Conan O'Brien Off The Air

This week, Late Night With Conan O'Brien went off the air in New York after its 16th season. The crew and members of the NBC show tore apart the stage and handed pieces to fans. To fill the void, CNBC will slot former Saturday Night Live regular Jimmy Fallon.

All of this is to setup O'Brien who will take over The Tonight Show after Jay Leno departs in June.

Will The Tonight Show be the same without Leno? I don't think so. Conan O'Brien is just not funny. He's a dork doing silly things that are so off the wall that I doubt many Tonight Show viewers will even be able to relate. Look for ratings to spike only out of interest, then fall in agony as viewers find little to laugh about.

When it comes to Fallon's show, it will likely be a flop as well. Here's another case of a guy that is just not that funny too. If his show is anything like the skits he does on Saturday Night Live, there will be more yawns than giggles. NBC definitely needs to get better writers.

Now this puts CBS in a very strong position in the late night slot with Craig Ferguson. O'Brien's ratings have been lower than Ferguson's for years and Ferguson has been climbing. Ferguson's show is just better produced, more clever and funny. The humour is silly but something people can relate to. O'Brien's in comparison is just college kid dorky and too far out there for the over 40 crowd.

David Letterman's ratings have trailed Jay Leno's over the years but not have fallen off so much. An interesting thing is occurring late night and it is viewers slowly moving to Comedy Central and Adult Swim. Most cable viewers will likely stay mainstream and pick between Letterman or O'Brien out of habit.

It will be an interesting war of the late night hosts this Summer. With Leno airing at 10PM, will viewers carry over after local news to O'Brien? I doubt it. Most will just go to sleep.