Friday, 22 January 2010. Conan O'Brien bids farewell to his unfortunate viewers and fans as that day it was the last episode of his so-called Tonight Show that was on for 7 months on NBC. Haven't seen it on Tv in Asia as MSNBC will air the last show tomorrow on Sunday, 24 January 2010 (or today, since I'm writing this blog at almost 2 am).
I came to know what Late Night Show was in 1997, when Dad thought it would be great for us to get international channels by buying a satellite dish and then putting the tv in my room. Wow! That was surely a great idea and next thing I knew, I was clicking on different channels from all over the world and then one night, I found Jay Leno.
Yes, Jay Leno.. The guy I now came to resent because of all that's been happening between NBC and Conan. Yes, the guy who I thought was pretty nice and then now thinking he's just this pathetic old dude who just couldn't leave and just retire already. Pretty selfish, I would think.
Anyway, at the time he was a breath of fresh air, and I knew him from this feud that went on between him and Letterman, something to do with who's going to be number 1 and become the King of Tonight show. At the time, I lived in Bangkok and the channels there didn't show any talk shows (except for Oprah, Sally Jessy Raphael and Phil Donahue)so I couldn't fully understand what was going on. Back in Jakarta, here I was, watching the Tonight Show and Jay Leno delivered pretty funny stories. He talked to the audience at first, kinda like a stand up comedy for 10 minutes and then guests came to talk to him about anything, from personal stories to talking about movies they've made for that month.
Well, he was indeed getting me to like this Tonight Show thing. I watched him for a full hour thinking, "Yeah, this I like, I will get the hang of it", and then continued watching until he said, "Stay tune to Conan O'Brien after this", then the commercial break started to roll in. I was already tired of watching the show and almost changed the channel when this Late Night Show intro showed up and then Conan O'Brien appeared. He is tall, skinny and unlike Jay, he didn't greet the audience, instead, he did a funny dance, which I thought at the time, "What is this grown man doing, silly dancing like a nerd" but kept on watching, curious on what was coming next. He delivered jokes too but different. It was strange hearing it coz his humor was more cynical but funny, maybe I would say, raw and edgier than Jay Leno. My eyes widened, my ears got more attention, and then from then on ... I fell in love with Conan's humor (no, not him as a person.. I thought he was a bit too freckly for my taste, took me a couple of months to realize he's attractive, in a weird, kinda way). He had me at 'Good Evening'.
Briefly stating,7 years passed -this time in 2004- I heard that Conan was going to get Jay Leno's job as a Tonight Show host in 2009. Wow! That's great, but a bit peculiar that NBC was announcing it so quickly since it was after all, still 5 more years to go before it would happened. Johnny Carson was going to be so proud.
2009 came, Conan showed up on Jay Leno's last day on the Tonight Show. At this point, everyone knows that Conan will be replacing Jay in July and so there were talks about how Conan brought his whole New York crew to Los Angeles and how NBC built him his own studio to his liking for the years to come he was going to host the Tonight Show. You know, to make it more homey for Conan. Everything looked so bright and beautiful for everyone involved.
What I'm going to write next feels hurtful and sad.
Early 2010, sometimes on the first week of January, a big blow came up in the news and it made my heart stopped, my brain froze for like a second. NBC was thinking of pushing Conan's Tonight Show back in the Late Night time and have Jay Leno back on the Tonight Show time. Jay has had another show sometimes after Conan started the Tonight Show and somehow his failed show (called the Jay Leno Show)is held on, sacrificing Conan's. What is the point having the Tonight Show when you're thinking on airing it at midnight when it's really not 'tonight' anymore. What the string dance is going on?? Even Conan himself didn't know what's happening.
It was at this point that I realized how Tv is no fun game at all when you're involved in the business. Certainly it felt unprofessional coming from a big network like NBC, and already at the bottom comparing to the other Tv networks. How in the world they would think that putting Leno back on his old time slot will help out anything at all, especially, helping Conan getting a better rating or even pride? Certainly, those media eggheads didn't think about Conan's feelings coz I definitely feel insulted if anyone ever downgraded me after a big promotion, which actually lasted only 7 months.
Conan didn't deliver good ratings but what can be done in 7 months? It is a very short time to tell how well you can deliver a good show, just because it fell from 1st rank, knocked down by ultimate #2, David Letterman. Jay Leno had a very tough time being on top when he first did the Tonight Show, took him 9 months or so to adjust and finally get the #1 spot but anyway, David Letterman has been #2 in his network and no one said anything about 'adjusting' him.
I was proud that Conan refused to be played like that, but at the end someone had to go and Conan did decide to leave the Tonight Show. Everyone who had been watching him since Late Night went absolutely furious and went on to make a strong community in Facebook calling it 'I'm with Coco', 'Team Conan' or 'Support Team Conan' defending the rights for Conan as a True King of Late night Show Host. I am one of those people who went ballistic when I heard he was mistreated like that, went on Twitter, and just poured out all my feelings regarding the matter. I was so mad that I'd even thought about making a group to support Conan, but others had the idea first and so I decided to join them instead.
What happens next for Conan? Well, he got a great deal of money from NBC plus more for his staff. He's not allowed to get on tv on another network for about 8 months and is not allowed to talk bad about his previous place of work. Whatever, you have damaged his reputation, NBC,I'm sure you can't buy money off easily like that!
The future of Conan O'Brien lies in Conan's hand himself, and I'm sure he will be able to survive this wounded path. I am so glad that I got to know him way back then and able to blog about this story as if it were of my own good friend. This has yet to be another beginning of a different chapter for Conan. I love my Coco and I look forward for his comeback on any media very soon.
I'm with Coco.
K.P Bex
24 January 2010
