Due to how shaky and quick-changing this situation is, I have to make a few points before I get into the details of my argument. As I write this post, we’re experiencing a debacle of sorts with the late night situation on NBC, as Conan and Jay seem to be fighting for the future ownership of the Tonight Show. Analysts and users alike are truly unsure whether it’s even possible for both to remain at the network in some capacity as they both seem to want the same thing at this moment. On top of that, NBC is more likely to stick with Jay than Conan at this point as he established himself as the number one late night host for years.
Like with any huge conflict, what I am starting to see is that people are quickly picking sides. The two supporter groups are assembling, with Team Coco on one side and Team Jay on the other. Truth be told, however, that just saddens me. The problem here isn’t with either host – I truly doubt that neither of them committed a fault. Of course, it was very unfair for NBC to kick Jay out of the Tonight Show after he established himself as the late night king. On the other hand, uprooting Conan, his family, his staff, and his staff’s families from New York to California and then kicking them out after a mere seven months is nothing short of inhuman, indecent, and immoral, three characteristics that ironically describe the new vision and goal of NBC.
That’s the real problem behind all this, NBC’s complete lack of any common sense, an interesting topic that deserves an entire post (perhaps even a small book) on it. That, however, is not what I find interesting about this topic. Last week hasn’t been about a problem in late night or the latest idiotic NBC decision.
It was, without exaggeration, concerning the very future of television. As dimwitted as NBC executives might be, the biggest reason behind why this problem existed is because of our limited resources, namely that there’s only 24 hours in a day. Networks have to sacrifice so many great shows simply because there isn’t any time to air them all. The only solution they have to solve that problem is to simply make a new channel. That doesn’t make sense.
In our Internet age, shows shouldn’t be limited by the hours in a day or how many slots a certain channel has. It’s truly deplorable when shows really need to have great lead-in ratings; that just goes to show how weak your show is since you need a stronger show to attract people that you then hope will just lounge around and catch your show.
An online television company, Revision3, sent an open letter yesterday to Conan offering him a job at their network. Though it was most definitely a joke more than anything, it truly represented some very compelling points. The future of television has got to be one where we watch shows that interest us at the time that attracts us. I watch the Daily Show every day but it’s seldom at 11 PM and thanks to their technically savvy vision I can easily do that online. That’s how it should be with every show, including The Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno & The Tonight Show w/Conan.
I am in no means suggesting that this is going to happen soon, but I really think that we can’t go that much longer with this broken system. Conan, if he leaves NBC, will most likely go to another network like FOX rather than try and embrace the future of television. Yet, a small part of me, is going to be really disappointed watching him jump to yet another network leading more credibility to such a jumbled ineffective system.