A classy Conan signs off!

From his days writing on Saturday Night Live through Late Night with Conan O’Brien and finally his abbreviated stint on the Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien left NBC after about twenty years. 

He left giving them a gift…probably his highest ratings ever on The Tonight Show.

It was a classy exit with O’Brien thanking the network for the opportunity to host the Tonight Show. He was funny and emotional. Particularly cool how he finished playing electric guitar with an all-star band with Will Ferrell as the front-man? Hey, that’s comedy, baby.

I’ll miss Conan. But he’ll be back. (And hopefully Andy Richter will return with him as his trusty sidekick, too.)

I’m sure Leno’s ratings will improve over Conan’s when he returns to the 11:30 timeslot. But I know I personally have even less interest in watching him again.

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This isn’t a sports column. But like many of you, I spent most of Sunday watching Football.

I can’t imagine any football team beating the Colts in the Super Bowl.

Watching the NFC Championship as the Vikings and Saints literally pummelled each other, I thought “these guys aren’t going to have anything left for the Super Bowl.”

Colts fans, we should savor the team Indianapolis has created. 

But even with the AFC Championship and even if they pull out a Super Bowl victory, I will still find it hard to forgive the team for NOT going for the perfect season.

They earned it. They deserved it.     

 ****

BTW, did you see the extended commercial for EA Games impressive looking new game “Mass Effect 2″ in the NFC game? Stunning. And impressive looking. My in-laws and I we’re glued to it.

Hopefully we'll see you in September, somewhere

A RANT – The Late Night Battle over “The Tonight Show.”

 

I’ve found  the shots Conan O’Brien has taken at NBC executives hilarious. As you might guess, I’m with  Team Coco.

Letterman, you’ve got the lead at 11:35p. So when Leno takes back “Tonight” don’t blow it.

ANOTHER RELATED RANT – NBC’s Intellectual Property Claims

In his deal to leave NBC, the network is reportedly claiming “the intellectual property rights” to bits and routines the comic has used on his network shows over the past several years. Meaning that if and when Conan pops up on another network or cable outlet with a new show that he can’t take signature bits like “In the Year 2000,” “Triumph the Insult Dog,” and the masterbating bear.

Like Conan himself said the other night on his show, the fact someone is calling those routines “intellectual property” is the biggest joke yet.

NBC, you ARE the Biggest Loser!

A RAVE – Craig Ferguson is a Hoot!

Forget all the other late night drama, this guy following Letterman is the real deal. Funny, insightful, even sometimes hilariously profound. But I did say Funny first cause this Scot (now an American citizen) is one wickedly funny comic. 

A RAVE – The Ultimate Trailer Show on HDNet

An entire show of new movie trailers. In HD. It’s cool. And to top it off, they throw in an old trailer from a classic movie at the end.

A RANT – 3D is not for Me.

The push for 3D is the next big in technology?

Not for me. I like the super-sharp HD images…not blurry three dimensional imagery. Thanks but no thanks.

A RAVE – 1,000 Ways to Die

Yep, it’s what it sounds like…a show that  features vignettes about people dying in various and unusual bad ways. It’s a Spike TV favorite. Grim reenactments that feature people doing stupid things that ends with someone dying. Who knew dying could be so much fun…kinda like those “Darwin lists” that come out each year, this is gruesome but funny viewing. Especially the animations that showcase how the person died. Crude and funny at the same time.

So NBC is pulling the plug on the Jay Leno Show primetime experiment.

NBC pointing fingers at their two stars?

And in typical NBC fashion, the network has effectively screwed up two of the best things that it has going for it –  Leno and Conan O’Brien.

Listen, I’m not gonna cry for a couple of guys that are guaranteed millions of dollars a year. But they do deserve better.

I’ve always found Conan hilarious. But Jay’s humor over the past decade has been a little soft.

Getting mistreated by NBC may make him funnier.

Remember when David Letterman, working at NBC, tried to offer his new GE bosses a gift basket? He and his camera crew were escorted from the building! It was great TV…and hilarious.

Cranky Dave has always been funny, but his humor got a helluva lot sharper (and better) when he went after the goofball bosses at NBC. 

