Once upon a time, Johnny Carson presented the marriage of Novelty Singer Tiny Tim and … I don’t know the name of the woman he married.\u00c2\u00a0 This received enormous ratings, and for a long time was amongst the most viewed television programs in History.<\/p>\n
I can’t say I liked Johnny Carson.\u00c2\u00a0 I do remember the first time I saw him, or the first time it registered that I saw Johnny Carson.\u00c2\u00a0 I was fascinated by the opening montage introduction.\u00c2\u00a0 I found Ed McMohn annoying.\u00c2\u00a0 I was left with no opinion of Karmac.\u00c2\u00a0 I haven’t the foggiest idea why I was up way past my bedtime — it was surely Summer time, perhaps the family had rented a movie.\u00c2\u00a0 Years later, I rented several “Best Of” tapes for the decvades.\u00c2\u00a0 I wanted to like Johnny Carson.\u00c2\u00a0 I really didn’t.<\/p>\n
Reportedly there were years when NBC was down in the dumpster, and Carson’s massive ratings share carried the network, meaning the difference between profits and losses.\u00c2\u00a0 That was then, this is now.\u00c2\u00a0 Such a thing won’t happen again.\u00c2\u00a0 The NBC Executive’s line about “the complete failure of Conan O’brien” is, in that light, hilarious.\u00c2\u00a0 Even with his mediocre ratings, the network affiliates wouldn’t say “boo” about anything other than the situation in prime time, and the lead in to their local news broadcasts.\u00c2\u00a0 A more acute example of the situation is shown in that for two or three years, Conan O’brien survived off of the flimsiest and briefest of contract extensions, ready to oust at any minute and go the way of Chevy Chase, but an inertia of why anyone really cares about the ratings in late night fringe kept him through.<\/p>\n
The story is well worn.\u00c2\u00a0 Up and coming comedians were talent scouted off of the LA Comedy Circuit and brought in for their shot at the Big Time on Johnny Carson, basically having one shot.\u00c2\u00a0 So it is there that Jay Leno bombed.\u00c2\u00a0 Which would have been the end of his rise to the Big Time, except for the Big Fan he had in the name of David Letterman, who made him a frequent guest on his show.
\nAnd the rest of the story is equally well worn.\u00c2\u00a0 Letterman would have been Carson’s choice for a replacement, and indeed, his two post-retirement appearances were on Letterman.\u00c2\u00a0 But, NBC made the correct call — which was born out after the Hugh Grant Hooker Apology Tour and Promotion of whatever Romantic Comedy he was pushing and that joke about the size of the movie’s promotional budget made by all of the late night hosts.\u00c2\u00a0 Curiously, you have to say in the end NBC had its first dibs, and CBS picked up the other desirable host.<\/p>\n
Rationalization number N: the spokesperson for Conan O’brien referencing the Hugh Grant interview in proferring the way a Big Event can spur a permanent ratings jump — this in reference to Conan’s surge in the ratings.\u00c2\u00a0 Note briefly that he finally beat Letterman on Friday, and that Friday was once Dav’e best night, but became his Worst Night when he started taping those shows on Monday.\u00c2\u00a0 Nonetheless, I suspect Conan has Letterman beat for the duration of his Tonight Show stay — (even though, um, schedules are moot for me and anyone who watches television on the computer screen.)\u00c2\u00a0 This is a double edged sword — I suspect Conan may just have solidified and strengthened a large part of his core audience, but who knows what part of this is ephemeral?\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, watching Conan is now an example of sticking the middle finger out to “The Man”, “the man” being Jay Leno.\u00c2\u00a0 NBC made a weird decision in 2004 in giving Conan the Tonight Show, and thus Jay Leno the boot.\u00c2\u00a0 Things worked out such that their great fear of Conan O’brien bolting has been realized,m with the further prospectus that Conan’s name has been enlarged due to this controversy.<\/p>\n