It’s tonight. Just a reminder, in case you’re like me and love late night TV but are inconsistent about it.
I’m really going to miss LNwCOB. However, over the last few years the show’s bits have gotten more and more repetitive. They would constantly cycle through bits like Celebrity Survey, State Quarters, SAT Questions, and there was a tendency to repeat the same gag for 4 nights in a row, which doesn’t really reward loyal viewers. I hope the move to 11:30 brings a renewed energy to Conan and his show.
That said, I think Conan’s best days are behind him, at least until Leno and Letterman fade off into the sunset. He’s still going to play second fiddle to Leno, and he’ll get second pick at L.A. guests. On top of that, he has to compete with Letterman. Even though Dave’s been trounced in the ratings, this change is going to force us fans of quality comedy into a quandary at 11:30, and I think a lot of us are going to decide to watch Dave live, and Conan online the next day.
Who comes out the big winner? Ferguson! I love the guy, but would always default to Conan, in fear of missing something great. I’ll give Fallon a chance, but I’m not optimistic. It’s nothing personal; I’m not one of those many that seem to absolutely loathe him. Fallon was good on Weekend Update and Fever Pitch. Just like Chevy Chase was great on Weekend Update and the Vacation movies. I just have this gut feeling that they’re going to have one more thing in common soon.
Yep, I’ll be watching. God, I can’t believe this is the last show – I’ve watched for so many years, I thought it would never end. Why does he have to move the show to LA, anyways? Why can’t he do the same show and just move the time up an hour?
Incidentally, did anyone watch last night’s show? Jerry Seinfeld’s standup was not very good; I was surprised and disappointed.
I am bitter sweet on the last show. I’ve been watching most of this week, and enjoyed it as usual plus the sentiment of the end drawing nearer. However, I think the last show should have been w/o Richter, and should have been longer. Why couldn’t they take the 30 minutes they give Carson D after Conan so that Conan could pack a little more into the last show. It felt a little incomplete. Also, not a single clip of him driving the desk?
Other comments:
It felt like his nod to Letterman was more sincere than his thanks to Leno.
I also wish they would keep the show in NYC. I fear LA will spoil the show.
There was a moment during his goodbye (“it will never get better than this”) at which I honestly got the impression he was saying something along the lines of “this was my show and a true labor of love. The next show, is just a necessary continuation in my career”
I AM SO GLAD Leno is off that time slot. I can’t stand the moron. I will NOT be watching his new show, and I hope it bombs horribly.
I will be torn with Letterman and Conan now occupying the same time slot.
I like Fallon, but I have doubts he will pull it off. Also, how could he possibly be better than Conan? Those are some big shoes to fill.
This kind of change, I dont like. I would have only been happy if Conan took over Letterman’s seat when Letterman retires. That seemed more fitting to me. Conan replacing Jay is not even going to make sense in terms of demographic. The middle America that loves Jay (can’t imagine why), more likely than not isn’t the same middle America that loves Conan.
Moral of the story IMO: Letterman is God, Conan is King, Leno es crap.
Very interesting take, and I agree with you more than not.
I picked up on this too – wasn’t too hard to read behind the lines on that one. I can’t imagine that Conan finds Leno’s show funny, and rather than lie, better to just thank Jay for being so…nice.
And really, as for the LA thing, what gives? Who says that the Tonight Show has to air from the West Coast? And after all, won’t it be that much harder getting big guests out there, since he’ll be competing directly with Jay?
How many times does he have to show that damn Turkish Spa clip? I had a feeling it was gonna get shown before I even started watching last night’s ep, since it gets shown on EVERY clip show. It isn’t even funny…I did love the 1864 baseball clip…I didn’t see that one since it originally aired.
The show is on too late for me to watch it anymore, although I’ll sometimes tivo it if there’s a guest I want to see, but Conan O’Brien was my favorite of the late night shows back when I was in college, so it really does feel like the end of an era. I hope he does well in his new show, even without Abe Vigoda…and be sure to check out his appearance on Inside the Actor’s Studio too.
They overdid it with the clips, I thought, but most of them were very funny. I’m not a regular viewer, so I hadn’t seen the old time baseball one before. That was excellent. I also thought it showed Conan’s Simpsons writer side- a lot of the show’s writers are just obsessed with old timey stuff.
The White Stripes song was indeed off. But now I know Meg White doesn’t play guitar as well as she can’t play the drums, so I guess that makes her a non-multi-instrumentalist.
I did like Conan saying he won’t grow up on The Tonight Show because he doesn’t know how.
I agree that he should return the Tonight Show to its roots and stay in NY. He’d compete directly with Letterman, who wisely stayed in NY after his move to 11:35.
I really think Conan will regret moving to California. Shows from there have a different vibe than the one he had in NYC.
I never even got why the NAME of the show was so significant. There’s no difference between “The Tonight Show” and “Late Night” except for the timeslot and the actual title. When Letterman didn’t take over The Tonight Show, he made his own show at the same time on a different network. Was it any less respected just because it wasn’t called “The Tonight Show?” … and keep in mind that The Tonight Show WAS a New York show! Carson moved to LA midway through his run. Especially now that Leno is staying in LA, and will most likely not change his show a bit (aside from the title and timeslot, again), meaning that Conan is gonna be second fiddle again, only this time competing with Leno’s guests rather than Letterman’s—AND with the same network paying the bills. Why would NBC want to pay the same actor or band twice to appear on both shows? I also think (and Conan’s final tribute to him proves this even more) that Letterman & Conan have the same type of audience, where as Leno had his own audience, and at least right now they weren’t in COMPETITION with each other, but now their audiences are gonna have to choose between watching Letterman or watching Conan. Bad stuff all around.
…I wonder how much attention Jimmy Fallon’s show will end up getting?
Fallon is gonna have a hard time. It seems like it takes a year or two for talk shows to really settle in and get great, and I don’t think anyone is going to give him that chance.
I used to watch Conan, but discovered Ferguson and never looked back.
This was a truly lame final show, as far as I am concerned.
The “best of” clips were not particularly all that funny, which is kind of sad considering he had 16 years of material to pull from.
The “special guest” was Andy Richter…OK, I understand it was his old partner, but for his final show you would have thought he could have pulled a few more interesting people than that.
I don’t think Conan is going to do well on the Tonight Show. Conan seems to be a nice enough guy, but I just don’t think he will translate well to the earlier hour audience.
I think NBC was stupid to force feed this transition to everyone involved; Leno didn’t want to leave, I think Conan could have been bought out and remained happy where he was. My prediction is that, after a few initial airings of high ratings - to see how he is doing - Conan’s show is going to start tanking big time, Letterman is going to see a huge bump in his ratings, and Leno is going to take over the 10:00 PM timeslot and prove NBC should never have dropped him to begin with.
I don’t know what all the fuss about White Stripes was all about; it is good to know, though, that I wasn’t the only one who thought their performance on Conan’s last Light Night show was … well, pretty bad about covers it in my book.
Does anyone know if Max Weinberg and the MW Seven are going to LA with Conan? If not, what happens to them? I love Max and the band! The many sides to Max … LOL!
I simply couldn’t believe how third-rate Senfeld’s standup routine was. He really couldn’t come up with anything better than this? Was he ever a great standup comic? (I’ve only seen him in Seinfeld, which I loved).
Why does he have to move the show to LA, anyways? Why can’t he do the same show and just move the time up an hour?