Commitment

I need to chime in on this whole Leno, Conan, and Fallon issue.  I grew up in the 90's and so I think of NBC as this standard for quality TV.  Thursday nights were always the best.  I loved Friends, ER (in the beginning-not in the 2000's like the Wilsons!), and even back to the obvious Cosby show.   I know I left out Seinfeld, SNL, and Dateline.  With the hallmark of all shows being the Tonight Show with Carson, which lasted until '92.  

So, I have to say I am a fan of NBC.  But, within the past 10 years there has been a huge decline, and I have to believe it has to do with leadership.  Yep, I am talking about Jeff Zucker, or Sucker.  I know he helped keep Friends on the air (too long), and I know he help create the Apprentice phenomenon.  But his best work was probably getting Bravo to the state that it is today-reality, reality, reality.  Although I was using sarcasm there, I do actually have Bravo programming as a guilty pleasure.  

I am a big leadership guy.  I think that the movement at the top really does help to guide and focus groups or organizations to their destinations, whether positive or negative.  For example, without Matt Millen I would not be able to say that I lived through the worst sporting franchise in history.  The Detroit Lions were by far the worst with him at the helm, but I do not blame Matt solely for their demise.  I blame the leader of the Lions and that fell to William Clay Ford, Sr.  That's right, the Ford guys.  Thanks for the Freestyle.  

And so, because of my lean towards responsibility falling to leadership, I look solely to Sucker for the fiasco that is NBC.  Obviously, Jay Leno has info on Sucker that could damage him, or he would not have folded to his demands by putting him on at the 10 o'clock (CST, of course) slot.  And by the way, the reason the lead-in to local affiliates news programs is so bad-the catalyst for recent change-is because the Jay Leno show took a page out of Sucker's name, it sucked.  

Sarah and I only receive like four channels with our antenna now, and NBC is one of them.  I will say that it has been difficult to enjoy anything after 9 p.m. central with Jay Leno on.  I also believe that Conan O'brien lost his edge when he went to the new time slot.  I am not talking about the edginess of his words or questionable content.  I am referring to the good humor.  It seems like he is dumbing his stuff down for this new audience.  Although, Puppies Dressed as Cats and the Fonzy and Tom Cruise wax figures are sooo like Conan, the majority of his stuff has been puff cake.  

Which leads me to a surprising revelation for Sarah and me. We are loving Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. That show is funny.  He does a bad monologue, but his flare for sketch comedy provides great sketches and games.  It seems that he dotes a bit too much with his guests, and he seems to know them all personally.  

So, I am frustrated.  It's obvious, I guess, and with real issues like Haiti, famines, wars, and serious illness I probably should be focusing my efforts somewhere else.  But it is sad to me to think that powerful executives are really that dumb and television personalities that I like are really this petty.  In the end it will probably mean the loss of Conan in my life (he will probably move to a station we do not get with our antenna), but my hope is that Jimmy will get an earlier time slot and I can go to bed before 12:30 a.m. central!