The Latening

For the past five years or so the viewing public have been carefully prepared by the powers-that-be to accept 'The Tonight Show, with Conan O'Brien'. When Jay Leno downshifted and throttled off to prime time infamy, most of us were ready for the move.

I say 'most of us' since the biggest portion of the show's target audience last watched when Johnny Carson was awake behind the wheel. That group has either moved to 'Letterman' (Johnny's originally intended heir) or has used the time for other activities, perhaps those fueled by Viagra, the invention and rise of which came after Carson's reign.

So, with such foresight and careful preparation, how is it possible that NBC let it all unravel so rapidly and messily? I ask that question because I don't know the answer, but I can take a guess: the folks who run the network now likely aren't the same who ran it five-odd years ago. Or, if they are, they've either started taking drugs - or stopped taking them.

Someone certainly must have been high or fighting withdrawal when they offered to move Leno back to 11:30 for a half-hour, and shift 'The Tonight Show' to midnight. Certainly they must know that the first 30 minutes are the golden ones. Most people who stay up after the news come to watch the monologues. If something else sounds interesting, like a musical guest or hot movie star - or animals, always a perennial favorite - they might keep watching. More likely they'll press 'record' and move on to sleep or something more immediately entertaining (see Viagra, above).

In any case, it's those first 30 minutes that count. The advertisers know it. And so do Leno and O'Brien even if the network wonks seemed not to. That's why Leno agreed and O'Brien didn't. They both knew that Leno at 11:30, even for half an hour, would be 'The Tonight Show' in effect, if not in title.

So it's back to square one, minus the redhead. Which is a shame on many levels, not least of which is the seeming waste of Conan's youth - he's given his best years to NBC, and there's not much call for another late night talk show - or a 45 year old comedian. Luckily he has a decent lawyer and is getting a nice settlement out of this divorce.