Conan the Barbarian

Okay, maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm an insensitive Boob (shut up, Mark!) but this struck me as overwhelmingly stupid.

For those of you too lazy to click on links (I mean, wot?) it's about Conan O'Brien's opening skit for the Emmy's in which he is in a plane which suddenly lurches, obviously about to crash. The next scene has him walking up the beach, a la the hit series Lost.

Half the world is up in arms because people in Lexington, Kentucky saw it too. "Tasteless," they say. Eh, actually, it was dang funny. I admit it's an awful coincidence, but the Emmy's were being broadcast for, what, millions of peeps? They probably recorded the skit a couple weeks ago. Everybody knows that the TV show Lost is based on the aftermath of a plane crash, right? Right?

Now, I'll admit it might have been a good idea for NBC to call the affiliate and say, "Hey, there's a skit at the beginning of the Emmy's that might trouble some of your community members, refers to a plane crash and such. You might want to block out the first four minutes or so, then cut into coverage."

Yeah, okay, I'll go with that, but to vilify O'Brien and the producers because they didn't have ESP and realize that a plane would crash a few "hours" before broadcast? Well, I don't know. Real life is real life. I feel as badly as I can about something that doesn't touch me directly. It is tragic, but is the whole world supposed to stop for every isolated tragedy? Hundreds of people died in car accidents yesterday. Is it in bad taste for action shows to broadcast a car accident in a comedy? Or a drama, for that matter?

If we took that route, we'd be so busy mourning people we didn't know that nothing would ever get done.

Take me to task for being an insensitive jerk. I'm okay with that. I just think a few people are overreacting... Or maybe it's me.