The Conan Conflict

January 14, 2010 • By Jeff Wade,
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Stop me if you have heard this one before: A fringe late-night talk show host with a distinct comedic sensibility fosters a cult following. This cult following eventually transfers into wider success in the ratings and an implicit promise to move into an earlier and more prestigious time slot. Then the fringe late-night host gets chinblocked.

The current late-night drama is reminiscent of a similar incident that played out in the ’90s. Former “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson handpicked David Letterman to replace him, with Leno being given the spot instead at the last minute. Now, with the current shake-up of “The Tonight Show,” what’s old is new again.

Back in 2004, to keep him from jumping to another network, NBC extended Conan O’ Brien’s contract as “Late Night” host, with the promise of eventually taking the reins of the “Tonight Show”. To keep Leno from jumping ship to another network, they handed over the 10 p.m. time slot to the chined one. The nightly “Jay Leno Show” would take the place of expensive scripted content.

The problem here, beyond the fact that Leno now has five more hours a week to be aggressively unfunny, is that Leno was not drawing the ratings of scripted shows that usually air would have. Station affiliates, which rely on the content of the networks, were taking a loss from this reduced viewing pool, as they use them to funnel viewers into their local nightly news. Diminishing ratings for “The Jay Leno Show” lead to pressure from affiliates to return to scripted content and rumors of a cancellation.

At an annual network presentation for television critics last weekend, NBC confirmed that following the Winter Olympics in February, “The Jay Leno Show” would be cancelled and Leno would return to Late Night. This resulted in a game of musical time slots that would see Leno hosting a half-hour show at 11:35 with “The Tonight Show” airing at 12:05 (technically, the “Tomorrow Show” all things considered) and Late Night beginning at an unprecedented 1:05 (unprecedented for anyone not named Carson Daly at least).

The bump back to midnight for Conan has been met with an unusual amount of hostility for the usually generous ginger giant. Sections of his monologue over the last few nights have included numerous digs at NBC, such as considering renaming his show the “The Sometime at Night Show with Some White Guy.”

In an opening statement on Tuesday, addressed in typical Conan style to “People of Earth”, Conan stated his refusal to move the “Tonight Show” to 12:05 and “seriously damage” the “greatest franchise in broadcast history”.

The situation has inspired notable jokes at NBC and Leno’s expense. The highlight of which surprisingly occurred on Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC show. In an inspired take, Kimmel did his entire show using a Jay Leno impression, complete with prosthetic chin. Kimmel played up the comedian’s hacky and bland material, complete with a “Headlines” segment, serving to deliver a surprisingly scathing condemnation of the former “Tonight Show” host.

It is shame how Conan is being handled, after sixteen years on “Late Night” and relocating to California. Conan has a consistent stream of hilarity, a mad cap and subversive style that has gone a long way in shaping comedic world views. Intellectual and irreverent, it has taught people a new way of looking at things, and brought an outsiders take on a format that is so defined by its inclusiveness. It is a level of sophistication rarely seen on network television.

On the other hand, Jay Leno has taught everyone that sometimes, newspapers make typos.

The option of what to do now lies entirely with Conan. Fox made comments during the weekend about being happy to have him and create a new late-night program for him. In a dream world he could follow Stewart and Colbert on Comedy Central.

If neither of those work, he could always jump over and fill in for Letterman when he retires. After all, what’s old is new again.

Contact Jeff Wade at wadeja@jmu.edu

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One Response to “The Conan Conflict”

Grace on January 14th, 2010 8:48 pm

Nah, he can’t leap over and take on Letterman’s place when he retires. We want Ferguson to do that.

I’m hoping for Fox or Comedy Central, frankly.

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