Late Night Wars

This article reminded me to write about how this whole “Team Coco” stuff is total bullshit.

I get that NBC seems to be screwing Conan O’Brien over royally. Although truth be told, it’s his staff who will be hurting more so than he will be, unless he’s a complete moron who has spent every dime he has ever made.

You can tell by watching his show that he’s feeling really salty about the whole thing, but from this has come some pretty entertaining stuff, including a post on Craigslist selling the studio. He’s really ripping NBC a new one which is so weird to me because they’re still his employer and it seems wrong, but I guess that’s nothing new since SNL does it all the time. Not that I can blame them. From what I’ve read, NBC really can’t make up their mind what they want to do.

What I don’t understand is all the scorn against Leno, particularly if what he said on a recent show about the situation is in fact the truth. All these people are taking sides when this is all NBC’s (un)doing.

Admittedly, ultimately I really don’t care who ends up where or in what time slot. I DVR all the TV I watch anyway. I don’t have a favorite late host, although I seem to record Leno more than the others so maybe he’s my favorite without my knowledge. I check the guest lists every week and program my DVR accordingly regardless of what show they are on. Sure, there are certain segments I enjoy, like Jay’s Headlines and Jay Walking, but I also like Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and some of the goofy things Conan does. I also like Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel. They all have value.

The only host I don’t like is David Letterman, which is why I’m not crying a river over the fact that he didn’t inherit the Tonight Show over Conan in the first place. And even with my dislike, I’ll skill DVR a show if someone I really want to see is on, like Kiefer Sutherland who showed up wearing a dress last week.

Why no mention of Carson Daley? Well, I’ll just take a quote from Jimmy Fallon when he played Carson in a Total Request Live skit on SNL – “Hi, I’m Carson Daley and I’m a complete tool”.

Thank you, and goodnight!