Conan's Declining Ratings: What TBS Says - The Hollywood Reporter

"Ratings for Conan O’Brien’s TBS talk show may have dipped drastically (TBS) -- but the cable channel has no plans to halt the show."

Conan's TBS show has been much better than his stint on NBC. I stopped watching him on the Tonight Show because it was painful to see how awkward he was, like watching a little kid at his first spelling bee. He has been relaxed on TBS (well, by Conan standards), and almost all of the nervous tics are gone from his monologue. He doesn't constantly do the string dance, and he doesn't repeat "much to talk about" five times per minute.

Better than that, he has finally acquired the skill that made Johnny Carson a great comedian - he's funnier when his jokes suck than when they work, because he's learned how to incorporate the audience into his act. OK, he's never going to be a genius at stand-up like Craig Ferguson, but he's good enough to kill five minutes pleasantly, and rest of the show is sometimes brilliant.