Hmmm I have some mixed feelings about this. First, it originally struck me as typical celebrity-not-like-normal-people crap. I mean really - to address your letter to "People of the Earth" seemed more than over the top and a typical celebrity hissy fit. As if people all over the world know who he is because he's in Johnny Carson's time slot. And there is no guarantee these days for jobs, regardless of how funny your monologue is or how ugly your hair. But then as I was thinking about what he was saying a bit more, I think he does have a few points.

First, I needed to understand why he considered the Tonight Show a franchise since it didn't look like any Burger King I'd ever been too - so the quickie definition of media franchise "is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting, and trademarks of an original work of media." So, given that definition and the fact that the tonight show has been running for so long, it would seem to me that giving him only 9 months in which to take the place of other iconic personalities isn't very fair. And I can't remember but was the writer's strike part of that 9 months? In which case, he has had considerably less time to make his mark.

Now, I suppose you could say given the fact that it is an established trade name, he should have been able to make a go of it. I don't know. It's tough to tell the shelf life of something like that and how long is long enough. Does he get a year? five years? When is enough, enough. Networks have been known to pull the plug on good shows that they think aren't working out but are really good. Maybe if enough grass roots campaigns pop up for Conan and the network is blitzed with letters of outrage, then he will get another shot. Of course we only see him too but he does have a point about his entire staff needing to know what is going on. He's not the only one affected by NBC's inability to deal with Lenohead.

It could be, like many trademark business that have hit the skids in this economy, that the Tonight Show is just not keeping up with the times. I rarely watch tv these days and when I do, it's not the Tonight Show. It seems that might be an era that has passed and no amount of star personality will be able to capture it.

This actually makes me think of an interesting question: Why are night time talk show hosts mostly men and day time talk show hosts mostly women? (I think I'll make this a conundrum question.) Who are the night time demographics really? I don't necessarily know the answers to these questions, and if I did, I might be able to understand more about why the network feels that Conan and the Tonight Show may need to go the way of the do-do.

It was the stations who wanted Conan gone when he lost 2 million viewers. Viewers are advertising dollars and Hollywood is a tough town. Jay is better anyway and hate to tell you this Conan-Jimmy is better too. It was the People of Earth who spoke when they changed the channel on you. Bye!

It seems to me that the male Diva's of the late night talk set are all battling to get the ratings and are stepping all over themselves. They now compete with cable and dish channels so that no one is forced to watch the same jokes being told over and over. Conan fought for his ratings when he first started and just like any other business if you do not bring in the customers, there will be changes.

NBC is a mess and they all know it.

NBC programming executives have always been brainless twits. Prior to his eventual retirement, Johnny Carson considered quitting the Tonight show on several occasions due to NBC management. Even after he had established clear dominance and at times was NBC's only money making show, Carson was still treated with less than silk gloves.

When Conan first took over from Letterman his initial response from critics and the audience in terms of ratings was also less than ideal, but he was given time and he succeeded. This time around, when he has already established himself for the network they seem eager to pull the trigger. It just doesn't make sense. Then again, they are NBC programming executives, what can one expect?