My favorite shows are all on hiatus.  I would list them, but not ALL of them are on NBC.  I did actually watch a little of Lou Diamond Phillips winning the coveted “I am a Celebrity, get me out of here!”  So, in the last several months I saw Lou Diamond Phillips and Joan Rivers win reality shows.  I am not sure even a great predictor of the future like myself or Nostradamus could have foretold such unreal events.  I suspect this is how the Roman Empire started to tip.  I am sure one Centurion at some point turned to another and said, “Really, we are throwing these people to the lions?”  “Yep, the Senate said it does well in villages 18-35.  It is called ‘I am a religious heretic get me out of here’.”

Another way I know we have hit the great broadcast desert is that my DVR isn’t filling up on anything other than “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Deadliest Catch”.  I have probably 20 shows set to record, except they are stuck in the space-time continuum several months away.  Even the PBS Frontline show has not made many new appearances in my cue.  It is as if nobody wants me to see anything.

Additionally the drought has even extended to my use of the TV.  With a laptop nearby and HULU on the favorites it is not really a matter of which medium offers more for free consumption.  The only trade-off is quality and that barrier is falling fast.  I watch a little 30 Rock before bed last night, I felt better that I was watching a program which originated on NBC.

The salvation is in The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.  Not only is it as good as I was hoping, it is better.  He just gets it.  It is not about the interviews, it is about making me laugh.  There are definitely a lot of taped bits, but think about it…what did people like about Leno…’Jaywalking’ a taped bit.  OK, I will give him that ‘Headlines’ was performed live but orchestrated before.  The only real interview I remember is when he asked Hugh Grant what he was thinking in his dalliance of Elizabeth Hurley.  “What the hell were you thinking?”  It was a good interview, Jay.  That was what I wanted to know.

Well, the great experiment begins this fall when live TV faces off against scripted drama.  Leno vs. Grey’s, Lost, local Fox affiliates, etc?  That may be better drama than anything I hope starts populating the DVR.