Media responses are continually fascinating for being so normally wrongheaded. When the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was announced by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, various media sites went into a frenzy wondering what the rally was about, what Stewart's role was in getting out the vote for the people who showed up, what he would say and who he'd talk about, and so on and so forth. Most of the columns written prior to the rally were pointless because Stewart nor Colbert had said explicitly that the rally would be one thing or another. Once the rally happened, those same critics tsked at Stewart not doing his duty, and essentially missing the point of what Stewart and Colbert do on a nightly basis and what the rally was about.
But that's not what I'm talking about today. No, today, I bring up the media because of the reaction to Conan O'Brien's new show, titled Conan. The first new show premiered on Monday on TBS (not like anyone who uses the Internet wouldn't know that by now, thanks to the predictably incessant advertising), and a shocking amount of critics were baffled, surprised, and disappointed at the fact that Conan O'Brien, the erstwhile underdog of 2010, the folk hero of a generation, and many other exaggerated titles, could do whatever he wanted at TBS and he chose to do a hybrid of his two late-night shows at NBC. What was he thinking, they asked. He had carte blanche, presumably, and he wanted to do a typical talk show that airs during the nighttime hours? What a disappointment, or so it was said.
When I hear or read this criticism, I genuinely wish I could look these people in the eyes and ask, "What were you expecting exactly?" Anyone who'd read the innumerable articles and profiles and interviews of Conan before and after the January debacle at NBC should have been able to glean at least one thing: Conan O'Brien, whether we like it or not, loves the late-night talk-show format. There was some disagreement among a few in the comedy world (notably Louis C.K.) about whether the Tonight Show was really the Holy Grail of television in 2010. We could debate that, I'm sure, for quite a while--and though I know what Louis C.K. means, I still think Conan getting a raw deal supersedes that issue--but there's no question that the television landscape has changed. That doesn't mean Conan O'Brien has.
So when Conan's new show began like anything he'd done at NBC, but a little closer to his work at 12:35, I was not only not shocked but happy. I'd been on Conan's side during the fracas at NBC partly because he had gotten such a shitty deal, and partly because he's talented, funny, and charming. The first-week ratings show that he's probably going to be just fine at TBS--and this time, you'd hope the contract he signed was much more helpful to his cause. The reactions from various critics was baffling also in terms of calling him out for joking about his jump from NBC to TBS. "Stop making these jokes! People won't find it funny if you, a multimillionaire, bitch about switching jobs!" This is the paraphrase of what some critics said, and it's yet another time where I can kind of see why some people don't understand the purpose of a critic. Why read the work of someone who shouldn't be telling anyone how to be funny?
This is not to say that the argument isn't valid. It is. In a month. How can Conan NOT talk about what happened? It's the elephant in the room. He has to make jokes about it, because otherwise, there's no acknowledgment of the fact that, yeah, things have changed pretty drastically for the guy. Is he still making money? Sure. Can the jokes get stale or unfunny? Sure. But...are they funny now? For now, yes, and as some people, specifically the reviewer at the A.V. Club, noted, he stopped making as many jokes about NBC as the week went forward. Conan can reference TBS and the fact that the channel is not really the place people thought he'd land in. But for right now, as long as he's doing what he's supposed to do--BE FUNNY--then the media should just zip it.
And Conan, the man and the show, was funny. Depending on the guests, the interviews were either funny and fresh or boring. Tom Hanks and Jon Hamm were the best of the week, game for any kind of joke. The best and most obvious improvement was putting Andy Richter back where he belonged once the monologue ended, sitting right next to Conan. This is the smartest thing the show's staff could have come up with, because the chemistry Andy and Conan have is so obvious and infectious. I've got a Season Pass for the show right now, but even if I cancel it, all the shows are going to be Coco's website, and it's hard to see TBS not keeping the show on for as long as is humanly possible. Conan's finally in the right place, critics be damned.
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