I never watched him, but now I’m seeing references and commentary all over the place, from MacNeil/Lehrer to message boards to Facebook status updates. Was anyone even watching his show before this imbroglio started?
I preferred Dave all this time. Even way back in the 80s before CBS. And now, I add Craig.
NEVER a Leno fan. Conan was amusing at times.
Current bruhaha? Meh.
Even if you never watch TV, you have to admit the story of a major corporation publicly tying itself in knots over the future of one of its flagship products can be pretty interesting. Like Old Coke vs. New Coke, or Microsoft’s Windows vs. the Internet controversy.
And when you put it in terms of two highly visible, highly quotable personalities it makes the controversy even more appealing. Remember back in the 1980s when Ross Perot wound up on the board of directors of General Motors and spent his tenure there blasting the company until GM finally bought him out? Imagine how it would have been played up if GM were headed by the outspoken Lee Iaccoca rather than the bland Roger Smith.
I never watched him. Never watched Leno or Letterman either. Don’t particularly care for their kind of humor or program. Plus the fact that I really need to go to sleep…
No, there’s also Jay Leno.
[musical sting]
I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen Conan at all. I’ve seen Leno and Letterman clips, but I’ve never watched their shows. So, yeah, all the network (is it NBC?) contortions are kind of interesting, but I have to admit I don’t really get it or care.
Gee, what do you think?
Also, it’s a bit weird to be aggressively dismissive of something that you’re completely ignorant of.
I care about your other examples, exactly as much as I care about Conan O’Brien.
O+C+M=0.
I don’t know. What were his ratings like?
That doesn’t make sense If I’m going to not give a rat’s ass about something, it’s *more *likely to be something I’m completely ignorant of.
Ratings are irrelevant; do you think everything you’ve heard about this situation is a result of no one having watched his show?
Well, you cared enough to start a thread about it.
I could care less about football, and am really, almost painfully disinterested in who will end up going to the Superbowl, indeed, I don’t even know what teams are playing, or even if that’s been decided yet.
No point, just wanted to register my disinterest.
No, I cared enough about all the reactions I was seeing about it to start a thread. I don’t really think you’re following this very closely.
According to one writer, the Conan situation has symbolic significance:
If you want to know what’s so great about Conan, check out Paste’s 15 Reasons To Love Conan O’Brien.
He was averaging about 2.5 milliion viewers a night on the Tonight Show. He and Craig Ferguson are my favorite late night guys although, to be honest, I actualy haven’t seen him since the switch over to the Tonight Show.
Never even heard of him.
Isn’t he a Frank Frazetta drawing?
I tried to like those late night shows. I really did. But I just don’t get it. Do you have to be an insomniac, or do people actually stay up on purpose to watch those shows?
I honestly think a pretty sizable chunk of their audience is people who like to have the TV on for “background noise” while they get ready for bed and try and fall asleep. They’re vaguely amusing but not so interesting that you get engaged and can’t fall asleep, and peoples standards for humor in general go down when they’re tired.
Apparently, I’m not the only GenXer who sees what happened to Conan as proof that the Baby Boomers are always going to get their way, and there just aren’t enough of us to make a difference.