CONAN O'BRIEN'S PISSED,
BUT HIS DEFENSIVE POSTURE IS WANTING
I've already written about my opinions regarding Conan O'Brien's talent
in front of the camera and my belief that he got a rare opportunity
with limited competition over a long haul, and I'm glad he made a lot
of money.
Plus, in their misguided zeal in believing Conan was the wave of the
future, NBC executives made a critical mistake with their decision to
subject Jay Leno to a slow death over five years, then realized their
error too late and made a bigger one they're now trying to undo.
I also stated Jay Leno was not my cup of tea, and that I much
preferred his predecessor, Johnny Carson, and David Letterman, Johnny's
rumored choice to take over his seat. When Dave left NBC after a year
and went head-to-head with Leno and came out on top, I never understood
why he lost his ratings advantage to the much more benign Jay, but I
acknowledge it and tip my hat to Leno.
NBC has now realized they made the wrong decision and are clumsily
trying to sort out their mess, and in so doing they are making even
more enemies, not the least of which is the aforementioned Conan
O'Brien.
Today, Conan issued a statement in which he said he would not agree
to the proposed shift of his time slot to past midnight. He said it was
on principle, and, whether I am a fan of his front of the camera
skills, I have to admit it was a legitimate stance to defend his honor,
considering the decision came much quicker than one might have thought
and he wasn't given a very long time to hold forth at the 11:30 hour.
However, since he lost much of Jay Leno's audience, I take issue
with Conan's excuse, blaming his failure to match David Letterman on
the NBC schedule. He said:
"It was my mistaken belief
that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and,
just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time
schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without
both.
But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show
in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties
in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night
schedule."
This is nonsense. A network schedule is not a be-all of ratings
success for what follows, not to mention the fact that Conan was on at
a late night hour, separated from prime-time by the local news, neither
of which should influence a viewer's choice whether to watch him if
they really wanted to. Johnny Carson was on during fallow periods of
NBC programming and always remained the king. Similarly, Leno, after a
year at the helm, had to deal with the upstart David Letterman and the
"it" factor he represented, ultimately copying some of Letterman's zany
man on the street vignettes and, perhaps because of his less abrasive
form of comedy, emerged as the victor in most subsequent ratings
periods.
In the meantime, Conan was very well known to the general public and
had a show for over 15 years before he switched to the earlier time
period. I cannot believe that, with all the publicity of Conan's taking
over The Tonight Show, with or without hit NBC shows, if the
public preferred Conan over Dave they wouldn't have switched to NBC
from whatever prime-time network they'd been watching or whatever
channel they were tuned to for the late night news, even from CNN's
Anderson Cooper.
This robotic mindset that networks and media critics ascribe to the
television viewer is nonsense for an audience mostly equipped with
remote control devices. Conan failed to attract an audience, because, I
hate to say it, don't want to be cruel, but more viewers preferred to
watch David Letterman than him. Irrespective of Jay Leno's failure in
prime-time, if Conan had been on top NBC wouldn't be moving him.
.
Even Jerry Seinfeld said as much when he recently expounded on the situation:
"What
did the network do to Conan? I don't think anyone's preventing people
from watching Conan....once they give you the cameras it's on you. So,
I can't blame NBC for having to move things around. Conan has a chance
to destroy everybody. Go ahead. You're out there. Take it. I don't
think anyone's done anything to Conan."
Whether you agree that Conan's a major on-air talent or not, there
are loads of people who did great on one show and then didn't on
another. Kelsey Grammar, Patricia Heaton, Jerry Lewis and even Lucille
Ball. You can't just blame your own shortcomings and/or failings on
factors that make little or no sense.
And that's what it's all about, and Conan should take his $40
million lumps. Not a bad consolation prize, which he may have to
forfeit if he fails to fulfill his contract, in which NBC reportedly
has the right to start his show up to and including the midnight hour.
If Conan refuses to perform, perhaps NBC will have the right to sue him
or withhold any monies. Or maybe they'll release him to a network like
Fox. But as I said in my earlier piece, what makes him think he'll be
able to win the audience over Dave and Jay Leno, who, if Conan leaves,
will certainly get The Tonight Show back?
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