I remember when Conan O’Brien was a popular late-nite TV host, a terrific writer with credits on “SNL” & “The Simpsons”, and not just a cause celebre buoyed along by a fan base that only stirred when it seemed he was a done-wrong-by underdog.


Reading the online drama over Jay versus Conan versus NBC gets better all the time. The "ratings" for each show appear to be jumbled in a stew of whatever is most convenient to make each camp’s case – which is still all about done-wrong-by underdog O’Brien. I wish I was so done-wrong-by – I could buy a whole lot of bologna with over $30, 000,000…

This ramble is really brought on by watching a rare episode of O’Brien’s latest show on…TBS? BLT? DOA? I tuned in because I noticed his guest for the episode was my own personal favourite late-nite host (in a three-way tie, but I won’t tell you the other two just yet), Craig Ferguson. I expected a lot with these two, but after fast-forwarding through the “monologue” (I use that term very, very loosely), and then fast-forwarding even faster through some inane banter after the commercial break (was there a sketch too? I just wanted it to be over), Ferguson joined the frivolities. And things just never developed from there.

OK, this is all simply my own opinion, but regularly catching snippets of Leno’s Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Letterman, and Ferguson, I don’t expect Conan’s vaunted Team Coco will buoy this turkey along much longer. Sue me, but I just don’t think he has the goods anymore. Maybe it was the groundswell of support from viewers he never had while he was hosting The Tonight Show. Maybe it was misplaced confidence when curiosity seekers and fellow albinos tuned in the first week on…what network is he on? TNT? OCD? XYZ?

Maybe I lost my point midway through that first comparison. Who really knows? At any rate, I predict here in writing for all the world (or at least four people) that you better tune in now, I think Conan may soon need to be practicing for a gig on satellite radio. Go ahead, call me a Negative Nelly - it's better than what the Conanites will be saying...

Chow for now!!