Wed, August 29, 2007
Non-Item: Leno a Prissy Bitch—12:24 PM
This is less than nothing, but the home page is looking desolate lately and the big columns I've got in the hopper are weeks away from publishing. So, why not laugh at Jay Leno's bruised and pointless ego?
A report says Leno returned from vacation to find a new desk waiting for him on his set. (This is the stort of sprucing-up that talk shows do from time to time; Dave's has been remodeled a few times.) Leno apparently made a quip that compared the desk's replacement to his own ouster (forthcoming in 2009) to make room for Conan O'Brien at The Tonight Show.
But can Leno honestly assert he's "worked perfectly well for 15 years"? He's not Carson, for God's sake. Carson was, to borrow a phrase from Letterman's excellent memorial the week after his passing, "a public utility." He could've run The Tonight Show through 2025 and remained as current and entertaining as we needed. But Leno falls far short of that, and it makes sense to promote Conan into the 11:30 time slot before its viewership ossifies into a demographic so ancient it can never recover.
Maybe the ratings have been decent, and maybe some people's taste runs to Leno's lame version of comedy. But if Leno can honestly, with a straight face, assert that the show has been perfectly good during his stewardship, then he's a lot dumber than even I have given him credit for.
