This Ain't Your Dad's Tonight Show

It certainly wasn’t the same old Tonight Show that came on at 11:35 last night. Here’s what the critics are saying:

• From the hilarious open on, Conan announced he “is not as interested in filling Jay's shoes as in buying a much newer pair,” writes Mary McNamara of the LA Times. “He still looks like a kid who’s hijacked his older brother’s suit,” and that’s a very good thing.

• Conan managed not to "frighten small children, livestock, or longtime Johnny Carson and Jay Leno fans,” says David Hinckley of the New York Daily News, but he proved that “for better or worse, Tonight is now his ride."
• But Tom Shales of the Washington Post wasn’t a fan. Conan spent too much time on himself, and used too many pre-recorded bits. "Moving up to the big time seems to have robbed Conan of much of his charm. Much—but not all. He just shouldn't spread himself so thick."

(More Conan O'Brien stories.)