In his public resignation letter from the Tonight Show, Conan O’Brien deftly outlines his reasons for leaving NBC. It’s a public relations masterpiece, and one that politely skirts over the obvious.
But most Conan viewers, myself included, won’t feel as much sympathy as outright anger.
Jay Leno, who’s elbowing out the longstanding Tonight Show timeslot with his own half-hour comedy show (the sole reason O’Brien is leaving), goes largely unmentioned in the letter.
But it’s Leno most will target their anger at, once again myself included.
I guess, though, I’m more mad at whoever keeps giving Leno chances.
This past Friday, in a strange coincidence, Leno’s only feature film, Collision Course, landed on my doorstep via the DVD-shipping site Zip.ca. (You get Zip DVDs sometimes randomly, based on availability. I guess no one was watching Collision Course last weekend.)
This all just shows Leno has never been ready for prime time. He blew it in this movie, he blew it in the half-hour format.
In my view, Leno’s been on a 20-year losing streak. Forcing himself back into the spotlight, at this point, is unjustifiable.[rssbreak]
