Tonight, while eating Mexican food with my husband, I commented that the whole Leno/Conan saga was a metaphor for our economy. Leno represented the baby boomer generation and Conan represents the Gen Xers.
The baby boomers/Leno are expected to retire or want to retire, or perhaps transition to a part-time job and live off their savings or social security, while the Gen-exers/Conan are prime to take over the legacies/jobs that the baby boomers/Leno leave behind. But the baby boomers/Leno won't leave quietly...the might not know when enough is enough, when their time is over--they resist out of fear of boredom, or perhaps because their savings/social security isn't enough, or they see the Genexers do their previous jobs (perhaps even better) and resent this or it makes them miss their old job.
And thus we have the whole Leno/Conan saga. Baby boomers won't let go, Genexers dealing with false promises, economy sucks. And don't even bring up the Generation Y folks (maybe Jimmy Kimmel, or perhaps even Carson Daly, or maybe just their audiences) --they are probably the first to be let go in this whole mess. There isn't a collapse of the economy, just a backwards spiral, or dominos colllapsing backwards. We all fall down, and the boomers are down too, but on top of this collapse.
I think whatever resolution comes out of this Leno/Conan saga will say a lot about the future of our economy. Will Late Night reveal the compromise we need? Is a compromise even possible?
Btw, my Pet Photography Column at Examiner. Com is now going to feature information/photos of homeless pets and pet shelter information. Please send any suggstions/ideas/links/pictures related to pets who need forever homes to me at Melissa_miles@yahoo.com or comment on my column at examiner.com.
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Comments
I think a compromise will make NBC weaker in the long run. Same with the economy, where we've let bad banks and businesses hang on though they don't deserve it. Allowing room for failure now will leave room for success down the road.
Some forest fires are nature's way of breathing new life to the landscape. We should allow the same in our economy. Conan should not burn down the NBCU lot, though.
Thanks for the link to the Pet Photography Column. A heart-warming and important service. Man, that Sarah Maclachlan commercial gets me every time.
R
Conan actually may appeal to more of us boomers, as "the Simpsons" included so many social references to incompetencies and failures that we were all going through for the past two decades.
It was actually hard to see Homer and Marge as relatively young people, since I and people my age were going through some of the same processes of work and life as the residents of Springfield. (except that the kids failed to age one bit, a metaphor for the stagnancy of the maturing process in Gen X and Y children?).
At any rate, I thouroughly enjoyed this post! Rated.
xenonlit--I can see why conan appeals to boomers, which is probably why he got the tonight show in the first place....is there even an audience for leno? Are there people begging leno to come back? Or is it just that he appeals to the corporate status quo more?
scanner--it might be experience, but that also brings up the issue that boomers feel entitled because of longevity, experience, not because of actual worth.
Now Leno, he actually could retire cuz he's richer than God...the rest of us boomers, we're not going anywhere.