January 14, 2010

"'I'm with Coco!'... the Internet seems to be siding with Mr. O’Brien...."


Mike Mitchell's very cool pro-Conan poster:
NBC, Mr. Mitchell said, had “backed Conan and his entire staff into a corner” with its plan to put “The Jay Leno Show” back at 11:35 p.m., elbowing “The Tonight Show” with Mr. O’Brien to a time slot after just midnight....
“Conan is officially accumulating capital for his next debut in late night,” Aaron Barnhart, the television critic for The Kansas City Star....
... Trendrr... said it had found that the Twitter sentiment for NBC had been “overwhelmingly negative” during the past week....
ADDED: Obama's with Coco!

49 comments:

traditionalguy said...

Conan is cute and impish, but seldom outright funny. Is that the writers' or the moderator's fault. Leno has more range of humor in his show. Maybe he just has better writers.

Peter Hoh said...

Did anyone else catch Kiefer Sutherland on Letterman, wearing a dress? Seems that Mr. Sutherland had lost a bet.

If NBC wants to keep younger viewers, they need to keep Conan.

John Stodder said...

O'Brien is at his best when backed into a corner.

During the writers' strike, after NBC forced him to go back on the air, his late-night program was truly inspired.

So it is again. He might be a short-timer, but he's going out with a bang. It is way beyond milking the situation for sympathy. The NBC execs' stupidity has given him a theme for his satirical edge, one that plays perfectly in these insecure times when loyalty appears to be a one-way street. (It's of a piece with the film "Up in the Air.")

Good for him.

wv: ptibrain. The locus of empathy?

vbspurs said...

Conan isn't funny. Leno is even less funny. But they do what they do very well, unlike David Letterman who is past it, but who is genuinely funny.

I wish Conan the best, and hope he gets a killer contract at Fox. But I'll still only be watching Craig Ferguson, the funniest Scotsman since Keir Hardie.

vbspurs said...

Conan isn't funny. Leno is even less funny. But they do what they do very well, unlike David Letterman who is past it, but who is genuinely funny.

I wish Conan the best, and hope he gets a killer contract at Fox. But I'll still only be watching Craig Ferguson, the funniest Scotsman since Keir Hardie.

Paddy O said...

I don't think either Conan or Leno are to blame or are to be applauded. Conan has a limited audience in his time slot, with the big problem being that his appeal is almost certainly to those who also like Letterman. Leno offered something totally different, for a different audience.

Leno did not choose to leave the Tonight Show, he did not choose to leave the 10pm slot. He's getting yanked around by NBC.

The real blame should go to where all the blame for NBC's direction this last ten years. Jeff Zucker is to blame for this present fiasco and every fiasco that led NBC from the front to the distant rear in ratings. Yet, again and again he keeps getting promoted. He's like the mail room guy from Seinfeld.

John Stodder said...

Leno has more range of humor in his show.

Leno's schtick is very tired, as is Letterman's. He's a good joke-teller, but that's about it. His signature bits, "Jaywalking" and "Headlines" could be done by anybody. We get it: Most people are stupid and headline writers make mistakes.

XWL said...

One of the few policy areas where I agree with the President.

Matt Eckert said...

Why are you wasting your time with these losers?

You need to be watching Chelsea Handler.

She has midgets!

Martha said...

XWL: THANKs for the hilarious link.

Peter V. Bella said...

Get rid of both of these Bozos and bring back the late night movies.

knox said...

Leno's schtick is very tired, as is Letterman's.

Yes. And I like Conan, but even his act feels dated now. Describes just about everything on network TV, doesn't it?

Ricardo said...

Yawn. Can they bring Johnny Carson back?

WV: slygm. There's a slygm chance that Carson will come back.

XWL said...

Prof., feel free to embed either (or both) of those pictures with this post.

The link is appreciated, but probably simplest to just put the picture up on the main post.

XWL said...

Still waiting for Flickr to say something about my repurposing of the White House Photostream.

