Conan-Leno Late Night Skirmish Bringing Out Best of Comedy

Man, has Conan O’Brien been razor-sharp since the release of his well-received statement to “People of Earth.” He’s a guy with nothing to lose . . . which is amplifying his risk-taking humor. And that’s a good thing.

His monologue on the Tonight Show yesterday – with its direct hit to Jay Leno and the bit about the Winter Olympics -- was positively Jon Stewartesque, just the right combination of smart, mean and amusing (because he’s right). Maybe all networks should threaten their comedians with demotions. It might make ‘em funnier. Take a look at excerpts from the monologue below, via MSNBC’s Morning Joe:

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Meanwhile, over on ABC, late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel eviscerated Leno by doing an entire show while dressed as Leno. His satire of Leno’s Headlines shtick was such perfection that I almost felt badly for Leno. Almost. But not really.



Be sure to check out the New York Times piece imbroglio; it’s well worth the read. Best quote came from a columnist from Advertising Age who said people are siding with Conan “because he’s suddenly become an unlikely (Harvard-educated, multimillionaire) Everyman: the freckled face of American job insecurity, a well-meaning hard worker who spent years paying his dues but has now been declared redundant by the halfwit overlords driving his company into the ground.”

Team Conan.

I Want to Give Conan a Big Smooch

Score one for Conan O'Brien. He released a classy, funny, heartfelt written statement today saying that he loves The Tonight Show and has adored it since he was a kid, but if it's moved to 12:05 a.m., as NBC execs have proposed in order to make room for Jay Leno at 11:35 (after Leno floundered at 10 p.m.), he will not be its host.

Addressed to "People of Earth," Conan's statement read in part:

"Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

. . . The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn't the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

. . . My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. "

At least someone cares about one's colleagues, promises made and maintaining the quality of a storied TV franchise. Conan signed off cleverly by saying, "I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way."

So much funnier than Leno. Seriously. (For the record: I'm not related to Conan even though we're both from Massachusetts and both share the same last name.)

Read the whole statement here.

*Team Conan*

Image credit: Drinkwater/NBC via AP/NY Daily News.

Jay AND Conan in the 11:30 Hour? What a Mess!

Them there internets are all abuzz over reports which suggest that Jay Leno will legitimately become the Brett Favre of late night TV if he agrees to reclaim his original 11:30 p.m. slot which he famously abandoned amid a week of farewell shows, a slot that NBC -- with great pomp and circumstance -- passed on to Conan O'Brien.

Why?

Leno's 10 p.m. show has not been pulling in the kind of ratings NBC had hoped it would. I only watched the first few episodes and never turned in again. (Though I did tune in when Kanye West gave his first public statement about his Taylor Swiftus-interruptus.) I found the show awkward and, frankly, unfunny. (Plus his set looked cheap.) I much preferred to watch Conan at 11:30, especially since I've jumped off the Letterman ship.

Is Leno going to go along with the unceremonious shoving of the ever-patient Conan out of the 11:30 slot, forcing the younger comic back to midnight? That's what the New York Times' Media Decoder is reporting:

"Pressed by affiliates and shrinking ratings, NBC has a plan in the works to radically alter its late-night television lineup, restoring Jay Leno to his old spot at 11:35 each weeknight, while pushing the man who replaced him, Conan O'Brien, to a starting time of 12:05 a.m.

NBC executives held extensive discussions with Mr. Leno and Mr. O'Brien on Thursday about the future of the network's late-night lineups.

And while NBC official said no final decision on the plan had been made, two senior NBC executives who had talked to the top management about the moves said that under the plan being discussed, Mr. Leno would definitely shift back to 11:35 but in a half-hour format, while Mr. O'Brien would slide back his start time by a half hour and then produce an hourlong show."

This entire Leno show debacle -- where five hours of primetime that used to be filled with costlier scripted dramas and comedies were sacrificed in exchange for a less expensive talk show format that NBC suits hoped would yield ratings for less money -- is a huge embarrassment for NBC, particularly after all the money and time they spent promoting the new lineup and all the press Leno got for his 10 o'clock chat show.

