Too long for a tweet, too short for an actual entry. Sorry! Will post a real entry later today.

Despite what gossipers are saying about Leno being the meanie, I do wish him well. But if I was someone who got caught in the pageantry leading up to last night’s triumphant return (and I just tuned in to see Coco’s last night several weeks ago, then compared it with Jay’s first night back, I would most likely have said, “This was what the hoopla is all about?”

I like Jay. I think he’s a pro. He can definitely get the standard laughs – one’s you don’t have to work too hard to get. But his routines definitely have a “ghostwriter” feel about them, as if he didn’t really roll up his sleeves the night before to knock them out. So last night’s installment was, well, very predictable, and very safe. And let’s face it, at the end of a long work day, maybe audiences want something predictable before they retire to bed. Maybe naked Max Weinberg in the sex offender’s outcast tents in the backwoods is not an image you want to have before you drift off to sleep, seven hours away from the next work day.

And whenever I get puzzled by the massive conservative votes on poll day, I always need to tell myself, “there’s 48 states between here and California.” Edgy humor about Jewish therapists and masturbating bears may not exactly work with someone who lives in Wyoming and had to put down a Grizzly in the backyard earlier that day.

Still, the return was anything but triumphant. Jamie Foxx was over-the-top in his professional fawner for hire, paid to rouse up the audience. Check’s in the mail. Lindsey Vonn demonstrated why athletes never quite made the leap over to the entertainment world: The audience had to chant U-S-A, U-S-A over her travel-worn voice to keep a viewer from falling asleep, country singer Brad Paisley’s neo-C&W act sealed my suspicions.

When we were driving back from North Carolina, we listened to the present roster of C&W music on the radio. (It was either that or church sermons) We just couldn’t believe how many songs repeated the same images Ad nauseam. By the time we reached Virginia, we were pulling our hairs out: OKAY, OKAY, WE GET IT! YOU’RE A MAN! YOU RIDE A STEER, YOU DRIVE A TRUCK! YOU LIKE THE LADIES! YOU DRINK WHISKEY! YOU GIVE A GOOD BLOWJ- wait, back up one right there Hoss.

But if there’s ever a lineup that screamed “targeted demographic,” it had to be Leno’s Tonight Show v.2 They know who their audience is: Red States people. And who’s tonight’s guest? Sarah Palin.

Keeping in mind that Palin’s appearance opposite Shatner during Conan’s watch was generally seen by his fans as one of the highlights of his 7 month residence, when Leno announced Palin as guest will be her first time ever on the Tonight Show, whatever few Coco supporters who were open-minded enough to give Jay a chance, are gone by today.

Tags: conan o'brien, jay leno, nbc, review, tonight show

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 10:08 am and is filed under Reviews / Recommendations, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.