I like Jay Leno's stand-up abilities. But even after 18 years, he still can't interview a guest to save his life. I think what NBC should do is keep Conan O'Brien as host of
The Tonight Show, let Jay Leno go do his thing on the stand-up circuit, and then bring Leno back every month or so for a 2-hour special.
Although, I don't really want
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. I want
Late Night with Conan O'Brien back. There were some great bits from
Late Night that I sorely miss, especially the "interviews" with the celebrity photos with the cut out lips. Plus, by putting him as the host of something as revered as
The Tonight Show, Conan loses that edge of being the underdog. I miss that attitude on
Late Night of "I can do anything I want because no one is watching TV this late anyway." The only thing that's better about him hosting
The Tonight Show is that Andy Richter is back.
The problem with Craig Ferguson is the show starts at 12:37, then he gets 2-3 minutes, there is then a 4 minute commercial. It's 12:41, he talks for ~15 minutes, another commercial, he does Aquaman or whatever and spends too much time on emails, so it's lie 1:05 to 1:07 before they get to the interviews, and then there are -23 more commercial breaks in 20 minutes.
Ferguson needs a stronger producer to exercise control of his program. Budgeting time for guests is a frequent problem. There's no excuse for booking two guests and then bumping one of them. It happened again last Friday when he spent too much time joking about urination with Jason Segel (a segment that started to feel increasingly creepy and gay by the minute) and then was forced to bump actress Shiri Appleby. Craig could improve his show significantly if he just cuts his opening monologue to under 35 minutes. I mean, really, he's not that funny.
I mainly watch him for his monologue, but yeah, a little work on the production side, a little streamlining and he'd be golden (well at least to me anyway).
I disagree with both of you. Typically, when watching late night shows, I lose interest when the comedy bits end & the guest interviews begin. One of the reasons why I love Craig Ferguson is because he's able to just BE funny without a lot of writing or elaborate bits going into it. He brings a sort of disbelieving chaos to it. Sometimes, the guests seem to be more of a distraction than a benefit. Sometimes, during the interviews, they end up talking more about him & his sordid past than about the guests anyway. It's unfortunate for the scheduling when a guest (particularly someone as lovely as Shiri Appleby) gets bumped. However, I'd say the solution to that is to schedule fewer guests.
Apparently, Conan still has an office at the Simpson's production offices. They use it for storage at this point, but they never removed his name plate from the door, note his desk from inside of it, and have said it was his office and it would be there if he ever wanted it back.
If Conan O'Brien went back to
The Simpsons, I would probably start watching that show regularly again.
If it weren't for Law & Order (which I continue to watch because I'm helpless for police procedurals and would likely go gay for Sam Waterston)
Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one.
(Granted, I would prefer Alana De La Garza, but still...)
