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From "Late Night" to "Tonight" -- will Conan Maintain?

I am a huge Conan O'Brien fan. So much so, in fact, that on my last trip to NYC I forgoed the shopping and obligatory sight-seeing and stood in line at 6 a.m. to score myself a seat for his taping later that afternoon -- it was awesome to attend, and an even awesomer (is that a word?) story to tell when I returned back to Portland.

I just hope that soon (like we're talking early next year) we don't see a big change to his show as he makes his transition to the coveted "Tonight Show" 11:30 p.m. time slot. His new audience will be a very different crowd, and while NBC is hoping that Conan will bring a large portion of his main audience (18-49-year-olds) to the new time, I worry that in an effort to retain the older generation of viewers they will make him more, well, Leno-esque. A middle man if you will, someone who caters to both sides of the fence. This is not Conan -- to me he is quirky, creative and polarizing. You either love him or you hate him, and young people seem to love him, older people... not so much. My 58-year-old father dislikes him, always referring to Conan as "nervous" and "weird." And he is a prime example of that audience member that is going to either shift to Lettermen or start turning off their sets at 11:29 p.m. each evening unless the network changes some things around. What will NBC do?

I guess come February 2009 we'll find out -- will Triumph the Insult Comic Dog win out, or will we suddenly see "Headlines" every Monday evening on Conan's show? Now, that's enough to make a 18-49-year-old a little nervous myself.

-Christina Stewart

posted on November 03, 2008


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