CONAN Falls To Fourth Place Among Cable TV Talk Shows

[Prime1]

Conan O’Brien, remember him? He has a cable talk show on TBS, remember? Well, you’re not alone if you forgot all about that show. It seems like a lot of folks have as well. During June, CONAN fell to fourth place place among the cable TV talk show also-rans, coming up just behind Chelsea Handler’s CHELSEA LATELY. CHELSEA LATELY drew 808,000 average viewers vs. CONAN’s lowly 743,000 viewers. Even worse, O’Brien is even losing the coveted 18-49 age bracket that advertisers love to CHELSEA LATELY by a 503,000-559,000 margin. THE DAILY SHOW with Jon Stewart and THE COLBERT REPORT top the cable TV talk show ratings race, leaving CONAN looking like the very last runner in a race.

Yet, despite all his ratings woes, Conan O’Brien still commands a fairly decent sized loyal fan base and critics gave high praise to CONAN O”BRIEN CAN’T STOP, a very good documentary film from Rodman Flender, which documented the months in which the comic wasn’t able to legally perform on TV due to his NBC exit contract.

Going to cable TV was widely viewed as being a major mistake by many critics for Conan O’Brien as NBC sought to correct their mistake when they moved Conan O’Brien into the 11:30 TONIGHT SHOW slot where the show became a quick ratings failure. NBC had also hoped to cut TV production costs by creating a cheaply produced 10pm prime time show for Jay Leno, which certainly cost considerably less to produce than a decent TV program like a LAW & ORDER or ER would have cost. But, audiences quickly rejected that prime time version of a Jay Leno talk show. When NBC proposed moving Leno back into the 11:30 slot, and moving the TONIGHT SHOW with Conan O’Brien after midnight, O’Brien was upset and sought to leave NBC. Former SNL cast member Jimmy Fallon took over Conan O’Brien’s old 12:30 show and has made it into a decent hit with strong ratings that run neck and neck with THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON. Both of these guys have proven to be great talents, as both created excellent shows for as late as they appear on TV. Both entertainers and their shows are much better than their late night time slots would suggest. Either could easily handle the call to do a show at at 11:30 if the call comes someday. Jimmy Fallon probably ended up the biggest winner of the NBC shakeup disaster with Conan O’Brien ultimately the biggest loser, largely due to his inability to maintain strong enough TONIGHT SHOW ratings for a variety of reasons and his decision to leave network TV for lowly rated cable TV.

So where does this all leave Conan O’Brien? Maybe, do his cable TV show for a few more seasons until his contract runs out at TBS,, then call it quits to produce TV shows. Hopefully, much better than the ill-fated OUTLAW, though. Conan O’Brien remains a very talented writer and entertainer, but not always the best career manager.

While CONAN is certainly entertaining, the fact is that fewer and fewer people are even bothering to watch. Compared to building an audience of new viewers, that’s a very troubling trend. But, if that trend is good enough for TBS or for Conan O’Brien to accept, then it can go on for a while until it just doesn’t make good economic sense to continue.

http://wizbangpop.com/2011/07/30/conan-falls-to-fourth-place-among-cable-tv-talk-shows/

[Prime1]

Guy should have just stayed at 1:00 on NBC, its amazing how far he's fallen.

[Fpoonsie]

Who is that in your .gif? She looks wonderfully similar to Lost's Kate...

[DMC]

I cannot stand the fucker. I wish him and Tyler Perry would get married to each other and die in a plane crash en-route to their honeymoon on the Ivory Coast.

[Prime1]

Who is that in your .gif? She looks wonderfully similar to Lost's Kate...

I dunno just saw it and put it in my sig. Looks like some rich guy filming his girlfriend in their house? He's no doubt the luckiest man in the world if so.

[Proxy]

I dunno just saw it and put it in my sig. Looks like some rich guy filming his girlfriend in their house? He's no doubt the luckiest man in the world if so.

No, she's somewhat famous. A saw a few of my friends watching a video of her.

Anyways, Conan was never to funny for me... every now and then he did something genius, but overall, was meh.

His success before was due to the same crowd that likes the Daily Show and the Colbert Report... putting him in the same time frame was idiotic.

[DMX7]

Losing to CHELSEA LATELY? Wow...

He used to be a cult God when he was on Late Night on NBC

[pkbpkb81]

lol

[koriwhat]

conan has sucked ever since letting go of his side kick the first time back in the early 90's and he's yet to find that spark again even though he's brought andy back.

[symple19]

Imagine that. The calf-tatted, homeless secretary scoffing something.

