After watching The Oprah Winfrey Show today and hearing her teary announcement about her decision to end her syndicated talk show, I had one thought in my head. Oprah Winfrey is doing a Johnny Carson. She's writing her own script (no pun intended). Oprah is leaving while she's still wanted, while she's still strong, and by setting the date 18 months down the road, she's giving herself a victory tour.
This is very much like Johnny Carson's decision to leave The Tonight Show. The difference, of course, is that Oprah's show is not an established landmark entity like The Tonight Show, which had Steve Allen and Jack Paar as hosts before Carson. No, Oprah was/is The Oprah Winfrey Show. She will not leave it behind for someone else to inherit the throne. She's taking the throne with her.
"Girls need to shop for clothes. Period." Words of wisdom from our president. The crack editing staff at The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien has created an amazing clip of President Obama putting women in their place. They took an interview Obama recently gave to NBC news and edited it so it's just a full minute filled with random, nonsensical sexist remarks.
In addition to the quote I mentioned above, he alludes to a nefarious-sounding "strategy" that the men have in place, while a graphic of female politicians, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, hovers ominously. The clip is amazingly well-edited, to the point that if you didn't know what it was, you would swear it was real. In fact, I give it a day before the clip, or at least the quotes, start making the media rounds as fact. Ah, behold the power of late night.
You've got to give Cory Booker credit: he could have completely fallen on his face trying to match Conan O'Brien laugh for laugh. I mean, politicians are never the most talented folks in the humor department to begin with; even armed with his speechwriters, the Newark mayor was bringing pop guns to the comedic battle with the dual cannons Conan and his veteran writing staff could bring. But he held his own. Now he can reap his reward: Booker's been booked on The Tonight Show for October 16.
Newark hasn't been in this big of an entertainment spotlight since Howard Stern hosted his New Year's Eve beauty pageant there fifteen years ago. So if Booker had to throw out some semi-lame jokes and suffer some gentle ribbing from Conan in order to get his city some publicity, so be it.
Recently, when I shared my view about a certain Dell computer commercial, some of you thought I was a moron. Okay, we'll call it a difference of opinion. However, just to show you that I'm not a grumpster, allow me to extol the virtues of the Macy's commercial that celebrates this iconic American department story that's been around for over 150 years.
What makes The Magic of Macy's so much fun is that it doesn't tell you why the place is legendary, it shows you why. All those film clips from movies and television, years before anyone was using mentions like these for commercial purposes, underscore how much a part of pop culture Macy's was.
(It still is, to some extent, but the days of one brick and mortar store dominating the business landscape are long gone.)
"I guess obviously you've downsized. You had to sell the desk." -- Robin Williams
Leno's had a couple of nights now to get a feel for what kind of show he wants to do, and figure out how to stay relevant in prime time. Most of the feedback that I've seen from people who saw it hasn't been very positive. They're disappointed that it feels so much like The Tonight Show.
If one of the ways he's trying to differentiate himself is by having longer comedy bits and fewer guests, then I think that's backfiring a bit because every single comedy video he's shown has gone on way, way too long. It's as if they're trying to create internet viral-worthy videos like Saturday Night Live has with their "Digital Shorts," but they're missing the mark.
(S01E01) A lot is riding on this little NBC pet project. Like one-third of their primetime lineup. But despite all their promises and promotions that this was a comedy show, vastly different than Jay Leno's work on The Tonight Show, I saw virtually the same exact show on a different set. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you're NBC. Leno was incredibly successful for a long time on that show. Just call it what it is.
The promise that it would stay topical was brought to fruition. In the opening monologue, just like those Tonight Show monologues of yore, he drops a joke right away about the situation last night at the Video Music Awards involving Kanye West and Taylor Swift. Conveniently, Kanye was a booked guest tonight, as well, so with a little shuffling, he wound up on the chair next to Leno to talk about it.
