The Tonight Show w/ Conan O’ Brien Review

After a five year wait and months of hype and anticipation, the reigns to the 50+ year old Tonight Show franchise has been handed off to Conan O’ Brien. The biggest question of the night was how Conan would approach a more mainstream audience with his humor. From what was seen tonight, I think Conan fans should rest easy knowing that the same old loveable red head from 12:35 is very much the same an hour early. The bits involving Conan as a tour guide for Universal Studios or going around Los Angeles in his ’92 Ford Taurus were classic Conan.

His back and forth banter with first guest Will Ferrell (Land of the Lost) was great as well and he showed his interviewing skills haven’t missed a beat. The weakest part of the show was the monologue, but that aspect of the show is what Leno had perfected the most and will be the hardest to take over. Conan’s nerve’s showed a bit but he did seem to loosen up as the show progressed. I am not at all sold on Andy Richter as an announcer, his voice is nowhere in the same league as Joel Goddard and his jokes all fell flat. Hopefully he can show his comedic promise as time goes on. I just don’t quite know what the big deal with him is, every show he’s been on has failed and even Conan’s show picked up after his departure.

Overall, The Tonight Show w/ Conan O’ Brien is off to a great start. The ratings will be the true test of time, but judging by early reactions, NBC shouldn’t have anything to worry about. CBS on the other hand might have some troubled waters ahead. Putting Bill Cosby against Will Ferrell may sound ok on paper. But in reality Cosby is an aging comedian while Ferrell is a late night talk show king with a big movie opening this weekend. Watching Cosby and Letterman banter felt more like a senior citizen hour than a fun and fresh late night show. Also putting a nobody singer against Pearl Jam is not very smart. In this world of Twitter/Facebook/iPhones the Letterman/Craig Ferguson brand of humor just seems outdated and stale. It’s hard to imagine either show will be able stand much of a chance against the new NBC late night line up.

8.5/10

Leno Stays At NBC w/ 10pm Nightly Slot

The NBC camp has confirmed that Jay Leno will be staying with the network after Conan O’ Brien takes over the 11:35 pm slot.  Leno will be moving up to 10 pm and doing his hourly talk show every day.  That means that NBC is doing away with regular programming for 10 pm which they have been doing for quite some time anyways.  10 pm is generally regarded as being a time for hour long drama’s on most networks, but ER is going off the air midseason, and shows like Lipstick Jungle and My Own Worst Enemy have been cancelled. 

Production teams at NBC should be shaking in their boots as with this advertising and economic climate NO show is safe.  Heroes, 30 Rock, and Chuck are all in danger of being axed if ratings don’t pick up and the only show that is even coming close to performing on the network is The Office.  It will be interesting to see if this Leno change will payoff in the long run.  I think talk show fatigue will be a major problem for the network with Leno, Conan, Fallon, and Carson all having shows back to back with only a brief interruption for local news.  This will surely give other networks like ABC and CBS the edge to pick up 10 pm shows to sway away viewers when Leno has a boring guest as well.