So there was Conan O'Brien, explaining his jump to the semi-obscure TBS. "It's not easy being on a channel without a lot of money, that the viewers have trouble finding," he said. "So that's why I left NBC."

It was the kind of joke that perfectly fit his jump. Overall, the debut of his show (11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays) was 80-percent terrific.

In a minute, I'm going to do a chronological view of the Emmys. First, however, let me jump to the good news; then I'll digress:

1) The good -- great, actually -- news: Jim Parsons has won the Emmy for best actor in a comedy series. Parsons is brilliant in "The Big Bang Theory," which has quickly become the best comedy on TV.

"The Tony Awards," the announcer said proudly, "with the music of Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Green Day -- and the best of Broadway composers."

That last part seemed almost like an after-thought. Of the four nominees for best musical, only one ("Memphis") had new music. Most shows simply put old songs in new settings. That included the other three nominees -- "Million Dollar Quartet," "Fela" and "American Idiot" -- and the unnominated "Come Fly Away."