It's like the Conan O'Brien thing never happened.
Monday night, Jay Leno strode onto The Tonight Show set like a returning hero. A portion of the studio audience - all looking like the "soccer moms" section from Central Casting - was on its feet and Leno shook hands, did high-fives and smiled in a patently insincere "gee-whiz" manner.
After a bit of self-deprecation about how he might not have the Tonight Show job for long, he went into Leno-mode - lame jokes about Toyota cars and Dick Cheney. It was retro-Jay. He was obviously rusty and a tad nervous, but he soaked up the adoration. There was a funny segment in which he knocked on people's doors and asked for help in finding a new desk for the set. That is, the surprised homeowners were funny and Leno tried to do his nice-guy thing. Jamie Foxx came on as a guest and jumped around, doing and saying nothing of the slightest interest. Whatever.
It was on Tuesday that things got interesting. Leno had Sarah Palin on. Over on CBS, David Letterman had Mitt Romney. That was when the current era in the ongoing late-night talk-show wars came into focus. The late-night war is America's war: Leno=Republican, Letterman=Democrat.
Leno was extremely generous to Palin. He practically handed the show over to her. She got in at the beginning, making a joke about her speaking notes written on her hand. Leno interviewed her and offered her the opportunity to talk about "the media" and its treatment of her. Then Palin - dressed down in a jacket, jeans and heels - got to do her own monologue, making jokes about California, Congress and Tina Fey. It was one long promotion of Sarah Palin.
Meanwhile, over on The Late Show, Letterman brought on Mitt Romney, the former candidate for the Republican nomination for president, and tried to get beyond the jokes and talk policy with Romney. It was a ham-fisted attempt. They talked cars to break the ice. Letterman tried to talk about health care and the Tea Party movement. He seemed befuddled by the Tea Party thing. (Over on The Tonight Show, Leno also asked Palin about the Tea Party movement and allowed her to extol the greatness of the movement, without anything being challenged.) Letterman looked skeptical about Romney's health-care plan, but didn't say much.
Then he asked, "So it sounds to me like you're going to run for president again in 2012."
Romney went coy, saying, "No plans for that at this point. I'll keep the door open." Letterman turned to the audience, rolled his eyes and said, "Of course he's running. You know, he's running. I can tell by the cologne."
The major difference between the two shows was this - Leno presented Palin with an "Isn't she great!" attitude. Letterman gave Romney room to talk up his ideas and managed to be skeptical the entire time. He oozed an attitude best described as "get a load of this phony!"
Of course, Letterman has a long history of scorn for Romney. During the election year of 2008, Letterman often ridiculed Romney. There was this, for instance: "The Florida retirees didn't go for that Mitt Romney, either. He reminded them of a guy who tries to get a hold of their nest egg. He reminded them of a guy who sells subdivisions in the Everglades. He reminded them of the guy who pitches overpriced cemetery plots. He reminded them of the pharmacist who doesn't accept their prescription plan."
So, while Conan O'Brien counts his money, uses Twitter to issue daily jokes and plots his next move, the original late-night war is back where it began - Leno versus Letterman. And it mirrors the war in the broader American political culture - the Tea Party types versus the Obama administration and "liberals" everywhere.
On Monday, the return of Leno to The Tonight Show garnered about 6.6 million viewers, while Letterman's Late Show on CBS was watched by 3.8 million. On Tuesday, Leno had 5.8 million viewers while Letterman held steady at about 3.8 million. But this is more than a ratings war. This is a political and cultural war.
Also airing:
Love, Hate and Propaganda (CBC, 9 p.m.) is described in some TV listings as Love, Hate and Propaganda: WWII for a New Generation, which is a bit more accurate. A new six-part series presented by George Stroumboulopoulos, it aims to explain "the role propaganda played during World War Two." As such, it's pretty straightforward, a sort of Second World War-made-easy-to-understand, by seeing it through the prism of marketing and media manipulation. The point, says CBC in its description, is "a primer on the art of mass persuasion, aimed directly at a media-savvy generation." And in the first episode tonight Stroumboulopoulos tells us about Hitler creating an image for himself; and how Mussolini did the same. It's odd, at times, to hear so much talk about "the body language" in photos of Hitler and the Italian dictator together, but it makes its point. Lightly.
The Marriage Ref (NBC, CITY-TV, 10 p.m.) is a disaster. Absolute rubbish. Created by Jerry Seinfeld, it features footage of real arguing over something. The clip is shown to a celebrity panel, who make jokes and pronounce. Unfunny and painfully awkward,. this would never have made it to air had it not been for Seinfeld's attachment to it.