01.20
I grew up watching Letterman because Leno seems like a made-for-family sell-out and my parents watched Letterman. I transitioned to the Con-zone (Conan O’Brien) in middle-school, Stewart in high-school, and Colbert in college. Today I watch Stewart/Colbert every day and catch Letterman and O’Brien when I can. I have missed about a dozen Colbert Reports in five years and my facebook picture is me next to Colbert’s portrait in the National Portrait Gallery.
Too much talent, is that a problem? This all started two decades ago when Johnny Carson retired from NBC’s Tonight Show after becoming the king of late night comedy/talk shows. David Letterman was after him on NBC and was supposed to be the successor. Carson wanted Letterman, but the network wanted Leno because of focus groups. Letterman goes to CBS where he has since hosted The Late Show at the coveted 11:35/10:35c time slot where he competed with Leno. Letterman gets replaced by Conan O’Brien at the 12:35/11:35c time slot. This is how things functioned until Conan got sick of being the super-late-night guy and was getting really good offers for millions of dollars to go to FOX or other broadcast channels. So NBC promised Conan he would have The Tonight Show in five years because Leno’s star was falling. Leno agreed with it. Five years later (a year ago) Leno was doing really well and doesn’t want to stop doing late night. NBC gives Leno at 10/9c time slot to keep him from going to another network. Leno, Conan, and Fallon all do poorly as does the NBC network in general. The network wants to move Leno back to 11:35/10:35c and Conan to 12:05/11:05c. Conan says he won’t do it. NBC owns the Winter Olympics and so they won’t have late night shows after this week. Now Conan will be forced out and can’t make fun of NBC executives. The entire things has broken down by lines of who watches who. It is a cultural issue.
I don’t like Leno. He is funny, but too white-bread. He appeals to the everyman, which annoys me. Letterman and Conan are counter-culture and provide humor to people with college degrees who laugh at references to Greek pays. It is a strange situation because of how the broadcast networks cater to different audiences. NBC is my favorite because it is TV for smart (educated) people; they have the lowest ratings, but get the same money from advertisers because smart/educated people have more money on average. CBS is the Suburban network that for the first few decades of televisions was just about the only network that has since shifted into complacency and formulaic shows; they are for people who go to church for the social side and nod their heads. ABC is the sugary network meant for a dream of America that never actually existed; they are sentimental and for people who go to church and believe what they hear. FOX has no soul, would steal heart medication from their mom to make a few bucks, and can be fun to watch; they get huge ratings, but poor people watch it for explosions, spectacle, and near-nudity.
For my non-American readers, when I mention the times as 11:35/10:35c I mean it airs in all US timezones at 11:35 except central time (my home timezone) which is at 10:35. So East Coast and Central zones air at the same time and Mountain and Pacific air on two and three hour delays, respectively.
I have decided in the aftermath to do the worst thing I can to NBC. From here on out, I will only watch their shows online where they make a fraction of what they do with a typical broadcast. Television executives are worthless human beings. On top of this I will watch Conan where ever he shows up.