The White House puts copy in the description implying my kind of reuse is prohibited, while the US Gov Works license Flickr links to suggests there are no such restrictions.

Wonder why the White House continues to claim copyright restrictions they should be aware they don't actually hold?

David said...

Irony: The Obama with COCO photo is about the last White House Flickr post. They finally realized they were making O look foolish.

bagoh20 said...

Fox proves everyday that just one right wing show can kill them all. Lefties fighting over less than half an audience is the problem.

bagoh20 said...

Conan and Ferguson are the only ones possessing personal talent and wit.

bagoh20 said...

Ginger Power rules the internets.

KCFleming said...

I prefer making hand shadows on the wall to watching Mr. Letterman.

Mr. Leno usually loses out if the fiber has kicked in.

Conan has fallen prey to pressing F5 at Althouse on more than one occasions.

blogless said...

I'm team Leno. I don't think that he's particularly funny, but I didn't think Johnny Carson was either. Their talent was in making the audience feel comfortable even when they were bombing. Conan on the other hand makes me squirm and feel like he's always trying too hard.

I really think that if Leno goes back to host the Tonight Show at its regular time, it will go back into the lead. (I have a friend who works with Leno and said that part of the problem was that his new show was in prime-time so they had to have the network invovled in all the creative decisions, and we know what happen when anything is done by committee.)

Kensington said...

The thing is...!

...

What most people are failing to take into account is...

...

Eh, who cares?

KCFleming said...

Now "Flight Of The Conchords", that's funny.

Here's Rhymnocerous vs Hiphopopotumus.

Hoosier Daddy said...

There is something Hitleresque about that poster.

former law student said...

Hitleresque

Not quite, but close

http://www.ww2incolor.com/d/26481-7/poster-f

Steven said...

O'Brien on Fox at 11:05 and Leno back at 11:35 as the host of the Tonight Show will sink Letterman.

Kev said...

I've tried to like Conan, but it's just never happened. When he first took over Late Night, he was awful, and while he did get somewhat better over the years, he was rarely anyone I'd make a special effort to watch. He lost me after a couple of shows when he took over Tonight.

This may not be the only reason I'm not too fond of him, but my dad made an interesting point when we tuned in to a little of Conan over Thanksgiving: If he'd just tell his jokes and cut out all the ridiculous physical schtick, it might be a lot more palatable. (Maybe he'd work better on radio?)

I've been a Leno fan since the days when he was subbing for Carson, and my feelings on this whole thing tend to mirror that of Paddy O. above.

Night2night said...

Well that's done. "The Chin" had a better lawyer.

Bob_R said...

Conan is probably better as a writer than as a performer; e.g. he wrote the Monorail episode of the Simpsons. Hope he sticks it to NBC.

michaele said...

I hadn't watched Letterman in several years and caught him just the other night on HD. It was truly disturbing how old he looked.Then I added the recent news of his sexual involvement with youngish employees and my YUCK meter went off the charts! Letterman gives me the creeps big time and he's not very funny.

Joe said...

I'm not a fan of any of them, but every one has had me laughing at one time or another (The Insult Comic Dog is great.)

That said, Zucker is a moron and Leno is an asshole. Leno announced his retirement and then backtracked. His show not only lost market share for the time slot, it lowered market share for the news AND for the Tonight Show.

At this point, I'll bet Conan walks with a huge payout, Leno goes back to the Tonight Show. Conan starts a show on Fox. And I still don't watch any of them.

AllenS said...

I cannot stand Letterman, never could. He so often seems bitter. Before I signed up with DirecTV, I watched Leno. Maybe it's because he's a car guy, you know, hands on type of man. Conan, with his appearance every night, has this routine of jumping up in the air to the sound of some music. WTF? It's not entertaining.

Phil 314 said...

I like Conan.

Leno got stale a long time ago.

Tivo will conquer any time or network issues.

Penny said...

"I'm with Coco!"

