I must admit that I am a fan of CoCo. Even though I am not a night owl, I always enjoy Conan’s show. I thought it was fitting that he finally got to take the helm of the Tonight Show.
Even though it lasted for only 7 months, I think there are some lessons we can learn from the whole debacle between Jay and Conan.
The Washington Post wrote an interesting article covering Conan’s final show from last night. Embedded in the article was what I thought was the heart of the problem:
And that’s the problem, isn’t it? Here we are, well into the 21st century, and wide swaths of our culture seem unwilling to move forward, let go, move on, hand things over to Generation X or younger.
People wonder if O’Brien was too hip and young (at 46?) to lull America into a gentle, happy sleep. Part of the “Team Coco” movement that rose up after O’Brien announced his resignation scintillates this creeping feeling that the Baby Boomers (Leno is 59) will never get out of the way. There’s at least some truth to that.
There is some truth to that, I believe. Will boomers and builders ever move out of the way?
X’ers are a very different group of people. We have been characterized by many descriptions, except for conformists. This is always a challenge for boomers who are in leadership. They assumed that we would eventually become tame – like them. The assumed we too (like them) would become disillusioned and simply ‘fit in.’
Will the baton ever be passed to X’ers? Or will we get passed over, like Conan?
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