Will Comcast Pull the Plug?

Michael Steele's not the only one in jeopardy of losing his job; news also came late this week that Jay Leno's ratings for "The Tonight Show" are at their lowest point in many years.

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Let's face it, Jay is just not very funny anymore. His jokes are old and very tired, and what's worse, Jay is coming across as old and tired. One need to only watch Jay Leno and David Letterman for a few nights to see the difference between the two. While neither are exactly zipping with youthful verve, at least Letterman still takes a genuine interest in his guests, and still manages to ask thoughtful, intelligent and witty questions, as if he might actually take some interest in his celebrity visitors. But Leno just seems to be on auto-pilot; his questions make one think of a 7th grader who stands in front of the class to read a book report but who makes it painfully obvious to the rest of the class that he never read the book. And not even Jay's forced hyena laughter at his couch fodder's banter can hide that fact.

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Industry insiders are closely watching the deal struck by cable t.v. giant Comcast, who had made a deal with General Electric to buy 51% of NBC Universal, which would mean that Comcast would run NBC and would be Leno's new boss. Many are wondering if Comcast will pull the plug on Leno, once and for all, to start anew at "The Tonight Show" with a fresh face.

Mommy, That Strange Red-Bearded Man is Scaring Me!

The long, cringe-filled nightmare that is Conan O'Brien's career continues. He appeared on Sunday night's "60 Minutes" to discuss, well, actually, he whined, about his departure from "The Tonight Show".

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Okay, we're just not going down this road again. Let's just state the facts. Conan, you're not that funny. If you were, you would have had viewers of your Tonight Show, and thus you would have had ratings, and thus, you wouldn't have been fired. But you're not funny, (you're not even that talented), and so you didn't have viewers, you didn't get ratings, and your ass got canned. Grow up, get over it, and move on to your new show over at TBS, where thankfully, we don't have that channel on our Favorites List, so we'll never have to see you again.

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Okay, that's harsh, we know there are some people out there somewhere who like this guy, so why our vitriol? Mainly because on the 60 Minutes piece, instead of handling his situation like a grown-up, O'Brien continued to whine and blame and most shockingly, even seemed to be out of touch with reality. At one point, Steve Kroft brought up the fact that NBC said it was losing money with the Tonight Show during Conan's tenure because the ratings were taking a hit, and Conan, with a confused look on his face, said that he didn't believe that, and went on to say that that just couldn't be true. He seemed really dazed by this assertion, as if he couldn't cognitively process the idea that he wasn't popular with the American viewers. Wow.

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We've written about Conan before on this site, and other Hollywood types like him. Once an entertainer becomes famous, it seems as though he no longer has anyone in his life who will tell him "no". Celebrities are surrounded by "yes" people who cater to their every whim and who depend on those celebrities' continuing careers for their own paychecks. So people like Conan O'Brien, after awhile, no longer have anyone in their lives to tell them the truth. And obviously, when they occasionally do hear the truth, they can't accept it. So Conan, once again, we're going to do you a favor, we're going to tell you the truth. You're not that funny, you're only moderately talented, and Conan, we know this is going to be hard to hear, but America is... just not that into you.