The Beatles Rock Band video game came out yesterday. The only way you couldn't have known that is if you took your head off your neck, preserved all of the necessary blood vessels and spine connections, and then placed said head (heh) in cryogenic storage for the last two days.
That's because my TV was filled with not just advertisements, but personal appearances, morning show demos, and even news stories about the release of the game.
Even Jesus doesn't get this much attention in the media. Oh crap.
When Andy Richter left Late Night With Conan O'Brien to establish his own career in acting, nobody knew that he'd come full circle and rejoin O'Brien years later. At the same time, nobody knew that creator Victor Fresco would do much the same thing.
Andy Richter Controls the Universe was one of those quirky shows that most people, who enjoy a dash of nonsense in their comedy, really dug. It was a very playful show about a guy working in a massive company. It featured a small ensemble with great chemistry on-screen, and had a unique look at big corporations.
A few years later, Fresco tapped that well again, and we got Better Off Ted, another comedy with absurdist tendencies set in a massive corporation with a small cast. Like Andy, it eked out a second season based more on critical acclaim than ratings. As someone who enjoys both shows, I find myself worrying that Ted will share Andy's ultimate fate, cancellation after the second season.
I love Andy Richter, but he seems awfully stiff every time I watch him on The Tonight Show. I prefer to remember the guy from his early days on Late Night, his short-lived show Andy Richter Controls the Universe, and his other short-lived show, the hilarious Andy Barker, P.I.
Like Danny reported back in May, Andy Barker, P.I. is finally coming to DVD. Shout! Factory will release the entire series on Nov. 17. The two-disc set will include all six episodes, some with commentary by Richter and producer Conan O'Brien, plus a retrospective feature and a doc about the show's amazing writers, including Jonathan Groff (How I Met Your Mother), Josh Bycel (Psych), and Jane Espenson (Buffy, BSG). Click through for a better look at the DVD cover art.
As you'd expect from a low-rated network with a lot of shows to promote, NBC held the critics captive at their TCA session by waiting until the end of the day before unleashing Jay Leno on the crowd of cranky critics. But first, in order to address some the questions Angela Bromstad and Paul Telegdy couldn't answer, late-night chief Rick Ludwin took questions for fifteen minutes.
Ludwin, for his part, was ready to answer those questions, even admitting that putting out a press release calling Conan O'Brien "The King of Late Night" after the first week of his Tonight Show reign was "premature." That's an understatement, but an admission, which is sometimes hard to get out of people in the Zucker regime. (Dan Fienberg of HitFix theorized to me afterwords that Bromstad and Telegdy briefed Ludwin on what we want to know based on their disastrous exec session. Very logical thought.)
Jay snuck up behind Ludwin as the exec was wrapping up, then took to center stage to take our questions. Nothing that he said about the program hasn't been said already: There will be no desk; he wants to get the guests out of the interview chair; he's going to conduct a "Green Car Challenge," where guests race fast electric cars; he will be going into the local news with one of his tried-and-true comedy bits, like "Jaywalking" and "Headlines."
That's the executive summary. More detailed tidbits are after the jump.
We just got done with the NBC executive session, where primetime entertainment head Angela Bromstad and alternative programming (read: reality) chief Paul Telegdy took the reporters questions.
Of course, many of the questions had to do with The Jay Leno Show and Ben Silverman's departure. What the gathered reporters got out of the two executives was evasiveness, referrals to other executives, and a general sense that the two of them either don't know or don't want to provide answers about their own network.
When the question of Leno and CBS's Nina Tassler's assertion that NBC would declare victory no matter what numbers they got, Bromstad tried to pass us to the session for Leno's show later in the day. Telegdy did the same. But we wouldn't let them off the hook. An example exchange, for instance, went like this:
A professional knife thrower (with the unbelievably cool action hero name of Jack Dagger) taught Conan O'Brien how to throw knives last night on The Tonight Show. Don't worry, Dagger doesn't let him throw at any actual living human beings.
It's the contemporary version of Ed Ames throwing the tomahawks.
