No Love Lost

Letterman and Leno may not be paragons of professionalism, but they sure do personify ‘must see tv’.

Seems like everyone’s taken a side in this NBC late night kerfuffle.   Even me.  For what it’s worth, I agree that Conan O’Brien got the short end of the stick in the affair, but given his reported $45 million settlement, the stick’s really not all that short.  If you ask me.  Or the average American that lost their job last year.  For $45 million, I would gladly let a TV network fire me.  Not just today, but every single day for the rest of the year.  I could definitely think of a few things I would do to occupy all the free time I would have.

But that’s just me. 

Maybe I’m missing the point, but from where I sit, these guys were given opportunities with their Fall ventures that most personalities on a television show- drama , comedy, or even late night- wouldn’t have received.  Just ask Chevy Chase, Joan Rivers, or Pat Sajak.  Their late night shows disappeared so fast, most people barely remember them.

None of this should be surprising.  The entertainment industry has its own brand of meritocracy and it is not and never has been based on talent.  In the era of big cable, cancellations are common.  Some shows go away after one or two episodes.  More than a few never see the light of day.  They might be truly great shows with critical acclaim, fantastic writing, superior acting, impeccable sets, and quality production value, but they are still euthanized before they get the chance to mature, to hit their stride or find their audience.  That’s just the cost of doing business:  there’s always risk.  Actors are let go, sets are shut down and either dismantled or destroyed, crew are released to pursue other opportunities.  Can you remember the last time you heard a TV actor speak out against the network that let him or her go?  It doesn’t happen often because in the entertainment industry, everything (and everyone) is connected.  Anybody seen Isaiah Washington in anything since Grey’s Anatomy?  Most actors choose not to criticize their current network of employment because they’re smart enough to know that you don’t bite the hand that feeds you.  And you especially don’t bite a potential hand that might feed you in the future.

Late night is different, though.  A late night host can take public liberties the average employee would only engage in tactfully and diplomatically.  Under duress.  Or with their friends behind closed doors and in hushed tones.  That’s not the case here. Here, the former and current NBC late night hosts are engaged in a free for all, unified in their attack against the very same network that employed, elevated, and issued the paychecks that made them both millionaires many times over.  I can’t say I blame them.  But I don’t have all that much sympathy for either of them, either.

What I do think interesting are the very public barbs and insults Letterman and Leno are hurling at one another.  Of course, there’s history between the two.  If Leno and O’Brien appear to be in a free-for-all with their network, Letterman and Leno are engaged in a scorched earth campaign to utterly obliterate one another.  I am now making time to watch these two shows that I really didn’t care that much about before just to hear what will be said next.  It’s fun to watch, but that odd feeling of discomfort and awkwardness I’ve felt while listening to their monologues have far exceeded anything I’ve ever felt watching ‘The Office’ (the British original, of course). 

I highly doubt Dave and Jay will be hugging it out anytime soon.  Perhaps a beer summit might be in order.  I hear those work wonders.