My questions: Why would Conan agree to such a demotion? Why would Leno take a giant step back? What does this mean for Jimmy Fallon, if anything? On the plus side, will this mean we'll be seeing more scripted TV?

Image credit: NBC via the New York Times.

NBC’s Thursday Night Slate Made Me Laugh

*Warning, spoilers ahead from recently aired premieres of NBC comedys*

I didn’t have high expectations when I turned to NBC last night. Didn’t expect to laugh out loud. But laugh I did. Hope it’s not an aberration.

Amy Poehler’s Parks and Recreation dramatized an awkwardly twisted parody of how penny-ante political scandals can spiral out of control in short order. Sure, a penguin marriage ceremony at the Pawnee Zoo is silly stuff with no substance, simply a shallow PR attempt to lure foot traffic. But it’s really not that unrealistic to have something as innocuous as a zoo event morph into a scandal. Such as when Leslie Knope inadvertently married gay penguins (she thought it was a male/female pair), making her a target of a conservative family organization that wanted her to annul the marriage, then resign and, simultaneously, a hero to her local gay community. Poehler absolutely pulled this off with aplomb.

I think that broadening the subject matter with which Leslie deals will only help. The first season was a bit bogged down in Leslie’s singular quest to transform a dirt pit into a park. (Hulu now has the season two premiere on its site.)

Speaking of Poehler, she also appeared on Saturday Night Live’s Update Thursdays and did a “Really!?! With Seth and Amy” segment on the recent spate of public incivility. Spot. On. Best line: Seth advising Kanye West about what to do if he sees an older woman holding a “World’s Best Grandma mug” and he thinks some other nana is a better grandma.



I likewise was laughing at The Office’s bizarro first scene. Parkour anyone? Seriously? There’s such a thing?



Community was kind of snappy and kept a running Gilmore Girls-ish loop of pop culture references throughout. Wonder if they’ll be able to keep up the meet-cute conceit and give this show some legs for the long haul.

Anyone else catch the 8-10 NBC slate? Thoughts? By the way, am I the only one who hasn’t heard of Parkour before?

'Medium' SEASON Finale Tonight, Season Six'll Be on CBS in Fall

Regardless of the promos you might have seen on NBC for tonight's season finale of the Patricia Arquette drama Medium (like the one from YouTube above), it's NOT the end of the show. Medium will live on in the fall on CBS.

In case you haven't heard . . . there was quite the hullabaloo last month when NBC decided to cancel the five-year-old show in which Arquette plays medium Allison Dubois who helps the Phoenix district attorney solve crimes by talking to the dead or dreaming about stuff that helps folks nab the bad guys. Calling the show "aging," an NBC exec (on a network which, by the way, renewed the nearly 19-year-old Law & Order) said Medium's fans were not vocal enough in their support of the show.

So I dedicated my Pop Culture & Politics column this week to Medium, whose season ends tonight, and why I've recommended it to others. There's Arquette's character Allison who provides one of the best working mom role models on TV as she and her husband Joe Dubois (Jake Weber) balance careers, three children and the crazy-busyness of the lives of families with young kids. As the family has coped with a layoff, the successes/failures of entrepreneurship and having to take a job that requires one spouse to live away from the family for a few days a week in order to feed said family and keep the house, Medium has offered a solid depiction of a middle class American family, except for the talking to ghosts/nabbing criminals angle. Then there's Allison and Joe Dubois, who an Entertainment Weekly writer dubbed "TV's best married couple." (Plus Joe is "without question, one of the outstanding husbands and fathers to ever grace television," according to E! Online's Jennifer Godwin.)

As I say in the column: What's not to love?

Giving Poehler's 'Parks and Recreation' Room to Find Its Own Way

After its first few episodes, many folks were complaining that NBC's new Amy Poehler comedy, Parks and Recreation -- where Poehler plays deputy Parks director Leslie Knope -- was too similar to The Office, a show from which several of the Parks folks hailed. Poehler's character, people complained, was just a female version of Michael Scott.

