The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

For almost 8 months, Conan O'Brien tries to take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno. NBC had hoped to keep them both and settled on a flawed strategy. By the end, Jay would take back his show and Conan would be let go. It is better that Conan finds a home on TBS which gives him more freedom than The Tonight Show.

The start was rough as Conan tries to fit the show's traditional mould. He loses a lot of his irreverence as he tries to appeal to its older demographics. It's all a mistake and it doesn't help to have Jay doing another talk show at 10pm. The whole situation was untenable but it does lead to one of the most hilarious network public infighting in TV history. Conan's ingenious comedy is unleashed against Jay. Whatever shortcoming Conan had during the early months is overcome by Conan's good-natured takedown of the network brass. It got so great that even Kimmel from another network goes on Jay's show to take him down. Conan's humor is more niche than a watered down Jay and is probably never going to work. Conan is by no means an edgy comedian but even that is not white bread enough for that show. It's a show of bland humor geared towards the broadest of common denominator. This is a car wreck waiting to happen but it was spectacular while it lasted.

My wife and I were die hard fans of The Tonight Show, our favorite host had to be Johnny Carson, no one can replace the master. Jay Leno took a long time for us to 'warm-up' to him but he finally became the norm, or we just got used to him. Then along came Conan, we didn't particularly care for Conan when he was on The Late Show, he was just to outlandish for us or just to 'gayesque'. When Conan started on the Tonight Show we gave him a chance to entertain us. And entertain us he did. Conan started out acting nervous and it took awhile for him to get into his groove. After awhile we had a lot of respect for him for hanging in there and giving it his best. And as we got used to him he became part of us just like Jay had done previously. NBC in their ultimate wisdom decided it was time for him to go. I don't know why or neither do I understand the politics of bringing Jay back. But it was totally unfair to Conan. I am glad that Conan got another gig. But now that Jay Leno is gone I will no longer be watching the Tonight Show. Jimmy Fallon is not and will not be as good as Conan. NBC really screwed the pooch on this one. Conan worked for NBC for over 20 years and then gets told he is fired, what a bunch of BS. How much NBC stock does Jay Leno own? I like Jay but he is no Johnny as Jimmy is no Conan. Rock on Conan.

First I want to say that Conan appeals to me much more than Leno or Letterman. And I think he did a great job of the show while he had it for that short period of time, which will in no doubt go down in history as a miserable mistake by a network that shoots the victim to stardom. I mean you can say it is the worst thing that could have happened to Conan, he finally got the show he wanted after a decade of loyal hard work with NBC on the Late Night show...and then he gets screwed over...but if anything that has made him even more popular, its funny actually, his misfortune may actually turn out to be his good luck. This is the very kind of thing he makes jokes about, so ironic.

Now let me address the people who give him a below 50% rating. Are you Dumb? There's really not much to say. If you think Leno is smart than boy i do not want to know you. In case you have never done any reading in your life, which is probably the case if you love Leno and hate Obrien, Leno never went to school, he just started doing stand up comedy and he was good at it, Obrien went to Harvard where he wrote for the paper there and then we started off by writing skits for many famous shows including the Simpson's, so don't say that Obrien isn't smart and he does stupid jokes...if you don't understand them then its probably cause your too stupid to understand them.

And people who say his show wasn't getting good enough ratings...HELLOO!!! its a transition period! There is a pretty large style shift in comedy, people need time to accommodate, no host of the tonight show has ever been a hit right from the beginning, Obrien was entitled to be given a fair chance at being accepted by the public, and he was denied that.

I initially like Leno as well, but after his dick move with NBC I hate him. What kind of person are you when you steal a job from another man, hold it for DECADES, make MILLIONS and make one of the largest car collections in the world by a single private owned, say that your retire and give your job to someone else...and then be OK with taking that job back!?!?! have you no dignity Leno? No pride? Even if NBC wasn't satisfied with Obriens ratings and they wanted him gone, don't accept your job back! Have some decency! Anyone who is still a fan of Leno after that...well quite simply YOUR whats wrong with our society, no ethics! Leno is a dumbass, he should have completely left the scene after the Tonight Show, not try some new half assed show! How many successes have major actors had AFTER their role that made them famous? Friends, Seinfeld, Etc etc. Often people who get a big break and get a kickass role, will likely not get that lucky again, and Leno was old and full of cash, start fundraising or contribute to the community! Why the F would you try some new stupid show? Is that what other Tonight show Hosts did? Just goes to show that a sleazeball he is and how big a puppet he is for NBC. Im glad Conan left, now he has a shot at beating Leno directly and he will. Cheers!

To quote a line from Seinfeld, "that's gold, Jerry. Gold!" Is it possible that in only ONE night, Conan O' Brien has surpassed 17 years of Jay Leno? Yes, it is very possible. Conan's first episode as host of the Tonight show was, to say the least, hilarious! He began the show by running from New York to L.A. to host the show. That's right. Watching Conan run across the country was funnier than Leno's monologue. Then, he began the show by doing his usual monologue in the set Universal built just for him. It's different from Leno's set since it's a more traditional talk show set with a little New York flavor. However, he did keep Leno's lighting which I thought was interesting. Conan followed the monologue by showing two hilarious remote pieces. One was Conan giving a tour of Universal Studios and the other was him driving his 1992 Ford Tarus around town. Then, the show lost some steam during the interview segment. The guest was Will Ferrell. I like Ferrell and he was funny but you couldn't ignore the fact that a show owned by Universal, being shot at Universal was promoting a movie by Universal. The show went from 30 minutes of hilarity to 30 minutes of promotions.

Either way, it was a great episode. And I hope there's more great episodes to come. We've been waiting 5 years for this and it lived up to expectations. The best part is that Conan didn't really change a thing. It's classic Conan!

I'm a manager at McDonalds (not really). I replaced the previous manager that went on to bigger and better things (At Radio Shack). I just found out that I lost my job because HE can't figure out how to put batteries in a remote. Yea, this is BS, but I think you get the picture.

Conan, I have no doubt we will be seeing much more of you in the future. You did a fantastic job with NBC (Like me at Micky-D's), I am now happier working with industry making 10 times what I did before. You will find something new and make it AWESOME. And - you will be decorated for your work!