TV Experiments: Late Night Talk Shows

I have had the Replay TV tape each of the 5 big late night talk shows (leno, letterman, kimmel, conan, kilborn) once a week for the last couple weeks. It has been oppressive. Having to watch Leno once a week has been miserable, and Letterman is no better. I used to be a huge Letterman fan (1980's NBC show), but his show now is so tired. Leno is just flat out unfunny, and I find his report with guests to be depressing. If he has someone interesting on it is clear that he has a hard time following their more complex humor or intellect. Jimmy Kimmel's show is interesting. I really enjoy the rotating weekly guest host, and doing his "monologue" at the desk is interesting. He always has one more guest (usually 4 a night) than the other shows due to a shortened monologue, but Kimmel's humor is not outstanding. With all that said, the show can be interesting. Conan is good. I have been entrenched in a battle for years because nobody will ever watch Kilborn because Conan is so good, and that made me bitter for awhile, but Conan is funny. Sometimes he is a little predictable (in the way that he sorta repeats the same thing a lot) at times, but puts on an entertaining show every night. Kilborn is the underdog. I love him. I love his smarmy style. I love how he can have a guest who I don't give a rat's ass about and still make it interesting. I love his glamorous 1950's Hollywood character and set. Watch him if you never have!
Ratings:
Leno


2/10 - Sometimes good guests can make the show interesting. Otherwise - don't bother

Letterman


3/10 - A once brilliant comedian is now old and tired.

Kimmel


5/10 - Interesting new ideas. Sometimes really flat. Sometimes pretty fresh.

Conan


7.5/10 - Consistently good. Skits, banter, musical dudes. Sometimes feels like you've seen the same jokes before.

Kilborn


8/10 - A great talk show. Not perfect, just barely better than Conan, but a great personality, and feel.