Last week Leno took some uncharacteristic but hilarious shots at NBC when word got out that his show was going to be yanked from primetime. I thought it was some of the funniest stuff I’ve seen from him in years. It was GREAT!

Maybe Jay can learn from Letterman. A cranky Jay is a funnier Jay.

*****

BTW, if NBC is pulling Jay Leno out of prime…what the heck are they gonna put at 10pm? Can they do three hours of “The Biggest Loser” Monday through Friday?

*****

Did you see the Cowan family from Bunker Hill, Indiana on “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” on Sunday night?

I had the chance to talk to mom Heather Cowan last week by phone. Sweet lady and a very deserving family.

If you didn’t get to see it, you should be able to watch it on the ABC Video Player on-line at TheIndyChannel.com.

BLOG UPDATE: Review of Leno’s First Show…

Watched the open, a montage of Leno through the years. Okay open but not terribly inspired.

The monologue Jay does is a little weak. I mean, Jay’s been off the air for three months. I was hoping for something a little more pointed. A couple of good jokes…but nothing great. And it seemed pretty short. They end the first segment with a taped comedy piece based around “Cheaters?” Really? This is what they opened the new primetime show with? A “Cheaters” take-off?  

They were into a commercial break awfully early into the show. I don’t know if that’s such a good thing.

A singing/entertainment car wash piece was a little better (but went a little long.)

Segment three was Jay’s sitdown with Jerry Seinfeld (who came dressed in a tux!) And zinged with some shots at why Jay was back on so soon after his farewell only three months ago. Then they did a painfully staged bit where Jerry brought Oprah Winfrey on via satellite, oblivious to Jay. Hmmmm…

A taped bit with Jay interviewing Barack Obama (taken from another actual legit interview) offers a few giggles.

Kanye West, fresh off his foot-in-mouth appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards shows up about 45 minutes into the show. And Jay immediately kisses his butt by thanking Kanye for even showing up! Kanye offers his mea culpa for ruining Taylor Swift’s night. Jay does earn some points asking West what his own mother (who passed away last year) would have thought. And there was a stunned silence for several seconds. It was an honest, brutal moment…a true highlight in a debut show with very few. 

But after the brief interview (and subsequent musical number with West, Rhianna, and Jay-Z, we are left wondering WWLD (What Would Letterman Do?)  

Ends show with his Headlines segment.

Even though the show is one hour, it felt much longer.  

 *****

Time Magazine put Jay Leno on the cover of a recent issue and declared his new show “The Future of Network Television.”

They may be right.

Because with the launch of his primetime talk show, NBC is putting a big chunk of their primetime programming on the big chin of Jay Leno.

NBC honchos say they can make more money with the cheaper to produce talk show. And they are fairly confident that not as many people will watch. But that’s okay (at least to the network…not so sure the folks at Channel 13 quite see it that way.)

You see, the dynamics of free over the air TV are changing.  

Why should you care? Because as Stephen King pointed out in a recent column in Entertainment Weekly “what happens to quality?”

Network TV produces most of the comedies and dramas we all enjoy.

Oh sure, there are shows on cable (mainly reality shows.) But a “season” on cable is 6 or 12 episodes tops. And once you see a specific episode of a reality show, do you ever want to watch it again? Not me.

That’s why I’m hoping “Glee” or “Flash-Forward” or other new network shows succeed. Because I want to see big, quality shows on my big, quality HDTV.

So will “The Jay Leno Show” work?

I think Leno will start pretty well, certainly getting folks to check it out this week. (Conan O’Brien started strong and has faded ever since. ) Next week the other networks will debut their new season. So Jay has five days to make you want to forget all the other shows.

We’ll watch the first 15 minutes (where the monologue lives.) Beyond that? I think it will be a struggle. But I think if anyone can pull this off, it’s Leno.

I think it good that NBC is expecting fewer viewers. Cause I think that’s what they will ultimately get.

****

It was released in theatres SEVENTY YEARS AGO! And it’s coming back to movie theatres…at least for one night!

The family classic “The Wizard of Oz” starring Judy Garland and Ray Bolger will celebrate its 70th anniversary this year (is that possible?) 

