Today, January 12, 2010, Conan O’Brien made what was probably the most difficult decision of his career – he exited the NBC late night mess that began a little over a year ago with the birth of The Jay Leno Show with grace and dignity that we can all be proud of. But then, you knew that. How could you avoid it? The only question that remains is whether or not Conan will go to a different network.
(If you haven’t read Conan’s poignant official statement, you can do so at http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2
Let’s talk about Conan. If you know me, you know that I have a bias towards Conan O’Brien. I love him. No, really, you don’t understand. I love Conan O’Brien. I’m considering getting a tattoo of some kind. I’ve watched him grow as an entertainer, and my fandom for the man expands from the years “Who is that?” through “Good for him! He’s got balls.” By making Conan a deal for the Tonight Show in 2004), they set his career back six years. If he had taken the offer to go to FOX, he would have turned to a more crass network (not that there’s anything wrong with that), and in the process would have revamped his show and evolved past the stuffy NBC late night format. Instead, NBC promised him a television institution, which he thought about, possibly without interruption, for six years.
In addition to bringing Conan across the country from New York to LA, NBC brought a whole slew of other people. They brought Conan’s wife and two children. They brought the dog. They brought the show’s many (male) writers and their families, cars and personal belongings. They brought the crew, the band, the personal assistants, the accountants. They uprooted Late Night with Conan O’Brien and moved it to a multi-million dollar studio, built from scratch, on the NBC Universal lot. These are the things that NBC chose to spend their millions on, and rightfully so. After all, Jay Leno’s demographic is asleep at 11:35. So shouldn’t they have given the franchise to someone a little fresher? A little younger? Someone who could bring in the 20 to 30-somethings and the loopy insomniac crowd? Yes, they should have. And they did. But instead of it working, it got all messed up. But why?
All signs point to The Jay Leno Show.
Many fortune 500 companies have mandatory retirement. NBC is usually no different. When you’re an entertainer, and you get old, they push you out. This was the case in 1992 when NBC pulled the plug on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show era. It’s not a widely known fact, but Johnny Carson had no intention of retiring from the show at year 30. He had every reason to keep going, too. Not only was Carson’s show the most coveted performance amongst entertainers, it was seen as the Mecca of show business. If Johnny called you over to sit in that chair, you had made it. You were the next big thing. Then NBC pulled the plug, and gave the franchise that Johnny all but birthed to some comedian that was halfway decent. Although Carson liked Leno well enough, he wasn’t first choice. Not by a long shot. In order to get his job at NBC, Jay Leno hid in a closet during an executive board meeting to hear exactly what the network wanted so he could deliver. For more information, read The Late Shift. Anyway, Tonight went to Leno after Carson’s forced retirement. Johnny took it gracefully, because that’s the kind of man he was: a graceful entertainer that we could be proud to watch, learn from, and love.
Jay Leno’s Tonight Show has always felt, to me, like I’m on a cruise ship. There’s lounge music being played by a band of perfectly capable musicians that look like they’d rather be anywhere than playing bad music for a bunch of rich white people. Everyone is tan, there are neon lights. The way Jay runs the thing, he might as well wear a captain’s hat and invite a nice couple to sit at his table for dinner. The live show isn’t much better. The pre show consists of the announcer giving out crap with the show’s logo on it to the obese audience members who come up on stage and show their “talent,” which is usually just turning their eyelids inside out. After that, he sings a song while strumming an out of tune acoustic guitar. Only then can the show begin. The worst part of the entire thing is Jay’s first entrance into the studio. He comes out unannounced BEFORE the warm up act in his street clothes (a head to toe denim outfit that looks as though it could be prison issue) to tell the audience how the show works. He talks about the importance of applause, and how the people on the floor need to rush the stage to shake his hand when he makes his first entrance in order to make the studio look more full, and like they’re excited to meet him. Magic? Ruined.