However after reading New York Magazine's Emily Nussbaum's ode to the show and Poehler's character, I find myself agreeing with her thesis:

". . . [A]fter five episodes, [Parks and Recreation] has begun to kick free for me, mainly because the writers are onto something timely and resonant with Leslie, a fool who is also a budding heroine . . . [H]er motives are mixed, and her go-girl feminism goofy, she's not wrong to see cynicism everywhere -- the show satirizes her naivete, but it's also clear she's the only one trying to make things better."

Nussbaum added that the comedy showcases a female pol, similar in vein to the lead character in the comedic film in Election, Reese Witherspoon's Tracy Flick. Knope is, "a deserving hard worker, beaten down by the lazy and popular. At its best, Parks and Recreation provides an appealing Flick's-eye view -- the opportunity to see Leslie's burning, bumbling ambition as noble, not merely absurd."

I concur that Parks has started to grow into its own. Having Poehler's Knope work so hard to break through the political glass ceiling is simultaneously played as much for chuckles (because of her vast cluelessness) as it is for the "truthiness" it provides, that being that it's not exactly easy to be a successful female politician.

Knope went to the barbershop where a number of famous local pols have had their hair cut for years, even though that particular barber doesn't usually cut women's hair. He gave her a severe, masculine hair style and didn't understand why she went to him, but Knope was thrilled and felt as though she'd been accepted by the political establishment, that she'd invaded a male bastion where she believed political wheeling and dealing was conducted.

Knope wanted to fit in with the "guys" at city hall and have a few beers with them in the courtyard as they regularly do. But she was felt terribly guilty over having shared a bottle of wine from a gift basket that she'd received and said they couldn't ethically accept as public servants. She then outed herself as an unethical employee, something none of the men would've done and was reprimanded.

Knope -- whose office prominently features framed photos of women politicians -- tried to use a hardball political tactic recommended by her mother, also a local official, in order to help a worthwhile public works project move forward. However when she was unable to execute the borderline unethical political manuever, she was wholesome enough to feel guilty about it.

Sure, at first blush, Leslie Knope may seem Michael Scott-ish, but she's evolving, along with her own kooky brand of dunderheadedness. The show could also shine an interesting spotlight on the wackiness of local government. As a young newspaper reporter who covered my fair share of small town meetings, I know that there's plenty of material the writers can mine to make this show an entertaining, comedic romp, with Poehler at the helm.

Image credit: NBC.

New Promo for Amy Poehler's Comedy 'Parks and Recreation'

If ever there were a subject ripe for satire, it would be the experiences of small town local government officials. And that's the subject area Amy Poehler will be mining in her new The Office-like show, Parks and Recreation, debuting on NBC on April 9.

The show's creators have set up a web site for the city of Pawnee, Indiana where Leslie Knope (Poehler) is deputy director of Parks and Recreation. Looks promising. (Link to promo here.)

There May Be Life to 'Lipstick' Yet

Fans of Lipstick Jungle who've been anxiously waiting to find out if the NBC fortysomething career gal drama will return for a third season after the show was publicly put on life support at the end of 2008 may have reason to be gleeful. Key word: MAY.

Speaking at a conference in Las Vegas an NBC exec said that because "Lipstick Jungle is so strong and has such a passionate base among a coveted demographic" the network may seek to find a way to keep it on the air, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

One potential solution? Giving it what Broadcasting & Cable called "the Friday Night Lights treatment."

Friday Night Lights, in case you're just tuning in at home, is a critically acclaimed, incredibly poignant NBC drama set in a blue collar Texas town where high school football is king, although the show is about much more than football. The show was perpetually on the cusp of being canceled due to low ratings. But then someone at DirecTV or NBC or somewhere within the NBC family had a brilliant idea: They ran the entire third season on DirecTV first, and just started airing it on network television two weeks ago.

NBC Entertainment exec Ben Silverman has said that Lipstick Jungle could use a similar approach. "We have some incredible channels in our portfolio and we have sister networks that love the show as well," Silverman said. "We are analyzing what we need to do to keep that show on the air."

