Saturday, January 19, 2008

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised




Because the writers are on strike!

I'm not sure how many of you have noticed, since network television seems to be in the throes of death, but t.v. sucks without the writers. That is, everything except Jay Leno, who is writing his own monologue which happens to be quite a bit funnier than anything his retarded writers ever come up with. This brings me to my larger point, its not the lack of writers that makes t.v. funny, it's just important to have SOMEONE writing shows. I'm sure Conan could write monologues that are funnier than anything his writers could pen, but his stubborn refusal to "do jokes" is killing Late Night. For some reason Conan, whose name is pretty prominently attached to the show (and whose career and viability as Leno's replacement are on the line) would rather go down with the ship by supporting the poor writers than to save his own show by writing his own routines. Don't get me wrong, I think Conan's personality and idiosyncrasies are great, but I can only take so much string-attached-to-hips dance and maniacal faces before I need a few real jokes thrown in. That's what makes Conan's craziness so funny: balance between it, and some real topical humor. His show has lost it's balance, and while Conan could recapture it by writing his own stuff (like Jay), he seems more committed to proving a point by supporting the writers, growing a beard, and acting like Young Knuckler off his meds.

But now let me get to the actual point I wanted to discuss here: how can you tell when a late night talk show is really shitty? When the host is by far the most famous person on the show that night. For example, Conan's guests last night were Poison singer and Rock of Love star Brett Michaels, New York Football Giants LB Antonio Pierce, and some horrible band. Don't get me wrong, plenty of mullet-sporting, Firebird-driving dudes probably love Michaels, but Conan was far and away the biggest name on the stage last night. Oh well, I guess that happens when you go from having month-at-a-time contracts to the heir-apparent of the Late Night T.V. Kingdom. I just hope he can survive long enough to claim the throne. Maybe Mike Tyson can appear on the show next week, or possibly Nadia Comanici, since she's no longer tied up to Celebrity Apprentice.

And how about Carson Daly? Last night his guest was Steve-0 from Jackass. Ok, your guests most famous work came on a movie titled Jackass? Who do you think a hip L.A. club is going to clear out the V.I.P. booth for? The dude who single-handedly reinvented MTV, hosts the world's NYE party, played High School golf against Tiger Woods, and used to date Tara Reid and Jennifer Love-Hewitt? Or a guy with his own picture tattooed on his back that staples his ball-sack to his leg? Yeah, tough call, I know.

8 comments:

Andrew Adamson said...

Oh, and Carson Daly used to be cool on TRL, but he sucks now. He isn't even funny with writers.

Unknown said...

actually his show is a little hidden late night gem

Andrew Adamson said...

He's the same type of late night gem that I used to find near Boom Batties Bedside on the regular.

Unknown said...

yeah except those usually outweighed Carson by a good fifty pounds.

Unknown said...

remember the night bentley came home and just laid waste to your apartment? there was a trail of broken glass and shit all the way to his bed.

Andrew Adamson said...

what about the time you thought you were rocky and punched through our door window and had shards of glass protruding from your hand.

Unknown said...

or the night i made you drive me to the ER because I thought I was bleeding internally and the blood was accumulating in my stomach, only to order you to turn around and head home once we saw the hospital

Andrew Adamson said...

I'm pretty sure that was the same night.