Tonight, Again

Uh-Oh...the Olympics are over.

I just can’t get past it. 

I was fine with NBC just being jackasses to begin with, and then making the stupidest move in recent television history, and then after Conan’s classy exit I was ready to let it all go. 

I mean it’s just television, right? 

But no, NBC had to start airing those smarmy commercials using lyrics from “Get Back” to insinuate that the universe has course-corrected itself. As if they fixed a mistake rather than creating two. And now that the Olympics are over, there’s no more Conan and we’ve reset the clock to…I dunno, melba toast? 

I bear no personal animosity towards Jay Leno. I saw him years ago doing standup; he was both funny and congenial. I don’t pretend to know what’s really going on behind the scenes. But I do know when I’ve had enough. 

So here’s a question for you, NBC network geniuses: If you really have to launch a mass-market campaign to make certain viewers know that Jay Leno is back on the Tonight Show – after every magazine, newspaper, web site and blog beat this horse to glue for a solid month – is it possible that maybe it wasn’t the right move after all? 

Video: Ricky Gervais  

Not to mention that this seven minutes of  Ricky Gervais’ on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart was probably funnier than anything the Tonight Show will show all year. 

So maybe you do need my free plug after all.