Venting about Late Night

Le sigh....

This will be a constant subject during the whole NBC debacle so just be ready for me to whine. Anyway, as many people know, I have tried to like David Letterman but can't. There's a part of me completely willing to admit that maybe it isn't Letterman himself I hate but the media's boot-licking admiration for him despite any wrongdoings. Let me make this clear: sleeping with half of his staff was dispicable. Disrespectful toward his wife, sending bad messages to his kid (the one thing people should be saying but aren't), creating a hostile work environment for both the women he slept with and the women he didn't, and, so frustrating it bears repeating twice - DISRESPECTFUL TOWARD HIS WIFE. Even though she wasn't his wife at the time, what part of "longtime girlfriend since 1986" does the public not understand?

What does this have to do with the current NBC drama? My man (who will be vehemently defended so just be aware) Jay (who will be called by his first name as I've given up being a professional) made a joke earlier this week about sleeping with his staff for nothing. And the critics say this is low, unfair, out of nowhere, and mean. Dave has been doing jokes about Jay for the past two weeks and, according to the critics, they are hilarious with bite. Now, months ago when Dave got into his little mess Jay did a few jokes then and people said they were...low and mean and played to the lowest common denominator. Other late night hosts did jokes about Dave, all with similar punchlines to Jay's, and those were sarcastic and showed those hosts were not going to play favorites just because Dave is one of them. A scandal's a scandal, right?

I guess my feelings are that Jay can never win and every decision he makes is the wrong decision. Even when he gives to charity I read countless articles about how the manner he chooses is shameless and egotistical. I hate to tell them this, but I'm sure he does a lot of private donations but sometimes raising money needs to be...public. And loud. And I never understood why him getting the original Tonight Show was horrible on his part. I can and have shown a lot of Jay-haters articles from before 1992 that pointed out NBC's interest in him as the future host. "Heir-aparent" and "Anointed-one" are words describing him in hundreds of articles (yes, I'm aware you have inferred I have too much time and not enough of a life). I think the whole thing started because a guy (Jay) who worked hard got a job that some people felt another guy with a lot of talent (Dave) should have gotten. So, Jay deserved the job but Dave deserved it more based on the fact that Johnny Carson liked Dave better. Fair enough, but please, critics, stop saying Jay didn't deserve it AT ALL. That is untrue.

That being said a message to Jay he will never read: LET THE RUMORS THAT YOU WILL LEAVE NBC WITH CONAN BE TRUE. Staying is a bad decision. The media will not be putting their own spin on it this time. Staying = bad. Leaving = only choice. I wish it hadn't come to Conan leaving, too. But let me make this just as clear: NBC screwed the pooch. NBC slapped Conan in the face. Jay is a "yes man" who would have done whatever they asked of him and so the decision to put him at 11:35 and move the freaking TONIGHT SHOW back to 12:05 was stupid ON THEIR PART. What were they thinking?

I think it's a little unfair to Jay to say that NBC believing in him is somehow his fault. I'm sorry if others see it as NBC being blind and that Jay is lame so why do they believe in him? It's got to hurt his feelings that people say he doesn't deserve anything he has because someone else deserved it, too. Maybe he clings to NBC because they are the only people left who praise him in their strange, screwed-up manner?

But they also liked Conan, which in a way, makes Conan a little like Jay. They said, now is the time where we will believe in you, Conan. And then...didn't. I think that is incredibly crappy on their part. Conan is the biggest victim here but I just feel there are a lot of people defending him and so it doesn't need to be said here.

Let the tomatoes fly.