Late Night Eclipse

Many hope Conan's newest gig turns out better than......yeah.
(insidesocal.com)

Tonight's the night where the anticipated changing of the guard happens on the late night scene as Conan O'Brien will be the 5th man to take NBC's after-dark throne. O'Brien, who has seemed to have been destined for this job since I was in middle school ('97-'99), is now stepping into the arena where "The Chin" was a big time player for 17 years, becoming the late-night mainstay for many. Armed with Pearl Jam and the uber-hilarious Will Ferrell, there is obvious anticipation for a big splash in the 11:30 PM slot tonight. Many of my friends and peers are psyched about the arrival of the red-haired funny man, who is considered a breath of fresh air and an alternative to the much elder combo of Leno/Letterman. I truly believed that The Simpsons were at their best when Conan was at the helm as the writer. For a period of time, he was my go-to guy for my bouts of insomniac television viewing. But for some reason, I don't think the switch will pay major dividends for the NBC Network.

Question: Who's gonna end up hosting The Tonight Show in 6 months?
(scrapetv.com)

Call me old-school, you can even call me old, but I'm gonna miss Leno. In fact, I'm probably the only member of my age demographic who is currently saying this. Between his "Jaywalking" segments and his quirky (admittedly corny sometimes) stand-up in the beginning of his shows made for some good bellyaches from laughter. My all-time favorite segment in late night was "Headlines", a series of articles and advertisements that were mailed in by viewers containing some of the worst typos imaginable creating insane innuendos. It was in my opinion, a better, more consistent alternative to the Letterman "Top 10 List", which some nights seems like it's trying too hard to obtain cheap laughs. Being a fan of randomness and unintentional comedy, the segment fit my comedic needs perfectly, while being my perfect send off to slumber every Monday night. But Leno's show did not just revolve around one thing. It was the variety (the Jib-Jab cartoons, Stuff We Found on eBay, the Howie Mandel bits) that made the show the constant leader in the late night rankings despite being on a tanking NBC network. O'Brien will undoubtedly be a worthy competitor to Letterman in capturing the younger, more modern viewer. But will he maintain the more mainstream constituency that Leno won over? The conversations with my mother and uncle about the subject don't bode well for O'Brien if the mainstream share my family's opinions. They described him as being "too tacky" and just simply being all over the place. While I think Conan's edgier, outside the box approach makes him unique and has made him successful so far, I just don't buy the older viewers taking his offbeat style seriously. On top of that, he doesn't really have too many memorable segments that stick with me. However, his contribution of introducing Triumph The Insult Comedy Dog to the world is sooooooo priceless. Even for me, Conan's wacky persona gets a little old for me after a while, and he's gonna need more than a personality to sustain his stay on the late night pedestal.

If this guy is on your first show, GET EXCITED!
(reellifewisdom.com)

So you are probably asking me if I'm rooting against Conan. I answer with an adamant no. I wish him tons of success in his latest endeavor of a stellar career. It would be extremely discourteous to wish a guy like O'Brien with any kind of failure. However, sentiment and my personal prediction of the trends say that he has a mountain to climb, and I'm not the only person that he's going to have to win over. Being the only jewel in a floundering network, NBC most definitely will have high expectations on Conan to continue Leno's success in bolstering the Tonight Show brand. Regardless, from a person that still religiously watches reruns of Seinfeld and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air as his primary source of television, I am amped up for what kind of start Conan has laid out for his brand spanking new show out in the left coast. Definitely more amped up for this than the opener for The Carson Daly Show, or for anything on TV in the past decade for that matter. Well, off to get my Seinfeld fix before the show, hoping to expect the unexpected, hoping for my expectations to be defied.

Before I Peace: You're Kidding Me!

(cache.boston.com)

Move over Pink Hat Nation. Here comes your hungrier cousin, Watermelon Hat Nation! Yes, for $15 dollars on the team shop, this lovely-scented piece of head wear can be all yours. What? Scratch and sniff hats? This gives me another reason to start burning copies of Fever Pitch. Granted, the old-school roadies were a great idea, but the top Sox have done everything to destroy the brand lately. Between the "Hanging Sox" caps and the "Softball League" alternate unis, Mike Dee and Co. are beginning to destroy any dignity the Red Sox brand has. They should just start adding Sesame Str.......OOOPS! I shouldn't start giving the brass ideas. Gallagher, please smash this cap to bits!