David Hinckley at nydailynews.com writes: he'll also be a big fish in a smaller pond, since his last gig was hosting NBC's iconic "Tonight Show." That ended Jan. 22 with his awkwardly handing the show back to the man he had replaced the previous June, Jay Leno.
While no one came out of that messy "Tonight" shuffle looking good, Conan was less damaged than Leno or NBC.
He was widely seen as the victim of blundering and grievous insensitivity by NBC, plus perhaps some quiet conniving by Leno. When the dust settled, though, Conan landed on cable rather than broadcast television, which is usually viewed as a downshift.
So the optimistic spin here is that he's not stepping down, but returning to his roots. On cable, the drumroll implicitly promises, his fans will see the old wacky cutting-edge Conan, not the restrained "Tonight" Conan who discreetly left the Masturbating Bear in hibernation.
Whether he can reawaken the Bear, specifically, may be up in the air. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Conan noted that NBC claims the rights to the characters he created during his long run as the network's "Late Night" host, which could leave the Bear and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, among others, on the sidelines.
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