Conan O'Brien Coming with His Show Conan

The suspense is over. Television personality Conan O'Brien announced the title of his new late night talk show on Wednesday.

Well, Conan O'Brien didn't end up going with any of the helpful suggestions put forth this morning. And apparently all those stories about the late night host not being able to use the name "Conan" because of the makers of the "Conan" movies were unfounded, as O'Brien announced today that his new show will be called simply "Conan." In a video posted to his show's official TBS site, O'Brien talked about how much the media had been wondering about the title (including one persistent Italian journalist/pizza maker) and how he had come to a simple, elegant conclusion. He also joked about the kick off date for the show (he initially said December 8, but was corrected by somebody off-camera with the actual date, which is November 8 — "Of this year?" O'Brien exclaimed) and noticed that the title he wrote on the piece of paper for the reveal sort of looked like "Conaw."


The solution to O'Brien's problem is indeed simple and elegant. He becomes the only late night host whose show is simply his name, a convention that has never really been used but is actually a brilliant idea. After all, it's unlikely that most fans ever knew the actual titles of any of O'Brien's previous shows — the question was always, "Did you catch Conan last night?" It also puts the focus squarely on O'Brien and the idea that he is a singular personality who can carry a show all by himself (though luckily he won't need to).

With that detail out of the way, we can start speculating on the rest of the show.Will O'Brien recruit a band leader — and if so, who will he tap? Which of the beloved O'Brien characters will be making a comeback? What will the format be? And how will the likes of David Letterman, Jon Stewart and (especially) Jay Leno respond to the latest ratings threat? If it means the late night scene will get back to being as interesting as it was at the beginning of 2010 (and doesn't end in
O'Brien leaving television with his hat in his hand), then the fall will be extra
interesting — and truly special.