Its later than we think

THE LATE SHIFT ISN'T WORKING ANYMORE
The word count about Leno, O'Brien and Letterman is off the charts. Interesting to see how each is taking his spot in the social/cultural drama of the moment. Leno--dispised corporate hack, O'Brien--wronged in defense of his art, Letterman--smug and vindicated.One fact is that everyone of these guys has made enormous sums--read >$100M per--over the past few years alone. All three have had greatness. All three have not been great lately. NBC surely made poor decisions. And almost all made because they view the talent as a six-sigma measured commodity. They view the talent as something to manipulate and understanding part of it will fail, they plan to mop up later. The corporate view is likely that the time slot is what's important, not the personality. Not the show. Because curiously, there has been no visible tinkering with the material on either Leno or the Tonight Show since they started their nosedives. The shows--all of them, including Letterman, stink. They are weary, bored and contemptuous of their audience.And viewers have responded in kind. Comedy is only part business--it only exists at any level of quality, if it springs from something inside that needs to get out. Whether it's Prior, Klein, Rodney or Rock they have something to say that's independent of their payday. It's hard to take Conan's aggrieved sthtick too seriously when you seen the half-hearted material he's been delivering for 3 months. It's impossible to believe that any of these guys at this net-worth have anything to get out or anything to prove.It's impossible to believe that much comedy is ever coming out of the infrastructure ofmanagers, lawyers, agents, publicists and posters that appears after the first successful set. But that another post.
Labels: comedy, conan o'brien, late night, leno, letterman