Umm... Dude - that's a sponge...

Conan’s back. He’s running his own show, how he wants to, when he wants to, and even pushing through the shaky start that was his first opening monologue in a year he settled in nicely to some great gags with Andy (who’s back on set with him), some excellent conversations with guests (thanks Seth Rogan & Lea Michelle), and some great sketches. The opening sketch was pretty funny across the board, with some great cameos.

One episode does not maketh the man. Conan has a lot to prove in his reboot on TBS. He wasn’t setting the ratings on fire on NBC, but then he wasn’t really being allowed to. His awful exit after being shunted around to suit the whim of Jay Leno didn’t help him, although it did garner him a lot of public support (and he did play it pretty well). Some saw the offer by TBS as a lifeline for Conan – his to screw up. One ep down and he’s certainly not done that.

It’s fairly standard late night fare. It won’t deliver peace to Afghanistan, but then it’s not meant to. But it is a lot of fun. Kudos to GEM/9 Network too for fast-tracking the episodes so that we can see them the same day as broadcast from America’s West Coast. The only criticism I’d offer is does the AU showing need to be so late at night? It could easily slide earlier in GEM’s schedule with little disruption. It’s not like GEM knows what it is yet anyway, so it couldn’t hurt.

This is one television show hosted by an American ranga I’ll be making sure I PVR for consumption the next day.

Conan – Weeknights 10:30pm, GEM
Image/Video sources – GEM.