Yesterday, some news sites were reporting that Conan O'Brien's show on TBS was being cut from five-nights-a-week to one. The Chief Creative Officer (that's the man's title) for the TBS Network hurriedly gave some big interviews to say that's not so…or at least not yet. Changes, he said, are coming to Conan but they might be that, they might be to go to a nightly half-hour, they might be almost anything. He stressed that the network will continue to be in business with Mr. O'Brien, not just on a talk show but on other programming from Conan's operation. Here — you can read about it right here.
I think that's all true, though I blinked twice at one line. After listing many of Conan's successes on-air and on the net, the exec said, "In addition, he's also been the face of Comic-Con."
Really? Does anyone who isn't in business with Conan O'Brien think that? I'll give them this: Each year since Conan began doing his show from a theater near Comic-Con the week of the event, they've spent a ridiculous amount of dough plastering his face on trains, cabs, buildings, everywhere. When I attend, I'm afraid to stand in one place outside the hall for more than two minutes for fear someone will rush up and paste a Conan billboard on me.
But inside the hall, I see no evidence of his existence and it all seems to me like a matter of him cleverly using the event to boost his ratings for a week. I don't think when anyone thinks of Conan, they think of Comic-Con or vice-versa.
I don't have much to say about what may be happening with his TBS show. It seems to me the marriage was good for both sides for a while but maybe, with so many other talk shows courting the younger demographic, Conan has lost some of his value to the channel. I'm sure they will keep him around in some format…but now that he's the guy on late night TV who's been doing a talk show the longest, he's starting to look like old news. ("The longest", that is, if you don't count Carson Daly — and I can't believe anyone does.)
I loved Conan's 12:35 show on NBC for about the first half of its run but I lost interest and couldn't get involved in his Tonight Show or his show on TBS. On The Tonight Show, every third sentence out of his mouth seemed to be about how Conan O'Brien was now the host of The Tonight Show. When I watch him on TBS, it always seems like he's trying to make faces, dance and top his guests.
On Late Night, he was delightful interacting with others and the writing on the show was very, very sharp. At some point though, it felt like he'd lost a certain humility and deference to his guests and it wasn't as much fun for me. It was the same evolution I felt with Letterman, who began foregoing prepared material for just screwing around with the audience and at the desk. He loved it. The studio audience who came to see Dave loved it. I don't think the love though usually reached all the way to most folks at home.
There's a story about Jerry Lewis that one day, he summoned one of his writers to his dressing room. He picked up the script the writer had written, threw it on the floor and told the writer, "I don't need this crap! I can be great with just a table and some chairs."
The writer picked up his script and said, "Fine. From now on, you can be a Jewish waiter." Then he walked out and arranged his resignation.
I'm not suggesting it's come to that yet…and to be fair, I haven't watched Conan much in quite a while. Maybe he's calmed down. I just no longer feel the interest I once felt to tune in and see what he has for us tonight. It felt to me like along the way, he went from being the cleverest guy at the party to the one who was trying way too hard to be the center of attention.