The Gender Paradox In India
Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg Ducks Questions About IPO Debacle
I watched Jay Leno on Oprah yesterday. Apparently nothing is his fault. He's just an innocent victim of the horrible decision-making team behind NBC's late-night division. Poor guy.The truth is -- I don't give a crap. I don't care at all about the late-night drama. It's not Jay's responsibility to give Conan a job. He's just doing what any guy who only thinks of himself would do in this situation.
My problem with Jay Leno taking "The Tonight Show" back is that JAY LENO IS NOT FUNNY. I repeat, JAY LENO IS NOT FUNNY, and if you think he's funny then you have a horrible sense of humor. And so does your mother.
Why, NBC? Why are you doing this to us again? Anybody but Jay Leno! So Conan wasn't getting the ratings you wanted ... can't you find somebody who is funny?
IMHO, Jay Leno hasn't been funny since the last time shoulder pads were popular. "Oh, he was a funny stand-up ..." I hear from people all the time. He was, it's true, he wasn't a half-bad stand-up comic -- in the late '80s. But that doesn't give you carte blanche to shove your mediocre brand of brainless comedy in our faces after the news every night.
How did "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" get to be number one in late night? Who watches this show? Nobody I know. In my house it's a race to get to the remote to change the channel after the news, so that we don't have to hear the blaring horns of Jay's trumpeting house band.
Then people will say, "But what about Jaywalking? Now, THAT'S funny."
Really? What's funny about it? I can tell you it's not Jay. Jay does not put the funny in Jaywalking. Sometimes people other than Jay say funny things. Sometimes people other than Jay say colossally stupid things. But none of them have anything to do with Jay Leno or his writers. What does it say when the allegedly funniest sketch on the show relies on what people other than Jay say when confronted with a camera in a crosswalk? That is an utter outrage, people!
Where do you stand on this whole late-night fiasco? Do you love Jay Leno? Does your heart bleed for Conan? Or would you -- like me -- rather change the channel? I moderately care what you have to say on this topic, so tune in and pipe up.
Comments:
Add a comment
Saturday 30 January
By Sara
I completely agree. He rips off EVERYTHING from everybody and somehow makes it not uh, funny. He sucks and he's a big turd. I ask myself the same question, who is watching him? Annoying.
Reply
Saturday 30 January
By MohMah
You're right! He's not funny, but he looks funny!
Reply
Thursday 04 February
By stephanie
All of them are funny...except Jimmy Fallon....Jay delivered for 17 years....he and his team worked their collective asses off and they delivered the numbers. Sadly Conan just hadn't yet... and even more sad, was the end of the show might have been the arch that could have brought him the numbers and the views... if only there had been a creative insightful person allowed to do their creative job at the network and mentor and stroke the show as it needed, as they did for Leno...As much as internally we all stood up and cheered for what Conan said and did in his final shows... he might have been better served by pushing back the time slot taking Leno as the lead in and letting that fail and fall off on it's own... retaining the Tonight Show... now it's gone forever for him. Trying to split that time slot 3 ways is going to be a mess... and it's yet to be seen if Conan can pull the numbers ( which FOX will demand as well ) that Leno and Letterman can...for what ever reason... Conan was just better at 12:35....and for those who stayed up past Leno...Conan was the perfect bookend....NBC - Zucker killed a block that was working just fine... for what... that's the question... for what...
Reply
Monday 01 February
By Dawson
I saw Leno's standup recently. He's not funny there, either.
Reply
Monday 01 February
By vinny
my girlfriend just farted in her sleep.
Reply
Monday 01 February
By Jorge
Leno is not funny. He was, a long time ago. But not anymore.
The "Jaywalking" bit is not only unfunny, it's offensive. It doesn't even celebrate medioctriy. No, it elevates the moronic and holds them up not to ridicule, but to applause.
A guy who thinks Dane Cook is the vice-president of the United States should not be trotted out and laughed with. No. He proably out to be prohibited from reproducing until an explaination for his idicoy can be determined. If it's organic then he ought to be deported to France. Jerry Lewis is getting old, they're going to need another idiot soon.
Conan at least was clever. His humor is a little more edgy, but he puts out a decent product.
He ratings were low for a couple of reasons. My guess is that the biggest drop was caused by putting Leno on at 10PM. He poisoned the well. Leno was killing the 11 PM news in the affiliate markets.
Leno had good shows at 10PM supporitng NBC affiliates during his first time on the Tonight Show. Shows like Dateline NBC, LA Law, Law & Order, Hunter and movies of the week to push audiences into the news.
The viewers who didn't watch Leno didn;t watch their local news sure didn't make an effort to go back to NBC as soon as the news was over.
Yes, Conan was new and he was suffering. But go back and see how Carson did his frst year or two. He was sometimes inconsistant and rocky. Old shows on YouTube bear it out when his guests mention the first few years. But Carson found his footing and is the undisputed King of late night.
Conan will probably never be Carson, but he should have been given a chance. My guess is that he would have certainly equaled, if not surpassed Leno.
Reply
Tuesday 02 February
By Corrinne
I could not agree more CJ. It is stupid, brainless comedy. I have never like Leno and figured I must be the only one haha. Glad to know I'm not alone. (And I don't know a single person that watches him either... odd)
Reply
Tuesday 09 February
By prufrock
Agreed. I do like Ross the Intern, though he was better before he became LenoProduct®. jesus, he would have been great on Conan, wouldn't he?
You know who's funny? Muffy is funny. God, I'd like to see her get a show--replete with her awesomeness at maledicta. I bow to her.
Reply
Wednesday 10 February
By sophie
I know I'm late to the game on this post but I just have to say I COMPLETELY agree. Jay's ratings baffle me (though I know it's the older audiences, etc etc I still feel like there's no excuse) and in all honesty, I feel embarrassed for him.
The Videogum guy put it well in one of his Leno posts: "Jay Leno is a losing strategy. He is depressingly unimaginative, aggressively mediocre, and painfully unfunny. His success at The Tonight Show was a forgettable cultural blip."
AGGRESSIVELY MEDIOCRE. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout.
Reply