Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Out with the new, in with the old - Opinions on NBC wanting to bump Conan for Leno

I just don't get the rewarding of sub par performance. As many of you are well aware, NBC wants to give Leno his old time-slot back and Conan thinks this is a bad move.

I'm firmly on the side of Conan here, but I suppose I'm biased in that I've generally liked Conan's material more than Leno's. I'll take some floppy red hair over a huge chin any day of the week as well.

But from thinking of it from a position of reasonability and rewarding good results, why is it that they choose this path? Aside from all that contractual mumbo jumbo that I am not nearly qualified to critique, it just smacks of bad sense!

The notion of rewarding the old and archaic is, wait for it, old and archaic. Jay Leno has not delivered in his capacity at 10.  Why do they predict he'll suddenly become funnier if moved back a few hours? Sure it will be less competitive against other, stronger performing shows, but that was his responsibility to perform.

Conan's ratings have not been strong either, but if the internet is any viable measure of support, Conan has it. NBC is going the fool route here by propping up Leno, who would probably pay quick dividends provided he is able to woo the old crowd back, but looking forward, you need to appeal to younger audiences. That and Conan hasn't had enough time to prove himself.

When you're put into a situation you've agreed to do, its your job to work at it, make it happen and prove that the decision was a good choice. Competition is harder than expected? Work harder, do something different, or stand aside.

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