First of all, it does no good bashing NBC on moral grounds over this. They have always been an uncaring and greedy corporation. However, they haven’t always been idiots. So, yes the executives are all being assholes with the whole debacle of trying to have their cakes and eat them too, but from a business standpoint you can’t blame them for having that goal. It’s what every for-profit enterprise should have its sights set on. You can blame them for going down a route that will only leave them with no cake whatsoever, or a soggy, unappetizing Jimmy Fallon cake anyway.
Jay Leno isn’t really the bad guy here, but he’s definitely a nuisance. He’s had his time, and doesn’t really have much to offer anymore. His new show was his old Tonight Show with no desk and a lame, narcissistic intro. He represents contentment at the expense of creativity and progress. It’s not a bad show, but it’s boring simply because it’s always the same.
I truly believe that Conan O’Brien is a very good person. He seems like someone who cares a lot about his employees and has a lot of respect for the TV industry and the Tonight Show. I say this because part of me was thinking that this could simply be a ploy by NBC to get more viewers for their late night shows. Clearly Conan’s ratings weren’t great, and if NBC was actually brilliant, then it would make good sense to fabricate this scandal. I know that if people give Conan a shot that haven’t before they’ll likely come around and enjoy his unique and creative style of comedy. NBC should know this too, so this scandal is a great way to get people to tune in and ask themselves, “So what’s up with this Conan guy anyway?”
There’s just no way that Conan would go through with such an insidious tactic. So, either NBC is deceiving him (again, proving they’re evil, but keep in mind it makes good business sense as long as they don’t follow through and ultimately lose him) or NBC is stupid.
Unfortunately, the likely thing is that NBC is stupid. They’re shortsighted and not realizing that Conan O’Brien is pure gold for the network. The Tonight Show is of course important as an institution, but it’s even more important as a branding tool. Conan is beloved by most everyone, especially people under forty. His demographics are only going to grow as Leno’s and Letterman’s shrink.
This is one rare case where it bothers me that I illegally download a television program. I’m sure that Conan’s actual viewers are far greater than his ratings imply due to the fact that many younger people would tend to download his show. I thought, though, that it’s the Tonight Show. They don’t need uber-ratings. It will always exist. I clearly didn’t account for NBC’s idiocy. The entire TV industry has become shortsighted in general and are not adapting to the problem the Internet poses to them. I’ll probably write more about this later on, but back to watching Conan: I’m going to make an attempt to watch The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien on Hulu or the Tonight Show’s official website just so my “vote” counts in some way.
And wherever Conan ends up, that’s where my vote will go. I really believe that cooler heads will prevail. Ultimately, NBC will lose a lot if they let Conan go. Clearly it’s time to axe Leno for good, and if he goes elsewhere, so be it. Letterman and Leno have competed neck and neck for several years, and they both share similar demographics. Not Conan. He has his own demographics (far more valuable to advertising and growing), and they’re very much behind him. So, a Leno-Letterman-Conan threeway would see Conan kill. Letterman and Leno would really only detract from each other while Conan holds his strong base against their halved audiences and picks up new viewers as the two fade away.
Regardless of what happens, Conan O’Brien is a goldmine. He’s not only amazingly talented and creative, but he’s got the bonus of being a super likable and nice guy. Whatever he does will be a success because he’s simply too good to fail. So, when The Office is gone and there are no more cities or units to make a Law & Order for, there will always be the Tonight Show, but it’ll only have viewers for the next twenty to thirty years if Conan O’Brien is hosting it.