jonathancorley:

It took me nearly a week to sit down and watch the Lost Season 6 Premiere. We were playing a show in Tulsa, OK on the rainy Tuesday. Two hours of Lost was such a breath of fresh air. It’s been entirely too long since I’ve mindlessly obsessed over time travel and black-smoke monsters. The series has consumed a massive amount of my time between watching/reviewing episodes and arguing with friends about how to best rationalize polar bears. With Conan’s empty desk, it seems that both television shows I’ve consistently watched are both on their way out.

I think the best performance on the short-lived Tonight Show hosted by Conan O’Brian was Wilco performing “You Never Know” on June 24, 2009 (in support of their current release Wilco - The Album). I’m still shaking my head at the ridiculous suits they wore. We listened to the new WIlco record while driving through Wyoming on this last tour. It was one of those drives that would be absolutely beautiful if we weren’t driving directly the sun. I think I know where Danny Boil got his inspiration. Listening back to Wilco’s single makes me wonder just how many bands actually played Conan O’Brian’s Tonight Show.

If anyone in Atlanta missed the O’Brother show at Drunken Unicorn last month, I’m sorry. It’s the best response that I’ve seen to them in a long time, and they absolutely destroyed. I’ll be excited to spend entirely too much time with those guys in the upcoming months. It will be a great set to watch each night. After their Atlanta show, I drove back home and watched Network again. Its a movie about a fictional Major Television Network (ABC, CBS, NBC… etc) that fires their morning news anchorman. After the bad news, the anchorman threatens to kill himself on air. It boosts ratings, and the television station keeps him on air. I’m not sure why the current Conan situation seems to evoke the same feelings about Network television. I remember falling asleep watching Conan most nights before class in Middle/High School. He’s been painfully honest through the twisted process of losing his show.

A couple weeks back, NBC announced that they reached a deal with Conan. The terms of the exit deal pays out around $45 Million to O’Brien, while NBC maintains characters/concepts created specifically for his shows on the network (See: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog). Producing Leno’s Late Night show during primetime was an interesting experiment, because It was obviously cheaper than creating another pointless hour-long drama. I’m still hoping that Conan is pulled back out from that After threatening a three year non-compete clause, the final settlement allows for Conan to immediately pursue shows on other networks.

We had the opportunity to perform on Late Night with Conan O’Brian in 2008. It was an absolutely enjoyable experience. I’ve been a fan of Conan’s show for nearly ten years. With that said, I’m a little overwhelmed by the amount of public backlash against NBC. The sudden departure of Conan evoked an emotional response from countless people who might as well be screaming, “I’m mad as hell, and I won’t take it anymore” out their windows and onto their #TEAMCOCO Tweets. The end of Conan ushers in the beginning of Lost’s conclusion. If I had a choice in the matter, I just might bring Conan to Dogen’s Temple spring room.

With Season 5’s Jughead blast still ringing in my ears, Brandon Dees (bassist of Harrison Hudson) caught me off-guard with a single word. “Aliens.” That line of reasoning would explain a race of eternal island inhabitants. The island/vehicle/ship’s wheel has been steering characters through space and time. It’s both too farfetched and simple. Other shows that Abrams has backed (Alias, Felicity) race the clock toward outlandish Sci-Fi endings. Abrams is busy these days producing Mission Impossible and Start Trek sequels.

Without hesitation, Season 6 brings us right back to the beginning of it all- 2004. Oceanic Flight 815 never crashes and LAX is a much smaller world than I ever realized. Characters seem fated to cross paths.

It bounces back and forth between 2010 and a new parallel 2004 timeline where the mysteries of The Island wait beneath the surface of the ocean. Where is Locke (Ness) Monster’s home? If Juliet dies in one reality, will she appear back in 2004? How the hell did Desmond find himself on Oceanic flight 815? Again, who the hell is Jacob? These are questions that keep me up at night. At least I’ve got the Tonight Show as a “constant”.