Do you realize that a baby born on the day that Jay Leno took over the Tonight Show from Johnny Carson can now go to R-rated movies by him/herself, and enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces? Where’d all those years go? Makes me feel old. This writer wrote in another medium upon the election of the former Josef Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 that JP II had been the only Pope of my conscious lifetime, and that it would be strange seeing another human being wearing the Papal White. Though on that day, I wasn’t so scared as I was during the weeks and days leading up to January 20, 1989, when the only President I ever knew wasn’t going to be President anymore. The 1988 Presidential election process was the first of my conscious lifetime that I was able to follow with some semblance of adult comprehension. I knew that Ronald Reagan couldn’t be President anymore, and I knew that the two major political parties had state-by-state elections and meetings that picked their respective nominees, that those nominees would each choose “running mates,” and the nominees would run up against each other and debate each other in the fall, and the nominee that won would be President come 1/20/89 instead of Ronald Reagan. Still, I thought the world was going to fall apart because Reagan wasn’t going to be President anymore. Needless to say, the world didn’t fall apart that Reagan wasn’t the American President. In 1990, the only British PM that I ever new, Margaret Thatcher, stepped aside, but by then I realized that life goes on. The Tonight Show didn’t fall apart when Johnny Carson retired, and now the man that replaced him is moving on to other things himself. The Catholic Church didn’t fall apart upon JP II’s death. The British Monarchy, notwithstanding other things, will survive the death of the only monarch I ever knew, Elizabeth II, and the installation of Charles III (or William V if Chuck hasn’t died before his mother does, which is a real possibility) as King.
When JL started his stint as permanent host at Tonight, his hair was black and the President was white. At the end, his hair is white and the President is black.
No, last night’s final show did not have the same feel as Johnny Carson’s final show. Seventeen years ago was a retirement party, last night was a changing jobs celebration.
Conan O’Brien blows. He’s gonna be the best thing that ever happened to David Letterman. Jay Leno will draw better ratings at 10/9, probably twice as much, as Conan O will on Tonight. But both will be far below NBC’s expectations.
I got my inspiration to do almost daily Fun With Headlines on this medium from two sources. One was the tech blogger Paul Thurrott, and the other was Jay Leno’s newspaper article fun he did once a week. In 1993 or so, I snail mailed him a three-quarters page ad that the Sappington Farmers Market along Watson Road not far from Crestwood Mall in St. Louis County. That ad advertised something called “Low Fat Farmers” for $3.29 a pound. The way I figured, if it really was a low fat farmer, he could be had in whole for under $500 :) I wonder what a low fat farmer tastes like. As far as I know, Jay Leno never used my clipping. Later, I called Sappington Farmers Market and told them all this, and the ad was supposed to be for cheese.
And if “Jaywalking” isn’t an indictment on the American education system, nothing is. You can talk to people all day long about education, they won’t have the foggiest. Ten minutes once a week at night, then people get it. It’s like the Wal-Mart issue, all the pages and paragraphs written and spoken about the detrimental effects of Wal-Mart go right over people’s head. A three minute JibJab cartoon, and they get it.
UPDATE 6/2: Conan’s first Tonight drew a 7.1. Which is pretty good, save that Jay Leno’s last Tonight this past Friday drew an 8.8.
