My buddy Earl Kress noticed something interesting on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Not long ago, they unveiled a new set which shows a majestic New York skyline. When the show returned to the air following the 9/11 tragedies, the skyline was draped in funereal cloth as if to suggest a city in mourning…a nice touch, but one that apparently had an additional purpose. The folds in the cloth caused some segments of the skyline to be totally obscured and, if Earl's deduction is correct, the drape was placed carefully so that the folds covered the World Trade Center. Its Twin Towers were right in the center of the skyline, situated such that it would have been in the background of every two-shot of Mr. O'Brien and whoever was in the guest chair. Perhaps this was just a temp measure until they could have the backdrop repainted, or perhaps so they didn't want to immediately show the panorama minus the World Trade Center. Whatever, the drape has now been lightened so it no longer obscures that area…and you can now see that the skyscrapers have been removed from the tableau.
In the meantime, the late night shows are struggling with what to rerun when they need to do this. The Tonight Show will be dark next week and they're re-airing shows from earlier this month. In fact, on 10/22, they're recycling the broadcast of 10/11, which already reran last week in the NBC Overnight slots. That was a pretty good episode but three times in twelve days?