Oh man. I hope he doesn’t fade away from television or entertainment, or whatever. But I’m so glad to read Conan’s statement (through the New York Times) regarding NBC’s bone-headed move to shift the late night schedule around.
I’ll watch Conan on any network, any time slot, and I respect his decision not to participate in the sinking of a great ship as executed by an aimless network with a management team that seams to be as creative as GM’s design department.
Tomorrow, sadly, marks the end of a childhood institution, Reading Rainbow.
The New York Times‘ “Magazine Preview” has a long and excellent article on Conan O’Brien and his journey to his new nightly gig. The whole piece is a nice collection of anecdotes, interview quotes, and narrative, along with the typically great photography I’ve come to expect of the Times. Here’s one of my favorite nuggets:
“Music and comedy are so linked,” O’Brien said earlier, as he walked up and down the halls of his offices, playing one of his many guitars. “The rhythm of comedy is connected to the rhythm of music. They’re both about creating tension and knowing when to let it go. I’m always surprised when somebody funny is not musical.”
Holy hand grenade, what glorious news: Monday Night Football is ditching the lamentably awful Tony Kornheiser in favor of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden.
I think even Dennis Miller would have been a welcome substitute, but this will certainly do much better.
I guess I missed this earlier in the month, but I’m glad to have the news none-the-less. AMC’s Mad Men is currently in production on the third season which is expected to start up in August.
EDIT: Geez, I really need to proof-read. I’ve fixed the spelling in the post title. Now I get to see all the “Page Not Found” hits in my stats…
So I’m sitting up late at night on a Wednesday trying to kill time while my first attempt at duck confit to finish. I figured I’d check out Jimmy Fallon’s take on Late Night, and…well, ugh.
Yeah, he’s still kinda wet behind the ears when it comes to this talk show gig, but it’s pretty telling that the majority of the audience isn’t laughing. I mean, he just spent 10 minutes on this too-long bit that involved feeding 300 lbs of baked beans into the “volcano under the stairs.” I would have felt bad for him if I didn’t already have trouble laughing at Fallon from his SNL days. The timing was off, the gags were cheap, and the audience seemed to be waiting as long as I was for the sketch to end.
Dang, and I thought Carson Daly was lame.
Holy smacintosh, this is awesome news: Andy Richter, Conan’s original sidekick on Late Night, will rejoin the red-headed pale man as The Tonight Show’s announcer on June 1st.
Question: What is $352,800?
Answer: The highest possible score on a single day of Jeopardy.
Assumptions:
1. I’m using the current value of each square as of the date of this post, where they start at $200 in the first round.
2. A player would have to answer correctly for every single square, Daily Double, and Final Jeopardy.
3. The Daily Double in the first round would have to be the last square in the first round, and the last two in Double Jeopardy.
4. All three Daily Double squares would have to be the lowest denomination for each round ($200 in the first round, and $400 in Double Jeopardy).
5. The player would have to risk everything on each Daily Double square and in Final Jeopardy.
I totally think this should be a Final Jeopardy puzzle 
Tonight Valerie and I watched, for the first time, Stuff Happens. Here we have a show hosted by Bill Nye (the Science Guy!) that explores the environmental impact of our everyday lives in an industrialized nation, and the two half-hour episodes we caught investigated the common kitchen and breakfast foods (an apt pairing, I’d say). There a plenty of statistics, demonstrations, illustrations, and so forth, all presented in that down-to-earth and quirky Bill Nye fashion.
I know the distribution of the Science Channel or Planet Green isn’t too widespread, but if you have either one, check it out. Entertaining and informative.
Sweet mother of sweet mothers! BEHOLD!!!
This Mystery Science Theater 3000 box set is something new for the ol’ Christmas list