Someone please reassure me that this rumor is untrue....

[jbissell]

I'm starting to think the person I feel sorriest for here is Andy Richter. He tried so hard for so long to get out from under Conan's shadow and forge a certain kind of career, had lots of terrible luck at that, and finally admitted (with, I imagine, a defeated sigh) that fate seemed to want him back on that couch. Now this.

Andy's speech the other night definitely made me feel that way.  He did some great work post-Late Night, it was too bad none of it got much of an audience.

[wwwes]

I think it's fair to say that Conan's Tonight Show wasn't that funny. I loved the Conan shows of the 90's and early 00's, but I only stuck with Conan's Tonight Show for a handful of episodes. I feel like Conan's humor wasn't aging that well. Humor changes over the years and, for the most part, Conan is still doing the same thing. I compare it to how I used to love the Simpsons, but now I can't sit through a re-run. It feels like comedy from a different time. 

I don't fully understand why, but when Letterman does the same-old thing he's done for years, I still think it's kinda funny, but Conan doing the same old thing has started to annoy me.

I only watched it a couple of times too. I think Conan's "I'm a self-hating nerd who shouts a lot" thing doesn't age well. He'd be funnier if he grew up a little.

If I'm honest, I must agree. Conan is capable of insanely funny things, but he didn't make a whole lot of structural changes to his format when he started up again. If anything, he ramped up the formulaic bits. I didn't like Twitter Tracker the first time I saw it, it depressed me to watch it the fiftieth time I saw it.

Never thought I would ever say this, but Jimmy Fallon is doing infinitely more to innovate the form.

[fletcher munson]

Jimmy Fallon's not bad (I know I'm in the minority here), but his thank you notes are getting tiresome.  Does repetition of bits HAVE to be part of late night tv shows?

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

OK, hopefully this won't piss anyone off too badly, but how important is the Tonight Show's legacy really?  I know it's been on for 400 years and Carson was a beloved guy who made the careers of many great comedians.  But I've never actually found the show all that great or funny.

[Gilly]

I love Conan but I agree about The Tonight Show's legacy. That's part of a different generation which Conan doesn't belong to. To me, Conan is just the best late night host and it doesn't matter if he's hosting The Tonight Show because he's his own brand just like Letterman. Leno wasn't his own brand, his ratings came mostly from the generation who still held dear to The Tonight Show and Conan was too much of a departure from that. So, while I think NBC screwed up, I think both sides benefit from this if NBC wants to think that The Tonight Show brand has staying power. Not gonna happen and Conan's better off somewhere else.

[methanolcereal]

Jimmy Fallon's not bad (I know I'm in the minority here), but his thank you notes are getting tiresome.  Does repetition of bits HAVE to be part of late night tv shows?

I'm not much of a late night TV fan (I watched Conan regularly in the early '00s when Comedy Central was reairing his show and even watched on NBC for a while [when school wasn't in session] after CC stopped, and I saw him live two times) but my roommate is. He watches Conan and Fallon religiously every night. Fallon was fucking terrible when he started over the summer and has gotten exponentially better since then. I'm still not his biggest fan, but he's earned some respect for at least trying.

That being said, I have watched Conan regularly for the past couple weeks since the whole Leno/Conan tiff came to light.

Andy's speech the other night definitely made me feel that way.  He did some great work post-Late Night, it was too bad none of it got much of an audience.

Agreed.
I watched every episode of Andy Richter Controls the Universe when it aired. It was one of my favorite shows (and I guess still is, I haven't seen it in ages). I was devastated when Fox canned it.

[methanolcereal]

There's a GREAT article on FMU's Beware of the Blog about some Late Night controversies of the past:

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2010/01/late-night-.html#more

[Martin]

This clip is pretty interesting. From 2004. It's just been announced that Conan will take over The Tonight Show in 2009, and Jay has this to say about it.

[Steeley Chris]

I watched every episode of Andy Richter Controls the Universe when it aired. It was one of my favorite shows (and I guess still is, I haven't seen it in ages). I was devastated when Fox canned it.

I loved that show. I too, was sad when it was canceled, but lo and behold the DVD series has just found it's way into my Netflix queue. HUZZAH!

[Christina]

This clip is pretty interesting. From 2004. It's just been announced that Conan will take over The Tonight Show in 2009, and Jay has this to say about it.

Wow.

[Mark in Helsinki]

I think this power grab by Leno (and the smoothness with which he will return to the throne) marks the first significant step of the Bad Guys winning since Obama's inauguration.

The next nail, and each one henceforth, shall eventually lead us to a situation where Sarah Palin is president, all illegal immigrants are jailed or deported, and recent gay rights and medical marijuana laws will be repealed.

On the other hand, perhaps this is merely the end of NBC?

One can only hope.

[jbissell]

I watched every episode of Andy Richter Controls the Universe when it aired. It was one of my favorite shows (and I guess still is, I haven't seen it in ages). I was devastated when Fox canned it.

I loved that show. I too, was sad when it was canceled, but lo and behold the DVD series has just found it's way into my Netflix queue. HUZZAH!

Andy Barker, PI was on its way to being a quality show but it only got a few episodes. Worth checking out the DVD.

[buffcoat]

I think this power grab by Leno (and the smoothness with which he will return to the throne) marks the first significant step of the Bad Guys winning since Obama's inauguration.

The next nail, and each one henceforth, shall eventually lead us to a situation where Sarah Palin is president, all illegal immigrants are jailed or deported, and recent gay rights and medical marijuana laws will be repealed.

On the other hand, perhaps this is merely the end of NBC?

One can only hope.

Get ready for tomorrow.

[Mark in Helsinki]

I think this power grab by Leno (and the smoothness with which he will return to the throne) marks the first significant step of the Bad Guys winning since Obama's inauguration.

The next nail, and each one henceforth, shall eventually lead us to a situation where Sarah Palin is president, all illegal immigrants are jailed or deported, and recent gay rights and medical marijuana laws will be repealed.

On the other hand, perhaps this is merely the end of NBC?

One can only hope.

Get ready for tomorrow.

For something to happen on the Best Show or for NBC to go off the air?

[not that clay]

This clip is pretty interesting. From 2004. It's just been announced that Conan will take over The Tonight Show in 2009, and Jay has this to say about it.

Yikes.

Oh well!

I don't know anything about show business but it sure seems like Conan's manager should have seen that this would happen and protected him better.