When man perfected satellite communications, the potential was stunning. Suddenly, people in podunk could see live images of an Olympian in Japan, a soldier in Iraq, a triumphant new president in South Africa.
And on Friday (Sept. 25), a satellite was employed so a man in Burbank could talk to a man outside a movie theater in Hollywood. At the most, it saved a $60 taxi ride.
That was Jay Leno doing his "10 at 10" segment with Lebron James. A little hint here: If the guy happens to be in town anyway, just DO IT IN THE STUDIO, where the byplay works better.
Still, James was one of the better "10" guests. He answered most of the questions straightforward and included some solid information. (It turns out that his first dunk was in a teacher-student game in 8th grade.) He also saved his wit for the right question. James granted that he would let Barack Obama beat him in a one-on-one game: "It's not him (I'm worried about), it's all those guys in the black suits."
I mention this mainly because I missed the first half of tonight's show. (Let me know what it was like.) The second half was fine, because:
1) The "earn your plug" gimmick involved Hugh Laurie and was thereby entertaining. It turns out that he's a good piano player (as we've seen on "House") and a fine-enough singer. Actually, his skills are almost infinitie. Laurie is adept at riding a motorcycle, was on the college rowing team, is a skilled drama actor and is one of the best sketch-comedy people around. As an aside, his performance as the benign dad in two "Stuart Little" movies molded a new definition for "underemployed."
2) The "10 at 10" went well, despite the unnecessary satellite.
3) For the first time in his primetime show, Leno did some written desk material. This was a fairly clever bit in which different words were supposedly thrown (Google-style) into a search engine and one image appeared. The words "Hindenberg" and "Titanic," for instance, combined to invoke the NBC logo.
Over the years, well-written desk material has brought big laughs for Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Leno. After ignoring such things for nine days -- replacing them with so-so "found humor" -- it was good to see Leno back on funny turf.
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