Todd Boss

I like Conan, but I’m actually surprised that he’s been on the air as long as he has. He’s a “love-him-or-hate-him” comedian, and the pattern that I’ve noticed is that well-educated people tend to like his style of humor, and the rest don’t (I find this strange, as Conan’s humor isn’t necessarily what I’d call “high-brow”). Unfortunately, in this country, the economics of broadcast media dictate that playing to the intellectuals is a losing strategy.

Since NBC will likely sideline him for three years or so, he needs to do the logical thing: parlay his immense support on the Internet into an online show. The short segments that make up an hour-long episode in the late-night format would translate very well into Hulu-style clips.

Rather than tuning in for entire episodes, most people (I think) watch the late-night shows for individual pieces anyway: the monologue, Jay’s Headlines, Dave’s Top 10, an interview with your favorite actor/actress, the musical guest, etc.  By acknowledging this reality and transforming the late-night show from a monolithic hour block into small, potentially viral videos, he could do a lot more damage than he could by simply moving to FOX.

1080p, 60 yards wide, $40 million.

In other news, General Motors aims to shed links to troubled automovive industry with new name: GenMo.

For an explanation, see here and here.

It’s time to rip off the band-aid and get it over with.  Many of the folks that still aren’t ready will procrastinate until their sets go dark no matter how long lawmakers keep delaying the switch.

Online video is the perfect medium for sketch comedy. I’m a bit curious as to why it’s taken this long…oh yeah, that’s right…old-media execs. Duh.

NOOOOOOOOOO!