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03:41
Ravi Amruth
It's Saturday 23rd of January. It may be a dark day for many; but nothing haunts more than the clouds at NBC. Bodies lay strewn across studio floors, producers cry in anguish, and there is an eerie silence. Conan has been defeated.
... Okay, maybe not, but tomorrow (tonight in the US) really WILL see the end of the late night war that has plagued and pleasured our TV screens for the past couple of weeks. We've seen it all- bad imitations, ruthless slagging matches, and even the odd protest.
Despite the support that Conan O'Brien managed to rally up (including Letterman, Kimmel, and the odd million people here and there), Jay "NotOnMyChinnyChinChin" Leno has wrestled back the tonight show. If we were to carry on the war metaphor of above, I think we'd see that Leno has a few bulletholes in his armour. CBS' David Letterman has been particularly (and in my opinion rightly) ruthless; having been involved in a ruckus over the Tonight Show in 1993, with Leno (who won the show with a few backroom-deals). Leno, in riposte, has reused the same lame material night after night. Yes, you guessed it, the "omg, Letterman used to shag interns at his show and everyone's forgotten, but I'll try (and fail) at making it funny!" Comebacks.
In that itself we see the cruel irony of this situation. Conan, even before this mess, was revered as the better entertainer, a showman, and a crowdpleaser, who along with Andy, his announcer, brought a bit of zing to the 11.30pm timeslot. With the ammunition of the recent events, he, along with Letterman (and his quick jibes), Kimmel (who did a whole show as Jay Leno), and Ferguson (who was brilliant before he vowed to concentrate on more pressing matters- again, rightly so in my eyes), have excelled themselves, providing truly awesome comedic comentary to this dramatic debacle. Leno, on the other hand, seems to have got worse; his bad, and needlessly harsh jokes even inciting boos from the audience at stages.
Believe it or not, Jay Leno has even tried to make himself look like the victim of the situation. Although there may be truth to this (this was Jeff Zucker's idea after all (... Oops, sorry, did I say Zucker? I meant Sucker.)), it is hard to see how Leno is the one bawling his eyes out. Even if put in a headline of simple words (I dunno... Maybe: "Man With Thousands of Supercars Gains Old Job. Better Entertainer Left Jobless"), it's impossible for this headline to show Mr Bigchin as the victim.
Although there will be a few out there screaming: "what the hell!? This isn't his fault! Blame NBC!", surely Leno needs to take some of the blame- he's done this for the Tonight Show before; and he hasn't exactly told NBC to give Conan more time to settle in (despite saying "it's yours, Conan" on the show five years ago).
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien has been going for just seven months. SEVEN months. The flop show "Joey" was given a longer run. In the time the show was on, NO-ONE was able to go through the full birth process (conception to labour). I managed to get my own job, and lose it in about an eighth of the time.
Jimmy Fallon, who has been quite silent about the NBC civil war, spoke out about the network and Leno, stating that he, like O'Brien, and Letterman, would never be able to progress from "Late Night" to the "Tonight Show". From an outsider's perspective, you can only assume that Jay Leno is going to invest in the latest "immortality technology", and keep hold of the show forever.
This has been a long, enthralling, but tragic war. It'll be a shame to see Conan go.
Ratings:
Letterman: 7/10
O'Brien: 9/10
Ferguson: 6/10
Kimmel: 7/10
Leno: 3/10
Fallon: 2/10
Carson Daly: ... I'm sorry... Who?
... Okay, maybe not, but tomorrow (tonight in the US) really WILL see the end of the late night war that has plagued and pleasured our TV screens for the past couple of weeks. We've seen it all- bad imitations, ruthless slagging matches, and even the odd protest.
Despite the support that Conan O'Brien managed to rally up (including Letterman, Kimmel, and the odd million people here and there), Jay "NotOnMyChinnyChinChin" Leno has wrestled back the tonight show. If we were to carry on the war metaphor of above, I think we'd see that Leno has a few bulletholes in his armour. CBS' David Letterman has been particularly (and in my opinion rightly) ruthless; having been involved in a ruckus over the Tonight Show in 1993, with Leno (who won the show with a few backroom-deals). Leno, in riposte, has reused the same lame material night after night. Yes, you guessed it, the "omg, Letterman used to shag interns at his show and everyone's forgotten, but I'll try (and fail) at making it funny!" Comebacks.
In that itself we see the cruel irony of this situation. Conan, even before this mess, was revered as the better entertainer, a showman, and a crowdpleaser, who along with Andy, his announcer, brought a bit of zing to the 11.30pm timeslot. With the ammunition of the recent events, he, along with Letterman (and his quick jibes), Kimmel (who did a whole show as Jay Leno), and Ferguson (who was brilliant before he vowed to concentrate on more pressing matters- again, rightly so in my eyes), have excelled themselves, providing truly awesome comedic comentary to this dramatic debacle. Leno, on the other hand, seems to have got worse; his bad, and needlessly harsh jokes even inciting boos from the audience at stages.
Believe it or not, Jay Leno has even tried to make himself look like the victim of the situation. Although there may be truth to this (this was Jeff Zucker's idea after all (... Oops, sorry, did I say Zucker? I meant Sucker.)), it is hard to see how Leno is the one bawling his eyes out. Even if put in a headline of simple words (I dunno... Maybe: "Man With Thousands of Supercars Gains Old Job. Better Entertainer Left Jobless"), it's impossible for this headline to show Mr Bigchin as the victim.
Although there will be a few out there screaming: "what the hell!? This isn't his fault! Blame NBC!", surely Leno needs to take some of the blame- he's done this for the Tonight Show before; and he hasn't exactly told NBC to give Conan more time to settle in (despite saying "it's yours, Conan" on the show five years ago).
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien has been going for just seven months. SEVEN months. The flop show "Joey" was given a longer run. In the time the show was on, NO-ONE was able to go through the full birth process (conception to labour). I managed to get my own job, and lose it in about an eighth of the time.
Jimmy Fallon, who has been quite silent about the NBC civil war, spoke out about the network and Leno, stating that he, like O'Brien, and Letterman, would never be able to progress from "Late Night" to the "Tonight Show". From an outsider's perspective, you can only assume that Jay Leno is going to invest in the latest "immortality technology", and keep hold of the show forever.
This has been a long, enthralling, but tragic war. It'll be a shame to see Conan go.
Ratings:
Letterman: 7/10
O'Brien: 9/10
Ferguson: 6/10
Kimmel: 7/10
Leno: 3/10
Fallon: 2/10
Carson Daly: ... I'm sorry... Who?
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