The funniest thing about the season so far is that, after all the attention NBC's move to put Jay Leno at 10 PM generated through the spring and summer, The Jay Leno Show itself has been getting very little in the way of audience or viral buzz.
But those among you who are rooting for this experiment to fail, it's not time to break out the Champagne just yet. Although Leno's ratings are low and continue to sink, NBC isn't pulling the plug anytime soon. And the reason why is the most intriguing part of this whole experiment.
Recently, Conan O'Brien made a joke about the city of Newark, NJ. I've never been to New Jersey so I've never quite understood the constant jokes about the state that you hear from... well, every comic. But this time Conan went too far. So far that Newark mayor Cory Booker had to respond. So Conan had to respond to that response, of course.
Is Jimmy Fallon "Totes hot?" I have no idea, but I do know that I'm never going to use the phrase "totes hot" again.
Last night, Stephen Colbert said he's skeptical that Conan really couldn't do his show last Friday because he hit his head during a sketch. For evidence he pulled out a recent Glamour magazine that features him, Conan, and that above quote about Fallon. (Video also here.)
You don't often see actual video of a celebrity hurting themselves on the set of a TV show (unless it's some YouTube thing, but even that's pretty rare), but Conan O'Brien knew that fans would be interested in seeing it so he showed footage of the accident. It also gave him a chance to make some jokes.
Here's the clip. Conan was running a faux marathon with Teri Hatcher, and it seems the floor was very slick...
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If you didn't hear, Conan O'Brien hit his head while doing a sketch on The Tonight Show on Friday and had to be rushed to the hospital. They stopped taping and put a rerun with Jeremy Piven on Friday night instead.
But there's good news! Conan is out of the hospital, he's fine, and there will indeed be a new episode of The Tonight Show tonight. Now the real question is this: will Conan show footage of the accident? They were filming so footage exists and I wonder if Conan will show it so fans can see what happened and so he can make some jokes about it.
[Watch episodes and clips of The Tonight Show and other shows at SlashControl.]
It's hard to come up with a headline to sum up this new project by Andrew Secunda (Upright Citizens Brigadeand Late Night with Conan O'Brien). I love the concept, though. CBS, which is developing the show with Secunda, calls it a multigenerational comedy. The show will be about a couple in love who move in together. From there, we start to get their story in a clever way.
Through the extensive use of flashbacks to their childhoods, we'll see how they developed the quirks and habits that they're discovering about one another now as adults. We'll also see their parents both now and 20 years ago, to see how they shaped their children, and how their own relationships in the past may impact the way their children are today. Why didn't I just say that in the title?
A lot of Conan O'Brien's bits go on way too long. This segment is a lot longer than I thought it would be, but it's okay because there are some great payoffs. Stuntman Steven Ho showed up on The Tonight Show last night to punch and kick Conan and to make him jump through a window. This was practiced, of course, but it could have gone wrong. Conan is pretty funny with stuff like this.
(Side note: TV Tattle wonders if Conan is having trouble getting guests since this is Ho's third appearance since June. Or maybe Conan just loves doing stunts.)
With The Jay Leno Show starting on Monday, I figured this would be as good a time as any to print my brief chat with Leno at the party NBC held at the TCA press tour. He had just shown up, and he was surprisingly not yet surrounded by reporters; I figured it would be a good time to throw him a couple of questions I was curious about. Little did I know that I'd be doing it while he was eating one of the short ribs they were serving at the party .
No matter; you get the hot star of the moment in front of you, you throw him questions even while he's chewing. Jay being Jay, he handled it like the pro he is. Nothing really that newsworthy came out of this little chat, which is why I've held on to it until now, but I figured it would be a fun thing to read on a Friday.
Oh, one fun note: he claims that when he started The Tonight Show, someone said "I hope Jay dies of AIDS in one of his cars." Wow. Wonder how easy that article would be to find on the Web?
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.
This week's photo is from a recent episode of The Tonight Show. No Name Steaks in Minnesota sent Conan a bust of his head made out of white chocolate and bacon.
The Minnesota State Fair sent Conan O'Brien a strange gift, and he unveiled it on The Tonight Show last night. I hope they have a lot of security there because I don't know how that thing is going to last if they don't. And then there's the bacon smell over time...
Shales tries to get to the heart of why Conan O'Brien, after a big start (of course), is losing more and more ground. He is even losing to David Letterman when Letterman is in repeats (overall ratings - Conan still wins the younger demographic).
He makes a lot of good points about how the set might be doing him in (too big), how the interviews are too rehearsed, and that there's too much prepared comedy. Those are all things that Conan and his crew will look at in the coming months, I'm sure. (I also think part of the problem is Conan's personality - I think he's more of an acquired taste than either Leno or Letterman.)
NBC must be doing a lot of regretting these days for moving Jay Leno to 10 p.m., and not just because it screws up the perfect headline alliteration with his former competition.
The margins aren't very wide, but it must hurt when a rival is kicking your lily-white hide and he's not even throwing any punches. It's like getting your ass kicked by a one legged Stephen Hawking.
The funniest thing about the season so far is that, after all the attention NBC's move to put Jay Leno at 10 PM generated through the spring and summer, The Jay Leno Show itself has been getting very little in the way of audience or viral buzz.
It's hard to come up with a headline to sum up this new project by Andrew Secunda (Upright Citizens Brigade and Late Night with Conan O'Brien). I love the concept, though. 
I love Andy Richter, but he seems awfully stiff every time I watch him on 
If you haven't seen our game before, we give you a picture from a recent episode of a TV series and you provide the caption!
I'm not quite sure I get what Tom Shales says near the end of this piece about his 
NBC must be doing a lot of regretting these days for moving Jay Leno to 10 p.m., and not just because it screws up the perfect headline alliteration with his former competition. 
Have any questions for Rich Sommer of Mad Men? Ask them here!
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