Coco or Leno?

The latest debacle in late night TV came when NBC announced last week that it is moving the Tonight Show from 11:35 pm to 12:05 am. Hosted by Conan O’ Brien for barely 7 months, the Tonight Show gave way to a show hosted by Jay Leno who was the predecessor of Conan. The latter was not so happy with the arrangement and decided to leave the show. This drew an angry mob of Conan fans demanding that NBC return the talk show to its original primetime slot. The support was phenomenal. Within weeks, hundreds of thousands of Conan fans are responding in Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites. This gave rise to the “I’m With Coco!” movement now prevalent and getting more traffic as the days leading to Conan’s departure come nearer.

Despite the number of Conan supporters over the net, TV ratings says otherwise. The ratings all point to Jay Leno as having a higher viewer share in his Tonight Show when he was hosting it. Clearly, the online support of Conan came from the younger audiences of NBC who are more adept and proficient in the use of technology as a tool for social media. The oldies who prefer Leno were the silent majority who has limited means of getting their points across in cyberspace. This may have bigger social implications than TV ratings. The questions arise: are the voices of the old and experienced still heard by the public? Is technology threatening a vacuum of ideas from the old ones? Or do we just say: “To hell with them. I’m with Coco!?”