i know the regulars in the reviews board love all things conan, so i wanted to post this and see what kind of feedback i got.

i've been a conan watcher for years, and i've really come to think that the show has peaked and is declining. i fully understand how difficult it must be to come up with an hour's worth of material 5 nights a week, 50 weeks a year, even with a team of writers. however, watching conan on subsequent nights and weeks, i get the feeling that i'm watching conan do a parody of conan. every night he goes through the same motions: disparaging the show, saying, "we've got a great show tonight . . . not like every other night" - making the same gestures, the same noises, the same facial expressions. his routine has gotten to be very stale to me.

this is to say nothing of his interviewing, which has gotten increasingly ridiculous. at any point in time, conan will make wild interjections, which are jarring as often as they are entertaining. as an interviewer, he should be making his subject the focus each night. however, conan typically remains the center of all things. even while interviewing people he remains completely self-referential. the focus is always on conan, and the guests are just incidental. he always brings the discussion back to himself, and rarely lets his guests talk much. when someone arrives who can keep up with conan, it's usually highly entertaining. but that's the exception and not the norm.

i think the departure of andy has had a lot to do with this. andy provided a natural foil for conan, and they could play off one another and keep the show in balance. it would even help if max weinberg was regularly there. jimmy levino doesn't get a tremendous amount of airtime -- nothing to compare with kevin eubanks or paul schaffer.

so does anybody agree or disagree? i think the show peaked several years ago, is watchable in small doses, but isn't really worth nightly viewing.