There’s this disaster in Haiti that’s making the news. They had a devastating earthquake that will take a lot of time, effort, and money to recover from.

So why should we care about a late-night brouhaha on NBC? Why should we care about Jay Leno, villain’s sidesick, and Conan O’Brien, former (as of 1-22-2010) host of the Tonight Show?

I can think of two reasons off the top of my head.

One, which is a personal reason, is that it angers me that stupidity and selfishness would be so prominent in our entertainment and affect so many people. This is nothing new, and it’s something we should be used to, not to mention the fact that everyone can be stupid and everyone is at least just a little selfish. Actions based on stupidity and selfishness are the fault of humans and can be controlled if just a little thought was put behind them. The earthquake in Haiti? A natural disaster, not a man-made disaster. It’s something that couldn’t be prevented, unless we somehow develop the technology to stabilize tectonic plates. NBC’s blunder in changing their late night strategy? That could’ve been prevented. Leno’s lap-dog, and seemingly selfish, actions of going along with the boss, essentially ousting O’Brien? That could’ve been prevented. Causing a couple hundred people to move from New York to Los Angeles to work on the show, only to put them out of a job seven months later? That could’ve been prevented.

In the grand scheme of things, this is a pretty ridiculous story to write about three time, in my case. It’s ridiculous to get upset over. But for some reason, I am attracted to this story about stupidity and selfishness because, though it happens every day, my mind can’t wrap around the fact that people act this way.

I have no idea what really happened behind the scene, only what has been reported. But I can tell you that comparing O’Brien’s Tonight Show ratings to Leno’s final Tonight Show ratings is an illogical, unfair, and uneven comparison when you take into account a) Leno had years to build his audience and ratings; b) Leno’s 10 PM prime time show was such a failure, is was a bad lead-in to the local news, which had ratings drops, which lead into and affect O’Brien’s Tonight Show; c) Leno’s ratings were bad his first few years, but after those first few years he started to beat David Letterman in the ratings. Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal’s Chairman of Sports and Olympics, called O’Brien “chicken-hearted and gutless” and “an astounding failure”, and went on to compare O’Brien’s Tonight Show ratings to Leno’s final Tonight Show ratings. This is an executive at a huge TV Network? A man who can’t recognize the lack of logic in his point-of-view? This is a guy who is a frequent consultant on changes NBC makes to their late-night lineup?

I’ve already commented on Leno being the villain’s (NBC) sidekick, so I’ll leave it at that.

This leads me to my second reason, which is that people love a story about good and bad.

Think about this. Aside from the looting and criminal behavior of some in Haiti, which is really a string of stories within a story of the horrible earthquake, the devastation in Haiti has no villain. It’s a story of a country being a victim of a natural disaster. It’s not a story of good VS bad. It’s simply a story of natural disaster.

The story of NBC, Leno, and O’Brien? This story has “good” guys and “bad” guys – you can choose the side you want, and that’s really the appeal. If you’re reading, you know what side I’ve chosen. And some people have chosen Leno’s side. Hell, some people have made all three parties to be the bad guys, viewing them as rich brats that are fighting over a TV show. This is the appeal. This is the reason we, the audience, follow the story so intently, with so much opinionated involvement, because we get to choose sides and root for our good guy. The disaster in Haiti? Well, I guess you can choose sides… Pat Robertson chose the side of God when he “explained” that Haiti was turned to rubble because of its pact with the Devil. So yeah, I guess you could choose sides in the story of Haiti’s earthquake. But most people wouldn’t. Most people would recognize it as a tragic event.

People love a story with good VS bad. They want to choose sides. And they love a controversy. This is why we follow. Our following of the NBC/Leno/O’Brien debacle doesn’t belittle what’s happening in Haiti, nor does it mean we’re not paying attention to it. It’s simply another story to follow, something we can get ridiculously riled up about and make our own.

—

As an aside, I just wanted to say that O’Brien’s last Tonight Show was wonderful. He’s witty, talented, intelligent, and fun to watch. He went out with a bang and I will be watching when he returns to television (hopefully with the same theme song; hopefully NBC didn’t keep the rights to it). I never really watched Leno in the first place, except when he had a guest I really wanted to watch, and even then my viewing was rare. In the future, I may watch because of a guest or out of morbid curiosity, but I await the day when Leno takes a backseat to someone new, someone fresh, someone like O’Brien. In fact, I see Conan beating Leno in the ratings given enough time, and all NBC will be able to do is watch the future they let go.