As a longtime Howard Stern fan, John Melendez will always be known as Stuttering John to me. Over the many years he was on the show, Melendez somehow managed to get control of his stammer, but not his annoying Long Island accent. So when Jay Leno decided to add a little bit of "hipness" on The Tonight Show by plucking Melendez from Stern's clutches and making him the announcer of the show five years ago, you had to wonder about the wisdom of that decision.
Of course, the move didn't work: Melendez may not have stuttered while he was introducing the show, but hearing him butcher celebrity names -- did he call Pamela Anderson "Pamaler Andason" once? -- on a daily basis was brutal. And Leno quickly realized that without Stern and his writers to support him, Melendez wasn't all that funny.
The best part of Late Night is coming to The Tonight Show. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog will be making his first appearance on Conan O'Brien's show tonight according to a Twitter entry (or "tweet," as the kids call it) from staffer/blogger Aaron Bleyaert. Hopefully, it's the first of many appearances.
I make no reservations about my love of Robert Smigel's alter ego. I have seen him in concert and own all the CD and DVDs that the character has released (except for TV Funhouse, which didn't have enough Triumph on screen to warrant my purchase). At this stage, I can even recognize Blackwolf the Dragonmaster on sight.
With that in mind, I may just have to catch Triumph's return to Conan's show. I'm not sure if the sort of humor can work at the earlier hour, but if David Letterman was able to move an hour earlier while still keeping his own style 15 years ago, I don't seen why Conan or Triumph can't do the same.
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brienreversed its ratings decline and managed to squeak by with a win over The Late Show with David Letterman this past Wednesday night. Apparently, he even blew Letterman away in the coveted 18-49 demo.
I've never understood the appeal of The Tonight Show, but NBC has pretty much built the ultimate juggernaut of late night talk shows with it that nobody can seem to topple. On the other hand, when Letterman first moved to CBS he dominated the late night ratings for the first few years. With that in mind, I still think Letterman can turn this into a win before his current contract expires in 2012. And even if he doesn't, he deserves to.
Of course, the big elephant in the room is Jay Leno's upcoming 10 PM talk show. With such a lead-in, Dave's show could take an additional hammering in the ratings. Only time will tell.
After watching The Oprah Winfrey Show today and hearing her teary announcement about her decision to end her syndicated talk show, I had one thought in my head. Oprah Winfrey is doing a Johnny Carson. She's writing her own script (no pun intended). Oprah is leaving while she's still wanted, while she's still strong, and by setting the date 18 months down the road, she's giving herself a victory tour. 
You've got to give Cory Booker credit: he could have completely fallen on his face trying to match Conan O'Brien laugh for laugh. I mean, politicians are never the most talented folks in the humor department to begin with; even armed with his speechwriters, the Newark mayor was bringing pop guns to the comedic battle with the dual cannons Conan and his veteran writing staff could bring. But he held his own. Now he can reap his reward: 
Recently, when I shared my view about a certain 
"I guess obviously you've downsized. You had to sell the desk." -- Robin Williams
I love Andy Richter, but he seems awfully stiff every time I watch him on 
As you'd expect from a low-rated network with a lot of shows to promote, NBC held the critics captive at their TCA session by waiting until the end of the day before unleashing Jay Leno on the crowd of cranky critics. But first, in order to address some the 
We just got done with the NBC executive session, where primetime entertainment head Angela Bromstad and alternative programming (read: reality) chief Paul Telegdy took the reporters questions. 
As a longtime Howard Stern fan, John Melendez will always be known as Stuttering John to me. Over the many years he was on the show, Melendez somehow managed to get control of his stammer, but not his annoying Long Island accent. So when Jay Leno decided to add a little bit of "hipness" on The Tonight Show by plucking Melendez from Stern's clutches and making him the announcer of the show five years ago, you had to wonder about the wisdom of that decision.
The best part of Late Night is coming to The Tonight Show. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog 
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien 
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
The Prisoner -- An early look
