A few thoughts regarding Conan
Let's get this out of the way first: NBC should have given Letterman "The Tonight Show"; he was Johnny Carson's hand-picked successor. Not giving Letterman the show so upset the natural order of things that late night hasn't been right since.
The kerfuffle with Conan and Leno was only the most recent temblor on the NBC faultline.
Conan went on "60 Minutes" with his tale of woe,carrying on much like Dave Mustaine in "Some Kind of Monster". Apparently 30+ million dollars, a sold-out comedy tour, and a new show on TBS will never make up for losing the helm of "The Tonight Show". It is an elite class, the handful of men that have hosted "The Tonight Show", although history will designate Conan as the George Lazenby of the crew. His bitterness and disappointment are understandable, to be sure, but at this point, playing the victim is unseemly.
Conan complained that NBC should have given him more than six months to develop "The Tonight Show". He felt the relationship had become "toxic", and questioned whether the network even wanted him around anymore. He didn't have anything good to say about NBC at all. To quote Monty Python, "moan, moan moan!"
Let me take you back in time, to 1993. Letterman's time slot was given to an unknown. "Conan who?". Some guy who wrote for SNL, who wrote the infamous penis sketch that got them in trouble with the censors. NO ONE knew who Conan was. His show was a disaster! He had trouble getting guests, No one wanted to go on his show! He was an industry joke, his program was that bad. Everyone expected him to be cancelled, but NBC kept renewing his contract thirteen weeks at a time, over and over again, until the format eventually gelled and the audience stayed, watched, and grew. NBC certainly believed in Conan then. When have you ever heard of that level of support? NBC took Conan from obscurity and made him who he is today, with a career that he can transport anywhere.
I figure that if I can remember clearly this period in Conan's career, so must a lot of other people.
Yes, what happened to him was ugly and awkward. However, if he'd said "OK NBC, it's been a good run, you did a lot for me, I don't want to go back to the late slot because that would be moving backwards, I'd rather move on to new opportunities"- taking the high road- he would have come off a whole lot better.
Meanwhile, all Conan can do is whine because he assumed "The Tonight Show" was his entitlement.
The kerfuffle with Conan and Leno was only the most recent temblor on the NBC faultline.
Conan went on "60 Minutes" with his tale of woe,carrying on much like Dave Mustaine in "Some Kind of Monster". Apparently 30+ million dollars, a sold-out comedy tour, and a new show on TBS will never make up for losing the helm of "The Tonight Show". It is an elite class, the handful of men that have hosted "The Tonight Show", although history will designate Conan as the George Lazenby of the crew. His bitterness and disappointment are understandable, to be sure, but at this point, playing the victim is unseemly.
Conan complained that NBC should have given him more than six months to develop "The Tonight Show". He felt the relationship had become "toxic", and questioned whether the network even wanted him around anymore. He didn't have anything good to say about NBC at all. To quote Monty Python, "moan, moan moan!"
Let me take you back in time, to 1993. Letterman's time slot was given to an unknown. "Conan who?". Some guy who wrote for SNL, who wrote the infamous penis sketch that got them in trouble with the censors. NO ONE knew who Conan was. His show was a disaster! He had trouble getting guests, No one wanted to go on his show! He was an industry joke, his program was that bad. Everyone expected him to be cancelled, but NBC kept renewing his contract thirteen weeks at a time, over and over again, until the format eventually gelled and the audience stayed, watched, and grew. NBC certainly believed in Conan then. When have you ever heard of that level of support? NBC took Conan from obscurity and made him who he is today, with a career that he can transport anywhere.
I figure that if I can remember clearly this period in Conan's career, so must a lot of other people.
Yes, what happened to him was ugly and awkward. However, if he'd said "OK NBC, it's been a good run, you did a lot for me, I don't want to go back to the late slot because that would be moving backwards, I'd rather move on to new opportunities"- taking the high road- he would have come off a whole lot better.
Meanwhile, all Conan can do is whine because he assumed "The Tonight Show" was his entitlement.
posted by LorE Denizen at 1:12 PM
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