“The Awkward Situation”

Got this image from (www.jesus-is-savior.com). You can't make this stuff up.

This morning NBC confirmed two things:

1) That the Jay Leno show is being punted out of its prime time slot.

2) That NBC does not deserve Conan O’Brien.

According to network chair Jeff Gaspin, the goal (starting post-Winter Olympics) would be to air a new half-hour Leno show at 11:35pm EST, followed by Conan (still running the Tonight Show franchise) at midnight for an hour, followed by Jimmy Fallon, then the rotting corpse of Carson Daly.

Leno has unsurprisingly signed on with this plan already, while O’Brien continues to mull his options. Somewhere, I’m sure, The Roots are hurriedly trying to write a new album and go on tour.

Maybe I’m biased because I’m a 27 year-old male who grew up watching The Masturbating Bear and once considered forming an Andy Richter Rules The Universe fan club. Still, the fact that NBC continues to throw its support behind Jay Leno is at once mystifying and incredibly annoying.

Think hard about your social interactions and casual conversations with other human beings. When is the last time you, or anybody you know, or any human you have overheard in any language, expressed the following sentiment:

“I like Jay Leno because he is hilarious and/or entertaining.”

Perhaps this is the best thing that could ever happen to O’Brien. His idiosyncratic off-the-wall humour has often been (perhaps fairly) chastized as immature, but at the same time I argue it’s been fearless and trend setting. Indeed, his best skits are when the low brow is intermingled with cultural insight on par with the best stand-up comedians.

Conan has spawned a slew of pop-culture icons:  Triumph at the Star Wars convention? In the year 2000? The whole idea of self-deprecation as a comedic construct?

Jay Leno … likes cars.

There are reports FOX is interested in Conan again, which may or may not be a good fit. What’s certain however, and an issue that concerned many even when he first moved into the Tonight Show spotlight, was whether his identity would mesh with the more staid Tonight Show audience.

What’s most obvious however, is that O’Brien has tried his best to adapt to his new stage instead of NBC trying to rally around him as a charismatic personality. Instead of encouraging his unfettered creativity the network has asked him to fit into a mould.

There are better times ahead for Conan O’Brien, regardless if he stays at NBC or not. Gawker has helpfully posted videos of the Tonight Show host lambasting his own network in response to the whole brouhaha.

Not only are the videos telling of his fractious relationship with the network, but the hilarity of them (even when addressing a situation not just close to home, but about home) only highlights how blind NBC is and why the network continues to struggle to attract ratings in almost every demographic — they just don’t get it.

** I must note that there is a silver lining to all this.  NBC is considering using Friday Night Lights in the post Olympic 10pm slot should O’Brien choose to jump ship. Naturally, my fingers are going to be permenantly crossed for the next six weeks as this would double my television enjoyment.