Jay's New Time, A Familiar Feeling

The Jay LenoJay Leno Show seems oddly familiar. I was one of the 18 million who watched the premiere on September 14th to see what all the hype was about. It has been a long time since I tuned in to see Jay on the Tonight Show but lately I hadn't the inclination. It was a pleasant surprise to see Oprah talk to Jerry SeinfeldJerry Seinfeld instead of Jay - a very humorous bit that the audience seemed to appreciate. It still had a familiarity. Although the set was attractive and the open seats instead of a trademark desk and chair and two chairs were fresh and a bit Oprah-like in function, it wasn't an episode on Oprah.

The only Oprah "moment" that stirred the audience, and myself, was the appearance of Kanye WestKanye West. His demeanor was of a man tired, confused, repentant. It was obvious that Kanye was very apologetic and somewhat ashamed of himself at what happened on the award show. His gaffe was not understandable. He was selfish and misguided that evening and Jay was quite concerned over the whole affair.

Jay credits his success to his mom and dad and knew where he had come from and reminded Kanye of that same thing when he brought up the subject of his own mother, who had passed away. "I had the pleasure of knowing your mom," Jay began, "...what would she have thought if she saw that?" he asked, bluntly, but politely. It wasn't taking advantage of the situation as others presumed but it was a valid point he had to bring up. There was silence and the audience was respectful of that. Kanye closed his eyes, brought his hands together towards his face, fighting back tears, his body shaking a little. "She'd be ashamed," Kanye admitted. And he was as well.

People do stupid things sometimes. Even I. But there's always a choice we have to take. Sometimes that choice is easy or it's hard. You have to keep in mind that we're all human - celebrity or no. Yes, celebrities are human too. We need to be reminded of that. The rush to judgement in today's society is quite rife with reactionary responses one can't help but be troubled by it all. You've made mistakes too - I've made mistakes - everyone makes mistakes. We've come to a point where a slip of the tongue can hurt the slightest or the greatest of us.

Jay Leno did a fairly good job with this premiere episode. Until the show can find its sea legs in an ever-changing television landscape, we'll see if people will gravitate towards Jay's humor and Jay's style once more.