Go wash your fuckin' hair, boy

[BlackSwordsMan]

So what's the order? I assume Stewart,Leno,Handler,Conan?

[Cane]

Are these reruns or new Conan shows? Falling behind Chelsea doesn't seem good but there was no way he'd be able to compete against Stewart and Colbert anyway.

Anyway I agree he should've stayed at NBC, imo he took business too personally. Also not a fan of replacing Max and Joel with Andy even though Andy is Conan's bud and an original member IIRC.

[Wild Cobra]

Wow..

You mean the jackass actually was #3?

Who would have thought...

[ALVAREZ6]

Imagine that. The calf-tatted, homeless secretary scoffing something.


:lol

[4>0rings]

I'm a big Conan fan and have watched him since day one on the late late night show. I was going to make a thread about his shityness lately but forgot.

Half the time his show doesn't even air, in lue of reruns or just not even having a show. His writers are complete trash and are not funny. His skits are WAY to boring. Conan is only funny when he is improving.

He under uses his talented cast(raging on La Bamba, the Preperation H guy, and the other one that came over with him to Cable) and overuses his garbage(Andy) and that black guy.

Andy is by far the worst partner for a comedian.

They had a winning skit with the fake Ted Turner on the stuffed buffalo but they hardly use it.

He does interact with the audience a lot which is funny though.

Conan, step y0 game up son! it doesn't LOOK GOOD!

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Yeah. I haven't watched him much lately. I just DVR it and if someone interests me then I'll just watch that segment. Pretty sad if he falls into obscurity. He's also way too political now. I don't ever remember him being that way.

[leemajors]

If he keeps producing stuff like Eagleheart I would be all for him producing more shows.

[Wild Cobra]

I miss Johnny.

[SA210]

He's still #1 in my book. Leno will never get play in my home.

[mrsmaalox]

I think it's significant that the 3 shows beating Conan are 30 min long compared to his one hour. When those shows are shitty, it's much nicer to suffer for just half as long. But it's sad because even on the best night, Chelsea Handler is only passable for the 5 minutes she talks to a guest, the rest of the show (monologue and that horrible "panel" discussion) really sucks.

The couple of times per week I catch a talk show, it's Craig Ferguson.

[JoeChalupa]

I watch Leno but I did watch Conan back in the day.

[Dex]

Stewart and Colbert have cornered a market with their comedic, yet still brutally honest, political talk shows, especially since they kinda win both sides with their juxtaposed partisan positions. I think more people right now get their news from Daily Show than they do from CNN....and amazingly enough, that's probably a good thing.

Sad that you can't get an honest opinion about our country's current situation unless it comes in satirical form.

Chelsea Lately doing so well is really the only big surprise here, but I guess all the gossip-hawks had to flock somewhere after Oprah left.

[SA210]

^^^ And I'm glad Oprah left

[JoeChalupa]

You just have to be open to all media types.

[JoeChalupa]

^^^ And I'm glad Oprah left

So you used to watch Oprah? If not then why would you care?

[SA210]

So you used to watch Oprah? If not then why would you care?

Some of the poison she poured in people's heads. Just my opinion that it's good for her show to be off the air. I can have that opinion, no?

[Wild Cobra]

Like I said, I miss Johnny.

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[Viva Las Espuelas]

I miss Johnny.

That. He's my fav of all time. So many memorable moments he had.

[Monostradamus]

tbh I think Conan's new show is still great, even if it isn't as inspired as his Late Night show was.

the big problem with Conan, and it's what really hurt him also on The Tonight Show, is that he has no chemistry whatsoever with the vast majority of his guests. You can feel his awkwardness giving interviews, plus all the "spontaneous" moments during his interviews are clearly scripted.

Another thing hurting him is how uncontroversial he is. He can't be the everyman Jay Leno is because his comedy isn't bland/one size fits all enough. But he still has no edge to him it appears. While Letterman and Jon Stewart can get headlines any time they want when they go on the warpath against Republicans, Conan can't. He occasionally makes jokes that show his political leanings, but even then it's usually some generic "Bush is dumb" joke that is pretty mild. He needs to be edgier and harsher in his criticism of people. It probably goes against his nature as a person, but his comedy needs to attack people, piss people off, and hurt some feelings every once in a while.

Plus Conan's fanbase is much more likely to not watch him on TV and just catch his bits online. I DVR him and only watch the first two segments before deleting it.

[ploto]

You mean the jackass actually was #3?

Who would have thought...

This is only among cable late night talk shows. It is Stewart, Colbert, Handler, Conan.

[DMC]

It went downhill after Johnny. Dave is/was ok, kinda dry. Jay is a fucking ass clown. The rest are douchebags.

[Jacob1983]

That sucks but at least he's getting paid.

[BRHornet45]

Conan has always been pretty damn funny, but terribly overrated by white boys.

[Nathan Explosion]

tbh I think Conan's new show is still great, even if it isn't as inspired as his Late Night show was.

the big problem with Conan, and it's what really hurt him also on The Tonight Show, is that he has no chemistry whatsoever with the vast majority of his guests. You can feel his awkwardness giving interviews, plus all the "spontaneous" moments during his interviews are clearly scripted.

Another thing hurting him is how uncontroversial he is. He can't be the everyman Jay Leno is because his comedy isn't bland/one size fits all enough. But he still has no edge to him it appears. While Letterman and Jon Stewart can get headlines any time they want when they go on the warpath against Republicans, Conan can't. He occasionally makes jokes that show his political leanings, but even then it's usually some generic "Bush is dumb" joke that is pretty mild. He needs to be edgier and harsher in his criticism of people. It probably goes against his nature as a person, but his comedy needs to attack people, piss people off, and hurt some feelings every once in a while.

Plus Conan's fanbase is much more likely to not watch him on TV and just catch his bits online. I DVR him and only watch the first two segments before deleting it.

I stopped watching his show, but only because I don't watch much TV. If something goes down, I find it on my Conan app, so that's kind of how I watch him now, which of course, doesn't show in the ratings.

He had lots of funny bits on Late Night, but to me, his best stuff was during the writer's strike when he was just pretty much winging it show after show. Maybe he should go back to that formula of just doing shit that doesn't really make sense, but it doesn't have to if it's funny and well executed.

I absolutely love his skit on what they do around the office during the stike, or how he kept escalating the whole zipline through the crowd with rocket boots, ending up with him saving Lincoln from John Wilkes Booth.

I love the Daily Show and the Colbert Report (pronounced Re-pore), but I don't watch those shows either. The thing is, these days, DVRs are great for watchers, but horrible for shows.

Any show I do watch (like Falling Skies or Master Chef/Hell's Kitchen) is on DVR or even Hulu if I forget to record the show.

Today I burned through 3 episodes of Master Chef on Hulu, 1 episode of Weeds online and last week's episode of Falling Skies on DVR. None of that will show in the ratings, but it doesn't mean people aren't watching.

That may also be what's hurting Conan, that you can DVR the show or even watch the interviews and skits on his app on your iPhone (maybe Android too).

As for Chelsea Handler, she's just like Tyler Perry in that I have no idea why she's even famous.

[Isitjustme?]

I stopped watching his show, but only because I don't watch much TV. If something goes down, I find it on my Conan app, so that's kind of how I watch him now, which of course, doesn't show in the ratings.

He had lots of funny bits on Late Night, but to me, his best stuff was during the writer's strike when he was just pretty much winging it show after show. Maybe he should go back to that formula of just doing shit that doesn't really make sense, but it doesn't have to if it's funny and well executed.

I absolutely love his skit on what they do around the office during the stike, or how he kept escalating the whole zipline through the crowd with rocket boots, ending up with him saving Lincoln from John Wilkes Booth.

I love the Daily Show and the Colbert Report (pronounced Re-pore), but I don't watch those shows either. The thing is, these days, DVRs are great for watchers, but horrible for shows.

Any show I do watch (like Falling Skies or Master Chef/Hell's Kitchen) is on DVR or even Hulu if I forget to record the show.

Today I burned through 3 episodes of Master Chef on Hulu, 1 episode of Weeds online and last week's episode of Falling Skies on DVR. None of that will show in the ratings, but it doesn't mean people aren't watching.

That may also be what's hurting Conan, that you can DVR the show or even watch the interviews and skits on his app on your iPhone (maybe Android too).

As for Chelsea Handler, she's just like Tyler Perry in that I have no idea why she's even famous.

Nielsen makes boxes that account for DVR viewings. They even rank shows by how much they were watched via DVR.

[Insomniac]

Johnny will always be king.

[Jacob1983]

The main thing that has always hurt Conan is that the mainstream audience just doesn't care for him. It's harsh but it's true. The people who watch American Idol, NCIS, and Jennifer Aniston crapfest romantic comedies are Dave Letterman's audience. Conan should have never left Late Night. He was a perfect fit for that show. He should have never accepted the Tonight Show gig but can you blame him? How was he suppose to know that Leno was gonna be a cry baby pussy about it?

[Sisk]

I've seen a few of his shows and they're very awkward sometimes. I use to enjoy his show, but not as much recently.. it just seems different and I can't put my finger on what changed. I never followed him closely, though.