Warner Home Video and Turner Classic Movies will host a new hi-def restoration of the film at approximately 450 movies theaters nationwide on September 23. (I know the United Artist theatre on 96th Street in Fishers will be showing it.)

The one-time only event precedes the release of freshly remastered Blu-ray and DVD editions of the film.

*****

I was saddened to see this over the weekend. One of the men who made M*A*S*H has passed away. 

Here is the story:

Larry Gelbart, 81, the comedy writer who developed the classic TV show M*A*S*H, died of cancer last Friday in Los Angeles. 

Gelbart wrote the pilot for M*A*S*H in 1972 based on the 1970 movie of the same name from director Robert Altman about smart, funny doctors operating on wounded soldiers during the Korean War. Mr. Gelbart wrote additional episodes of M*A*S*H and served as executive script consultant and additionally shared an Emmy award with producer/director Gene Reynolds when M*A*S*H topped for outstanding comedy in 1974.

Other major achievements during his career included co-authoring a book called A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum which became a hit Broadway musical in the 1960s and co-writing the 1982 movie Tootsie.

In 2008, Larry Gelbart was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. 

I have seen interviews with Gelbart and the guy was a genius. When he left the TV show, M*A*S*H was never quite as good as the first few seasons as Gelbart had a razor sharp sense of humor and eye for character.

I always thought his script for “Oh God!” was inspired (hmmm, good choice of words.) And while Dustin Hoffman and Sydney Pollack made “Tootsie” it would not have worked without Gelbart’s insightful writing.

It’s the end of June. Occasionally I like to rant and rave about entertainment happenings. See if you agree:

A RANT -

The Academy Awards ceremony next March is going to look different because they are going to expand the number of Best Picture nominees from FIVE to a whopping TEN!!!?…WTF?

This past year at least a couple of great movies were left off the Best Picture list (Wall-E and The Dark Knight.) I think the exclusion of commercial (read=popular) movies from the nomination list has left many film fans (myself included) a little jaded about the Oscars. Doubling the number of nominees though is a little too much! At this rate “Land of the Lost” could end of nominated! (that’s satire…not a prediction)

On the other hand…

A RAVE -

They are also changing the Oscar rules to limit Best Song nominees. So if all the music sucks, we won’t have to listen to it and they won’t give out an Oscar to it. Does anyone really think “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” should have a Best Song Oscar (for “Hustle and Flow”?)

A RAVE -

Watching TV in HDTV. Even a lame program can look good…

A (Techie) RANT -

So how come so many theatrical movies on channels like FX, A&E and others are not 16×9 HD? What’s almost worse though, is when some channels (like TBS) stretch 4×3 sitcoms like “Friends” to fill the whole 16×9 rectangle…making Jennifer Anniston look wider in wide screen!  

A RANT -

DTV is wonderful…but losing Channel 6’s audio that used to be at 87.7 on your FM radio dial is terrible. The audio went away with the analog signal switch-off ordered by the FCC.  Hundreds of viewers have emailed and called to tell us how much they miss listening to the 6 NEWS and GMA in the mornings on the way to work or to Judge Judy and 6 NEWS on the commute home. We miss it too!

A RAVE -

AMC aired a restored/widescreen version of “Lonesome Dove” on that mini-series 20th Anniversary this month.

I had forgotten how good it was!

And Robert Duvall is truly an acting icon! The man is pure genius! If you haven’t watched, check it out.

Outstanding!

A RANT -

ABC is airing the final episodes of “Eli Stone” this summer on Saturday nights.

Great storytelling.

Too bad it didn’t get enough eyeballs.

A RAVE –

“Wipeout.” Big Balls. People crashing and stumbling. Announcers making fun of them. Great summer TV. Especially in HD!

A RAVE -

Dave versus Conan. The late night battle is giving Letterman new sarcastic bite…As much as I love Conan and Andy Richter, Big Dave is the new King of Late Night. (Forget the Sarah Palin swipes…it was how Dave reacted to people protesting that he should be fired that makes me love Letterman even more!)

A RANT –

“Transformers”.

Intern Joe’s quickie review: (I paraphrase)

It’s very loud.  

But it is what it is and that’s a popcorn movie about fighting robots. It’s just numbingly too long.

I can’t wait to see it on my big home theatre screen. It will rock the sound system.