Past generations, mine included, had Sinatra, Brando, Newman, Lancaster and Carson. This generation has Affleck, Wahlberg, Pitt, Stiller, Sandler and Conan. Okay so this generation does have DeNiro and ....hold on I"m thinking ...Denzel, Clooney, Streep, Ford, Day-Lewis. I watch Charlie Rose in that time slot anyway but jump over to Letterman and Leno sometimes. Conan for me is not funny just goofy and self indulgent ...okay thats off my chest.
Conan is about demented humor. It used to have (maybe still does) Triumph the insult dog and the masturbating bear and other things. I found Leno's humor to be all around "better"
as much as i want to be conan fan, i just find him to be too quirky in his personality and in his humor and not main stream enough. i'm not sure why nbc got rid of leno for conan. i usually get my news of the world from leno and his side skits were some what funny. conan fans are secular while i believe leno's fans are more broad based.
Could say the same thing about the state of music ...for years. Driven more by supply then demand -- here's who we're selling, take it or leave it.