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Source: ONE News -
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Given that Conan O'Brien has released a statement saying he doesn't want to "participate in the destruction of The Tonight Show"; as the host of said show, he clearly doesn't want to work on NBC's farm no more.
He won't do the gig at the proposed 12.05 am timeslot , pointing out - altogether reasonably - that you can't do a show called Tonight in the early morning.
His outburst breaks all the rules. Most of us know to bag the boss in private. Doing otherwise suggests at best a charming refusal to accept the generally agreed-on conventions of hypocrisy that keep the world turning, and at worst, a signal that you are disappearing up your own aperture. But Conan is level-headed. He's Canadian. Canadians are like the New Zealanders of the Northern Hemisphere.
Conan is trying to force the network's hand. He has - reasonably again - deduced that NBC is ruled by a coven of moral and intellectual dwarves who are drunk on money, and fearful for their own careers. They only understand force. So he's being forceful.
Of course he'll lose. You don't bet against the house, unless you own a bigger house.
Here's the solution. O'Brien is rumoured to want to work at Fox, only it's said that contractual issues would prevent him from doing a talk/comedy thing for a year. However, perhaps he might fit another bill. Fox does American Idol. Simon Cowell, a famously bad-tempered cuss, is leaving the show. O'Brien's a witty guy. Simon's a witty guy. You see where I'm going?
O'Brien parachutes into American Idol. His awkward but biting humour gives things a new energy. Cowell was the judge who said the unsayable; Conan can ring that bell, while making people feel sorry for him. His statement on Wednesday (NZT) included a self-deprecating remark about his hair.
Imagine Simon Cowell, with likeability. Telly gold!
I admit, there is an alternative scenario and it's not pleasant. Having killed one platinum franchise in The Tonight Show, Conan's odd jibes and weird timing brings American Idol to its knees. Viewers desert in droves. Harried execs shift Simon Cowell's show to before it as a lead in. History repeats.
Thus Conan O'Brien, once known as a simple comedian, morphs into a kind of cultural Gila monster, chewing up the last few remaining money-making operations of free-to-air broadcasting to make way for the final domination by cable.
But let's not forget the role that executives of the sick child of free-to-air broadcasting in the US (NBC) have played in this catastrophe. Through their venality, hubris and cowardice, in five short months they've managed to isolate and alienate both of their signature hosts. They tried to save money, by canning the drama shows that cost a buttload, but are the staple of the 10 pm time slot, inserting Jay Leno instead. This seemed like a classic game-changing move. Talk shows are cheap. Leno was a slot-killer when up against Dave Letterman.
Only Leno stank the joint up so much that his show could not survive in the current time slot.
Now they're banking that if they make everything sort of like it was, viewers will return. No wonder O'Brien is stewing.
Hunter S. Thompson, in Generation of Swine wrote, "The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench running through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where pimps and thieves run free, and good men die like dogs for no good reason."
The message? As Simon Cowell knows, and Conan is learning: Bad men live 4 eva!
Read more Tim Wilson blogs.