Maybe all those ladies sending all those tubes of lipstick to NBC are changing some minds. I certainly hope so. Jungle sure beats tacky reality shows on any day of the week.

Image credit: NBC.

'Lipstick Jungle' and 'Marley & Me'

Two new columns:

1. Lipstick Jungle. Friday marked the airing of the last original episode for Brooke Shields & Co. that's already been filmed. NBC execs say they'll wait to see how the ratings were for the last few new episodes (including DVR stats) before determining if the Lipstick gals get the boot. I make the case in this column for why I've joined the Lipstick Jungle bandwagon.

2. Marley & Me. Last week I went to see Marley & Me and regretted the fact that I didn't bring a box of tissues with me. Seriously. Sturdy. Tissues. Think everyone in the theater was sniffling. Don't worry, no spoilers here from me. But a new column I've written about the Jennifer Aniston/Owen Wilson film does do a little bit of spoiling about the mom and work subplot in the movie that doesn't get a lot of ink.

Image credit: NBC.

Get your DVRs Ready for Winter TV: Lost, 24, Big Love, Friday Night Lights, Medium

I'd forgotten how many new shows would be premiering early this winter other than Lost, 24 and Big Love, all favorites of mine, though 24 has to seriously prove itself to me after its lackluster previous season which aired some 27 years ago.

Then I read this article in today's New York Times which reminded me that gobs of new programs will be starting soon.

Like NBC's Friday Night Lights.

To help goose the critical darling's challenged ratings, NBC first aired the third season of FNL on DirectTV during the fall before unveiling it to the network viewers this winter. I have a particular soft spot for this Texas football drama which isn't really about football. (See my review of last season here, where I muse on the amazing work done by Connie Britton as Tami Taylor -- see photo above -- the high school football coach's wife who just returned to work at the high school after having a baby.)

Then I spotted NBC's Medium on the list. Medium tends to be dismissed by some as simply a creepy show about someone who speaks with the dead, not exactly something with which most viewers can relate. But it feels down-to-earth because of the performances by Patricia Arquette and Jake Weber, as the show's main married couple and parents of three.

Of course the premiere to which I'm most looking forward is Lost. Will they actually go back to the island this season? Will Sun really conspire with Widmore? Oh the questions!

Show premiere dates:

24, Fox: Sunday, January 11.

Lost, ABC: Wednesday, January 21.

Big Love, HBO: Sunday, January 18.

Friday Night Lights, NBC: Friday, January 16.

Medium, NBC: Monday, February 2.

Any winter show to which you're particularly looking forward to seeing?

Image credit: NBC.

'Lipstick Jungle:' Not Quite Dead Yet

Either some reporters got it wrong and jumped the gun last week when they reported -- and I passed along in this space -- that NBC's Lipstick Jungle was going to be cancelled, or NBC execs have changed their minds.

Today's New York Times said:

". . . [A]s of this week Lipstick Jungle is breathing again. The reason: It showed signs of life on Friday and picked up 50 percent more viewers when delayed viewing (from DVRs and other devices) was included in the ratings for the episode broadcast a week earlier. Ben Silverman, the co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, said the network will definitely finish the 13 episodes that it originally ordered — it has four more episodes to go — and may order more if the show 'grows more.'"

Whatever happened, I'm pleased and hope the show -- one of the few left (The New Adventures of Old Christine an being exception) whose lead characters are female -- will continue to explore issues of fortysomething successsful career women. Even if they do have better shoes, better clothes and better figures than I do.

If you're fond of watching the Lipstick gang too, then you'd better start tuning in, or DVRing, or it really will fade into TV oblivion. By the way, previously aired episodes can be watched for free on NBC's web site.

