The Tonight Show

They say it is a sign of age when you don't want things to change. Older people want things to be exactly like they were, like they remember them. So, I'm not sure if it is a sign of age or tradition or the fact that the Tonight Show has always been a true television icon for me that I hate to see the Late Night fight that is happening now.

I am not a Jay Leno fan. In fact I think he could be one of the worst hosts the show has ever had. But he was good enough to keep the franchise going and those too young to have seen a real master like Johnny Carson in the role, might not know the difference. Leno is now positioned to strike the last blow at a show that is 55 years old. That is not middle age for a television show, that is ancient since the average life of a television show today is less than 6 weeks.

If Jay preempts the Tonight Show with his "talk show lite" it will knock the Tonight Show out of it's slot. Were he to take over the show if Conan were to quit, I'm not sure that he can regain the roll he once had. Jay should just retire and do his live shows, or play with his 16 million dollar car collection or just go away and leave us alone. He stopped being funny about 17 years ago, and never learned how to conduct an intelligent interview.

I don't know much about Conan O'Brien but it is his turn. Let's give him a chance to see if he can make the old Tonight Show a "must see" like the old days. I know it will never be the heady days of Johnny or the crazy days of Steve Allen, nor will it be the roller coaster of Jack Parr, but Jay has had his turn. Time to move on.

As you were,
Jay (the other one)