We’re Team Conan!

MYNDI

While I have not been a diehard Conan fan for all of his hosting career, I’ve always enjoyed his comedy, his demeanor and his wacky point of view.  Lately, I’ve become a fan of his class and grace.  But, really, the reason I’m Team Conan is because of how completely I feel NBC has botched their treatment of this situation from top to bottom.  As I said in the last piece, I could see several different ways to approach removing Leno from primetime and salvaging the season without disrupting Conan’s short tenure at 11:35.  Jay was given time to grow into his place as Johnny’s successor, and it wasn’t until two plus years  into his run that NBC’s prime improved with the premiere of ER and Jay was crowned the ratings king for many years in a row.  Granted, the network didn’t exactly have the luxury of asking Johnny back; he’d retired of his own accord and wouldn’t have been interested.  But, how incredibly bad does it look to have your previous host leave with a great deal of fanfare only to bomb in primetime and  somehow weasel his way back into his old timeslot?  While Jay just took his bits and moved them 90 minutes earlier, Conan actually worked to retool his schtick for 11:35 and come up with some fresh bits, like  my personal favorite, “Twitter Tracker”.  And how does he get rewarded for his efforts?  Yet another slap in the face from the network who once nurtured and praised his talents.  First, they stuck Jay in front of him at 10 to poach guests and ultimately whittle down potential audience.  Then, this.  I admire his decision to bow out with his dignity intact if this the road the network heads down.  Frankly, they don’t deserve him.