I’ve written quite a bit already this year on why I feel Conan was treated poorly. Now that the Olympics are over, Jay Leno has been given his old show back. And I am not going to watch it. Ever.
Let’s forget that NBC will be rewarded for starting all this drama. Let’s forget that Leno should have gone onto something else after losing the Tonight Show the first time and instead did a very similar show at an earlier time. I’ll even forget that video of Leno graciously announcing his “retirement” back in 2004 and claiming he is glad to not create drama by digging in his heels and refusing to retire. Even if none of this happened, one fact would remain: Leno is not funny. I don’t think I ever watched an entire episode of his Tonight Show. I would end up watching a little bit after the news, listen to one or two jokes in his monologue and then change it to something else. I occasionally would catch the end of his show, but only because I was tuning in to watch Conan. Leno’s jokes fall so flat and it can be painful to watch that monologue. And he is a terrible interviewer, very awkward. When it was decided that Leno was getting the Tonight Show back, I swore to myself I would never watch his show again just on principal. But the truth is, I always thought his Tonight Show was very lame, so that’s not too hard of a promise to keep.
Look, if you really like Leno, disagree with me on his humor and want to watch the new, old Tonight Show, I’m not going to say you can’t, or even shouldn’t. But if you’re one of those people who didn’t follow the whole Tonight Show drama and find yourself watching Leno’s opening credits… just think about changing the channel. You have just enough time to watch a little Adult Swim. King of the Hill should be on.
Oh, and I’m with Coco.
Ditto!!! I've actually stopped watching NBC (Now Broadcasting Crap).