Joan Rivers shows. And I imagine they won't be harping on Conan to water down his act.

[flyonthewall2983]

God, that would be great if Conan went to HBO.

[tavernier]

You know where I'd like to see Conan go? HBO. Not just for the lack of censorship, but I have to think pay cable would allow him to do longer interviews with more interesting guests.

You're not serious...Conan is a worse interviewer than Leno.

[Napier]

Conan has told NBC to go fuck itself. Apparently they have already inked Leno to a new deal. This next week or so of The Tonight Show should be great, to say the least. Here's hoping for some good old fashioned Network style TV.

[Fiery Angel]

Dave was good and snarky last night, especially when he was imitating Leno's whiny voice.

[Highway 61]

You know where I'd like to see Conan go? HBO. Not just for the lack of censorship, but I have to think pay cable would allow him to do longer interviews with more interesting guests.

You're not serious...Conan is a worse interviewer than Leno.

Call me crazy, but I am serious. My intuition could easily be off on this, but I think Conan's lame interviews are more a symptom of A) Consistently B-list guests at 12:30 and later when NBC screwed him over in favor of Leno and B) A concious effort to play nice so as to prove to NBC that he was mainstream. Again it's mere intuition, but I think wherever Conan goes next he'll be edgier and more intelligent.

[Cold Bishop]

Conan's interview has always followed a basic pattern.

1) The first guest is usually you're average bland pr-run celebrity. The difference between A and B-listers isn't all that important, since its obvious there's not much to talk about other than the basic play-nice approach that is symptomatic of every talk show. Occasionally, he'll nab someone he really would like to talk to (he did seem to genuinely enjoy interviewing Gary Oldman the other night), but there's not much you can do here.

2) Second guest usually tends to be the less famous, but much more interesting person, more often the person which it is obvious Conan invited, and as such, the subject of the better interview. This is where most of the comics end up, and Conan's best interviews (with Norm McDonald, Dave Chappelle, Patton Oswalt and such) usually fall in this category.

3) Stand-up or musical guest: this is where the transistion to the Tonight Show really did damage, as he hasn't been able to bring in the more edgy acts the way he use to.

Anyways, the best thing about Conan has always been the stuff around the regular talk-show schtick than the schtick itself (not only interviews, but his monologues have never been amazing, and most of the humor comes from how self-deprecating they are), the jump to an edgier network could perhaps allow him to break and subvert the traditional format a little more.

Sure, he's not a Charlie Rose or Dick Cavett, but that's because guests go on there to hawk their wears, not face serious questions. If anything, Conan's "poor interviewing" skills (a common complaint) is his attempt to make dead-weight interviews more interesting.

[Murdoch]

I've always thought Craig Ferguson's great at interviews if only because he comes off as the guest's half-drunk uncle.

[Highway 61]

I normally have no time for Jimmy Kimmel, but his hour long Jay Leno evisceration last night was the funniest thing I've seen on network late night TV in years.

[tavernier]

Dave's "promo" for Law and Order: Leno Victims Unit was pretty good....

[Jeff]

Dave's "promo" for Law and Order: Leno Victims Unit was pretty good....

Here

[Polybius]

Dave was good and snarky last night, especially when he was imitating Leno's whiny voice.

"Don't kid yourselves...these guys wouldn't have their jobs if they didn't know what they were doing."

[Robert de la Cheyniest]

And here is the Dave Letterman we all know and love

And here too

[Highway 61]

Once again, I'm surprised to learn that Kimmel isn't a hack. Here he is telling Leno to fuck off right to his face.

[flyonthewall2983]

Kimmel isn't a hack, really. He just looks (and acts a bit) like an asshole. You'd swear if he wasn't intentionally funny he'd be a shoe-in for Fox News.

[mfunk9786]

That Kimmel clip is absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, I suppose, this is all for naught: it's not like Leno has a soul or anything.

[flyonthewall2983]

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/cl ... 43187.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Murdoch]

All you'll ever need to know about the Late Night clusterfuck.

[domino harvey]

Worst Superbowl Party Ever

[tavernier]

So were all 3 together or was it CGI?

[Jeff]

So were all 3 together or was it CGI?

It was legit.

[flyonthewall2983]

Conan's going to TBS.

[mfunk9786]

What could the allure of TBS possibly be? This is downright embarassing... no one watches TBS for anything but Seinfeld reruns.