10/25/2007 - Conan - fire alarm

I don't get NBC. You'd think that they would want to advertise it shows as effectively as possible. They had a good thing going with YouTube, the most popular video distribution site on the internet. They would provide clips of content to the site that were longer than a 30-second commercial, but not give away the full show. And that's fine... I mean you have expect them to want to make money. That's what iTunes was for. $1.99 a show may be a little much when you consider that a DVD of the season would cost less in the end... but it still proved to be a good strategy. The Office only became popular after people bought episodes on iTunes and began a word-of-mouth campaign. And showing some GOOD SNL clips would coax some people into watching the show when it's live.

This all seemed like the perfect setup for NBC. But I guess it was too perfect for them. They decided to flush it all down the toilet and start up their own video site called Hulu. WTF? In the process of doing so, they took down all their content on YouTube. That's right, no more "D--- in a Box". Not even trailers of their shows. Oh well... who said corporate executives were SMART?

Well, not only has NBC taken down their channel, but their filing DCMA complaints against anybody else who would post NBC show clips on YouTube. Well, I just want to get this clip out there before it gets the axe. It's of a recent Conan O'Brien show where he was supposed to begin a skit after the commercial, but gets interrupted by a fire alarm. If the sign of a good comedian is how well he/she improvises, then Conan is REALLY GOOD: