It’s been well-documented that, when Conan O’Brien departs the less-stringent 12:30 AM timeslot in favor of replacing Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show,” he will not be taking one of his most renown characters with him: the Masturbating Bear. It’s a shame, but it’s not a big surprise, either. (Can you imagine the number of heart attacks the great beast would cause in middle America if he were to go through his trademark schtick at 11:30 PM?) Fortunately, however, Conan gave the forest’s most famous knuckle shuffler the heave-ho with dignity…and with no less than two Harrison Ford homages, plus a very special guest star.
Tag: Conan O’Brien (Page 5 of 5)
Wait, didn’t I just go to one of these press tours…?
Actually, that was back in July, when the networks were busy pimping their new fall schedules; this time, they were presenting us with an idea of what we can expect to see on our favorite broadcast and cable channels from now until they premiere their next fall schedule.
Going out to L.A. in January was a new thing for me, though. It was my first winter tour since becoming a member of the Television Critics Association in 2007 – last year’s was canceled due to the writers’ strike – and, if the rumblings throughout the ballrooms at the Universal Hilton were any indication, it may well prove to be my last January tour. I’m hopeful that this presumption turns out to be inaccurate, but given the current economic climate and an increasing tendency for newspapers and publications to only send their TV critics out for one tour per year, there’s every reason to suspect that the networks will join suit and only be willing to pamper those critics once per year.
Sorry, did I say “pamper”? Of course, I meant, “Treat with the utmost respect.”
It feels a bit odd to be doing a wrap-up of my experiences at the tour before I’ve even had a chance to write up all of the panels I attended while I was out there, but, hey, when you get a good spot on the calendar, you make it work however you can. So still keep your eyes open for my ongoing pieces on the various shows you can expect to find on the broadcast networks during the next few months, but in the meantime, here’s a look at some of the best and worst bits from the January ’09 tour as a whole.
Most enjoyable panel by a cable network: “Rescue Me,” FX.
I’ve been a big Denis Leary fan every since No Cure for Cancer, so I knew the guy was inevitably going to go off on a profanity-filled rant before the end of the panel. What I didn’t expect, however, was that Peter Tolan – who co-created the show with Leary – would start the proceedings by telling Leary to watch his mouth, adding, “If you were going to say ‘cunt,’ don’t.”
From there, the two of them seemingly battled each other in an attempt to offer up the most memorable line. Leary complained about his salary. (“I had a crazy idea of getting paid, like, $250,000 an episode. They put limits on that, let me tell you. That’s Kiefer Sutherland money right there.”) Then Tolan claimed that he was at fault for the show’s fourth-season slump, blaming it on a drug problem and that “I was heavy into a kazillion hookers that year.” Then Leary bitched about how Michael J. Fox was going to guest on “Rescue Me” and get the Emmy that Leary himself has yet to earn. (“Five fucking episodes, he comes in. God damn, $700 million from ‘Spin City.’ He never asked me to do the show. He’s going to walk away with the fucking Emmy. That son of a bitch.”) Then Tolan started mocking Hugh Laurie’s American accent by talking about how he could do a British accent. (“Aye, pip, pip, mate, aye! ‘Allo, Mary Poppins!”) And…well, as you can see, there was really no contest: this may well have been the greatest panel ever.
For a show that helped change Comedy Central from something other than a clearinghouse for “Saturday Night Live” reruns, “Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist” hasn’t been particularly well-remembered by its corporate parents – aside from a quickly aborted series of season sets and an absurdly expensive, 13-DVD complete collection, fans of the show have had few options for reliving its 1995-99 run, even on a network that finds room for repeat airings of virtually everything it’s ever aired. That changes – sort of – with the 110-minute “The Best of Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist,” but despite offering a decent cross-section of the series’ best bits (including appearances from Dave Chappelle, Conan O’Brien, Ray Romano, Denis Leary, and Janeane Garofalo), “Best Of” still manages to fall short of its title, thanks to the producers’ decision to trim the included episodes down to the bits that center on Katz’s sessions with his celebrity clients, forsaking the storylines that focused on supporting players Ben Katz (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) and receptionist Laura (Laura Silverman). For people who just sort of vaguely remember “Katz,” this won’t be any great loss – but those people probably aren’t going to spend $20 on this DVD, no matter how many celebrity names appear on the front cover. Still, these clips – divided among 18 of Katz’s best-known “clients” – offer a pleasant way to pass a couple of hours, and the show’s deadpan humor is still just as effective as it was in the ‘90s. Of course, that squiggly animation is just as distracting, too – but again, if it bothered you in the first place, you wouldn’t even be reading this. All in all, not a bad stocking stuffer for someone who doesn’t rate the $100 it’ll cost you to get the complete set.
Apparently, Conan O’Brien is, as you’ll see when you watch this “important message” from the man in NBC’s 12:30 AM slot.
Sometimes I forget just how funny that guy is…
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