Conan’s pre show at Late Night was amazing. First, we meet a staff writer, Brian McCann, who does the warm up. He is a seasoned stand up comic, and does a good job of making fun of the audience and getting them laughing. That’s when they bring out the band. You can’t always tell this from the broadcast, but the Max Weinberg 7 is probably one of the most incredible bands playing today. I could go on and on about their musical abilities, but you wouldn’t know what I was really talking about. They’re good. To say the least. Then, at the climax of the band’s set, a drum roll, and an announcement “Here he is, Conan O’Brien!” and a 6 foot 4 inch mountainous redhead bounds into the studio and up the risers into the audience like an Irish setter. He gets a crazed look on his face as he looks around the studio at what he’s up against – around 150 adoring fans. Fans who wear shirts with his face printed on them, fans who bake him cakes on his birthday that he would, under no circumstances, eat. Fans who hold up signs that say things that they hope and pray will single them out so that they might be acknowledged by the man whom they so adore. After he takes the audience in, the music blares anew. The audience claps in time and cheers, and Conan O’Brien begins to dance. He dances a little like a blonde girl on the beach in a 1960’s music video, but no one seems to mind. The audience are all on their feet, screaming, as though this man is a God. That’s when he takes an audience member into the aisle – usually an attractive woman or a mid twenties male, and coaxes them to dance with him. This goes on for about 30 seconds until Conan stops the music. “Woah, woah, woah. Sir, it’s inappropriate for you to be out of your seat like this. Please sit down immediately!” Everyone laughs. The dancing audience member gets drum sticks from Max. Conan welcomes the audience and retreats to the stage while the band begins the theme song. The energy is high, there is happiness in the air. No one has to instruct the audience how to cheer and applaud. They already know.
There are many things wrong with NBC. The biggest one, however, is that they have no idea what they’re doing anymore. I had an interview with NBC to be a page at their New York studios about three years ago in which I was asked a pretty serious question. The question was:
“Why do you think NBC is in last place in the ratings amongst the ‘Big 4?’’
I thought about it for only a moment before I gave my answer. “Because you don’t have a good ad campaign. For example, NBC recently cancelled a show called American Dreams, which was a beautifully written show about a family living in Philadelphia during the tumultuous 1960’s. However, the show was advertised as ‘the show that takes current pop stars and casts them as past pop stars that performed on American Bandstand!’ That’s not what the show was about at all.”
“Okay,” she said. “Any other reason?”
“You have too much reality and not enough scripted shows.”
“Oh no, no,” she said. “Reality is our number one money-maker!”
“And that,” I said, “Is your biggest problem.”
I didn’t get that job. But I’m fine with that, because NBC didn’t get me, either.
The day FOX became a better network than NBC (officially) was the day they started advertising Glee. They did so to the correct demographic, and even went so far as to show the pilot episode after the season finale of American Idol, which probably brought in 50% of the show’s viewers. Glee is a television phenomenon, and rightfully so. Thanks to proper advertising, we’ll probably even get to see it.
I can’t even express how disappointed I am with NBC. We had some good times, didn’t we NBC? You were responsible for the invention of television, and for broadcasting in general. You gave us Cheers, and Seinfeld, “Must See TV,” and Saturday Night Live!, but most of all, NBC, you gave me drive in my life to become who I am. I am a television loving, comedy writing fool, who knew no better than to trust you. Despite all of this, you also gave us a lot of heartache - especially in the past few years. It’s hard for me to say this, NBC, but I’m breaking up with you.
I renounce my allegiance to NBC. I renounce what they did to the man I admire more than almost any man in the entire world, because even though Conan O’Brien is a brainy Harvard goofball, I love him so much more than most people will ever understand. What happened to him isn’t just not fair, it’s disgusting. In an attempt not to lose money, NBC would have gladly taken an institution like The Tonight Show and moved it, well, to tomorrow.
Today we saw the final nail in the coffin for a once great network. We also saw a fine, graceful move by an incredible man, because that’s the kind of man he is no matter where he ends up: a graceful entertainer that we are proud to watch, learn from, and love.
And there's more where that came from.
-Meljo
