The "Earlier Tonight" Show

So in case you missed the news, Jay Leno will NOT be leaving NBC when he turns the reins of The Tonight Show over to Conan O'Brien this June. NBC has just signed a deal with him to do a prime-time talk show - in the 10pm slot - five nights a week.

Here's a couple of reasons why I have a problem with this.

This is nothing against Leno. I think Leno's a great guy. He earned the right to take over the show after Johnny, and he did amazing things with it. He's made it his own. He's one of the most memorable, and likable, personalities in the history of TV, and this deal is a great one for him. He deserves it. And I'm sure he's going to do amazing things with the new timeslot and (not so different) format.

Problem one for me is this: how much does it suck to be Conan? Anyone remember the big Leno/Letterman war when Johnny was retiring? Letterman was crushed when he didn't get the 11:30 show. He'd waited for YEARS...it was a given that it was his. And when they didn't give him his due, he showed his feelings toward NBC, jumped ship, and took his ball over to CBS, where's he's been a huge success ever since. While Leno got the golden job, a total unknown named Conan (named WHAT?) O'Brien got the Letterman spot on Late Night, beating out all the much-discussed front runners. I happened to be watching Leno on the Tonight Show when he brought Conan out and announced that he'd be the new Late Show host. It was a totally surprise move, and I remember thinking it was a very ballsy one. So I decided to give this unknown guy a chance. And I found him to be one of my favorite show hosts ever, someone who came across as "one of us", with the kind of off-the-wall sense of humor I love, and someone who spoke to my generation. I became a big fan.

Conan, too, has been waiting for years for this, and when Leno first announced he would be leaving - almost five years ago - it was also announced the Conan would not get the Letterman treatment. The job was his. Like Leno with Carson's show, Conan earned the spot. He's had five years to plan and ready himself for his long-awaited reward.

Yep. Leno's show is his. Oh, but guess what? Leno's decided not to leave. He's now going to essentially take the Tonight Show and transplant it to 10:00pm. Same monologue, same man-on-the-street fun, same big-name celebrity guests, probably the same band, too. In short, he is NOT leaving the Tonight Show. Conan has it, in name. But it's really not the Tonight Show. It's now The Late Show, on one hour earlier. And for the foreseeable future, instead of becoming the king of the NBC show hosts, Conan is going to be following Leno every night. Again.

Conan's response has been nothing but gracious and thankful so far. He said all the right things, reminding us that he and Leno are good friends, and that he's thrilled to still have the Leno lead-in for his show. But seriously...how can he NOT feel like the wind has just been taken out of his late-night sails? He's still #2. He's become the king, but the king suddenly said, "you know what? I'm going to stick around and become emperor." You can't really bitch about getting the show, and Conan is not. But I still think it's kind of an insult. And that he deserved better.

But really, that's not what bothered me when I watched the press conference. The thing that's rubbing me wrong is that NBC had just committed the 10:00pm timeslot of the network to Leno's show, for all five nights of the week. Know what this means? That means five hours LESS of scripted television drama on network television every week. That's the ER timeslot. The Hill Street Blues timeslot. The Law and Order, L.A. Law timeslot. 10:00 is the home of TV drama on the networks, the shows written for grownups, the place where the best TV writers and actors create the shows that touch our lives and make us think and make us part of a bigger world. In a weeknight schedule already overrun with reality and game shows, we're now going to see even less episodic television. That sucks for writers. That sucks for viewers. And it makes me sad.

Cable television has been stepping up to the plate, however, and making the old networks raise their game for some time. Cable has given us our Sopranos, our Shield, our Wire, our Brotherhood. More dramatic, edgier, rule-breaking shows have been coming more and more to our cable boxes and satellite dishes, so maybe that trend is about to become the norm. Maybe cable will pick up the slack, leaving the Bachelor and the Victoria's Secret Underpants Extravaganza to the VHF crowd. This might be the paradigm shift I've been waiting for, and it might usher in a new age of stories that challenge us and break our hearts and amaze us.

I hope so. I hope it isn't just another step toward the dumbifaction of the mass mind of America, and the end of TV drama as we know it. Time will tell.

Regardless, good luck, Jay, and hope the whole new audience of people who could never stay up late enough to watch you and couldn't figure out how to work their TiVO's brings you continued success. Good luck, Conan, bringing your unique brand of comedy to the slightly earlier crowd (word of advice? I don't the Masturbating Bear is going to fly in the new timeslot). And good luck, Jimmy Fallon, who's taking over the Late Show. You're stepping into a very exclusive fraternity of very funny people who've made their home in our living rooms and at our watercoolers for a very long time. Good luck living up to the task, and good luck developing your own voice and making that show, as Letterman and Conan did before you, YOUR show.

Ooh, and I'm sorry. I'd talk about Matt Damon...but I'm afraid we've run out of time...