Disgraced talk show host Conan O’Brien, who was famously exiled from network television for being such a bad man, has apparently resorted to blatantly ripping off the beloved American institution known as The Simpsons in an act of brazen desperation, a new low for this sad, sad man. In the opening titles of his new variety show on TBS, a silhouetted family drives over a bridge from a city and then runs inside their home to watch TV. Sound familiar? If that weren’t enough, a wacky gag involving the family – a couch gag, if you will – occurs on Thursday shows.
Since The Internet doesn’t appear to already have one, here’s a complete list of all the Thursday night opening title gags exhibited on Conan thus far. The first three are quoted from Something Awful forumgoer Chand0X, possibly the first person to start keeping track of them.
11/18 — Family goes in the house, cloud turns into a UFO, beams up the family then beams down a cow.
11/25 — Thanksgiving Episode. Ships nearly arrive at shore, with a Turkey on shore with a shotgun. Turkey shoots in the air and the ships bail.
12/2 — A giant spring launches the car into the air, and it crashes offscreen. Undeterred, the family runs into the house from the right. One family member – possibly an overweight father – is hit by a tire and rolls out the other side of the house.
12/9 — Car skids on an icy bridge, launching a christmas tree that had been strapped to roof into the house.
12/16 — Family turns on christmas lights, which sucks out all the power from the city’s skyscrapers.
12/23 — Christmas Episode. A giant snowman attacking the city and Santa’s sleigh shoot lasers and fireballs at each others while the family enters their house like normal.
1/13 — Unknown, because this part of the opening sequence is omitted from the online video. Hiding something, tbs.com???
1/20 — King Kong stands atop a skyscraper batting planes. [Direct couch gag rip-off from the episode Jazzy and the Pussycats???]
1/27 — House sprouts legs and walks away as the family enters. [Direct rip-off from the episode Homer the Vigilante???]
The evidence speaks for itself. O’Brien and his graphics department thugs had not only the deviousness to plagiarize The Simpsons‘ iconic opening sequence, but also the audacity to believe no one would catch them. What, did TBS not have enough money in the budget to pay for new ideas?
Hey Conan, if you wanted to write couch gags so bad, maybe you should’ve become a Simpsons writer.