Eric Scheie at the Classical Values blog has a sweetheart dog named Coco that I can fully stand behind. Coco O'Brien, not so much.

Penny said...

If someone had told me five years ago that I would no longer be a Letterman fan by 2010, I would have spit out my pop CORN. Heck, me and Dave practically grew up together.

I loved his midwest mannerisms. I loved how he loved his music, and gave new bands their time on the BIG stage, and then seemed very genuinely impressed with their talent. Natalie Merchant was as much a favorite of his as she was of mine, so that counted for something too.

What he did for New York and the country after 9/11 made me weep grateful tears.

Then something went wrong. VERY wrong.

Penny said...

So now who do I like to catch?

Victoria is dead on with her suggestion to watch Craig Ferguson. He is such an adorably funny man/boy, you just feel like you need to pinch his little cheeks before you imagine yourself falling into bed with him.

He's NAUGHTY! In the best of ways.

Penny said...

My second suggestion is to go with Matt Eckert's thumbs up on Chelsea Handler.

She's the perfect catch for late night cable channel surfers.

As NBC continues to jostle their not-so-funny late night hosts, Leno and O'Brien, and as they seem to not have loyalty to either, it's a head scratcher to me that they wouldn't try out the most irreverent, Ms. Handler, "just because". If they don't, some other major network will.

Miles White said...

Conan was hilarious on Late Night, but is only moderately funny now-which is still milestones ahead of J-leno's humor. I blame his writers, and the execs for deterring any humorous segments to Conan's show. He's always worked best in the past through improve, unlike most talk show hosts. He was even funny when being interviewed by James Lipton on the Actors Studio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP7LuYMhfYk

I'm definitely with Coco.

vbspurs said...

The latest is that as can be imagined, Friday is Conan's last night with NBC. He's calling in "sick" next week, if forced to do the show.

Also, it seems that Zucker is embarrassed with the brouhaha his draconian decision caused, but is playing hardball to save face.

They are now calling him "Darth Vader" behind his back, because as Conan's agents put it (they themselves, no saints) he's pure evil.

No one tell Dick Cheney.

vbspurs said...

wv: dises! Zucker dissed poor Coco.

XWL said...

A special bonus for Althouse readers. Tomorrow's LOL Obama, today.

It's another Team Conan themed job. This time with extra masturbating bear content!

(a lesson I learned too late, when doing an image search for 'masturbating bear', you might want to switch 'safe search' on before proceeding)

vbspurs said...

LOL, XWL! That's awesome!

But if there was ever a woman who looked tailor-made for leprechaun-clown orange hair, it is Janet Napolinincompoopano.

wv: sulivans!! Him too.

Penny said...

"He was even funny when being interviewed by James Lipton on the Actors Studio."

Hey, what's not to like about Lipton's show?

Once you realize that his most innocuous perpetual starlet, Kate Hudson, for example, is made to look like his most serious starlet, cum internationale ambassador, Angelina Jolie?

Answer for yourself.

Penny said...

We live in an odd world.

We "presume" seriousness where we expect it. At the same time we totally IGNORE that the name of the show is "Actor's Studio".

Now THAT'S funny!

Sorin said...

Late night shows were invented for those who worked late on the east coast. The kids are in bed and the bed awaits you. You and your mate get together to watch Parr, Carson or your current favorite. The laughs lighten the mood and boom.
The next thing you know the pjs are on the floor. To be continued...

Sorin said...

Leno was best when he started out doing standup in the clubs. He was young and very funny.

mariner said...

When twitterers start buying late-night TV advertisements, what they like will matter to the networks.

When Leno was doing Tonight the ratings were much better than now when Conan is doing Tonight.

I wonder if that will be true again?

Penny said...

"To be continued..."

Funny, Alexandro, in a retro kind of way now. Unfortunately.

Personally, I always LOVED that "toes" seemed to frame the picture of that special time between...

"This and that", or even "here and there".

Titus said...

For some odd reason Penny makes me horny.