Conan O’Brien sagt, dass das Late -Night -Fernsehen stirbt, aber Stephen Colbert ist „zu talentiert und zu wesentlich, um weg zu gehen“.

>As he accepted one of this year’s top Television Academy honors, star Conan O’Brien admitted that the award came at an unusual time. Speaking on Saturday to the audience at the Television Academy Hall of Fame, O’Brien noted that at this moment, “there’s a lot of fear about the future of television, and rightfully so. The life we’ve all known for almost 80 years is undergoing seismic change.”

>But, he told the audience gathered at the J.W. Marriot Hotel in downtown’s LA Live district, “this might just be my nature. I choose not to mourn what is lost, because I think in the most essential way, what we have is not changing at all. Streaming changes the pipeline, but the connection, the talent, the ideas that come into our homes… I think it’s the focus. We have proof here tonight.”

>O’Brien pointed to the success of recent series “Abbott Elementary,” “Hacks” and “I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson” as a sign that there may still be creative opportunties in Hollywood. Said the comedian: “It’s all electrifying a new generation of viewers. Yes, late night television, as we have known it since around 1950, is going to disappear. But those voices are not going anywhere. People like Stephen Colbert are too talented and too essential to go away.”

>And that’s where O’Brien addressed the state of his long-time late night stomping grounds. O’Brien, of course, spent nearly 30 years in the daypart, via “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien” and “Conan.” “I’ve dabbled in other things, but that’s where I’ve lived,” he said. “And for those of you under 40, late night television was a service designed to distract college students until science would perfect the internet and online pornography. Boy, did they get that right.”

>Then, he added about Colbert: “Stephen is going to evolve and shine brighter than ever in a new format that he controls completely. So, technology can do whatever they want. It can make television a pill. It can make television shows a high protein, chewable, vanilla flavored capsule with added fiber. It still won’t matter, if the stories are good, if the performances are honest and inspired, if the people making it are brave and of goodwill.”