Image credit: NBC.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: No Bailout Deal, Post-Debate Analysis, SNL Skits

No Bailout Deal

I, along with the rest of the world, thought for sure that there'd be a bailout deal approved by the House of Representatives today. Certainly John McCain and Barack Obama thought there'd be one. McCain -- who "suspended" (only not so much suspended) his presidential campaign and said he wouldn't attend last Friday's presidential debate until there was a deal in place to avert an economic catastrophe -- must be in need of a cloth to wipe that egg off his face right now in the face of the House shooting down a bailout package today in dramatic fashion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi certainly didn't help advance the delicate negotiations by wielding a stick in the form of some highly partisan remarks on the House floor for what was supposed to be a bipartisan, castor oil-like proposal. (See an NBC video about the House talks, including an excerpt of Pelosi's actual speech -- versus the text of her remarks -- here.)

An NBC analyst said that those who voted against the measure -- which they said their constituents opposed -- are in tough re-election fights. If there's anyway to come up with a temporary stop-gap measure until after the election (if that's even possible), that might be the only way something's going to get the green light in the face of such fierce public backlash.

So the Dow plunged and Capitol Hill is in an uproar. What will this mean politics-wise? A big, fat mess, although the folks in the cable news business will likely score better ratings. Well, one thing's for sure . . . Hank Paulson is rapidly becoming a household name.

Post-Debate Analysis

I think McCain and Obama fared about even on Friday night. There were no knock-out blows. No memorable lines. No awful gaffes. But I must say, I'm already sick of hearing the words "naive" and "he doesn't understand" being worked into numerous McCain responses to questions. I kept waiting for both candidates to get all fired up or do something we'd all remember, like sigh, glance at a wristwatch, walk menacingly toward one other, or quip, "There you go again." Alas, I was disappointed, though, substantively, I felt I gained insight into the specific foreign policy positions of both candidates.

As the pundits tended to agree that the candidates fared equally well, a USA Today/Gallup poll found that 46 percent of debate-watchers thought Obama emerged the winner, while 34 percent thought McCain got the better of his Democratic counterpart. A CNN poll had similar results, with 51 percent saying Obama was the winner, 38 percent saying McCain was the winner.

SNL Skits

No ill-advised, offensive incest jokes were featured during this past weekend's Saturday Night Live, but there were several political skits that accurately hit their targets, including Tina Fey reprising her role as Sarah Palin. The News Update nailed Bill Clinton's ambivalence toward Obama's campaign, as Fey captured the wretched awkwardness of the real Palin-Katie Couric interview from last week that was, I'm sorry to say, painful to watch. Fey's finger-in-the-air bit: Priceless. (Watch the three political SNL skits here.)

Question: Do you think SNL has gone too far in parodying Palin? Think such satire will create backlash and sympathy for Palin?

Representing a Nation or the NBA?

Last week, we had the U.S. Men's Olympic/NBA basketball team on one of NBC's 47 TV stations airing Olympic events when I first heard it.

"Was that the NBC/NBA theme they just played?" I asked my husband who'd been watching the game with our sons as NBC went to a commercial. He confirmed that I'd heard correctly.

For days I thought that maybe both of us had misheard. NBC couldn't possibly have played the theme song they use when they air professional NBA games. That just wouldn't be right. It's America's team, I thought, not the National Basketball Association's team.

Then, while watching the U.S. team demolish the Australian team in the quarterfinals, I heard it again, the theme that connotes not the country for whom they're playing, not the Olympic spirit, not the triumphant anthem of the Olumpic games we've all come to associate with watching American teams compete every four years. Instead, I heard the theme that represents professional basketball players who are paid tens of millions of dollars for their sport while their international competitors earn a fraction of that.

Why the special theme for USA Basketball? It's like CBS playing the NCAA tournament theme song if they were broadcasting Olympic basketball. It's out of place. It sends the wrong message. If the men's basketball team is trying to "redeem" itself from past lackluster performances (they won the bronze in 2004), perhaps the network carrying their games should redeem themselves and treat the hoop broadcasts like every other Olympic sport. Otherwise, they'd be better off creating special theme songs for each event, like the "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" for women's beach volleyball.

Image credit: USA Basketball/Getty Images/Jesse D. Garrabrant.