Ear on TV: Week of 01.18.10: Spoon Sends Off Conan

Breaking up is hard to do. Just ask Conan O'Brien and NBC, or, better yet, the band Spoon. The Britt Daniel-led quartet has written a lot of songs on the subject, including a good chunk of their latest release, Transference, which is out this week. So it's appropriate that the band plays what might be Conan's last hurrah on The Tonight Show Tuesday* night, part of the host's send-off week.

*At the time of publish, Tuesday night was the last scheduled night for The Tonight Show. NBC is expected to make an official announcement today on as to the details of the talk show's future, with O'Brien's departure all but set for this week.

As a follow up to their biggest selling album, 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Transference will probably confuse a few of those new fans as it's Spoon in the raw, with a couple of the songs even remaining in demo form and only a few others that recall the band at their catchiest. The band will likely be playing one of those songs, "Written in Reverse," Tuesday night on The Tonight Show, and if you look at the song through the right lens, you could pretend it's about NBC's Jeff Zucker: "No nothing was planned / You just can't help yourself / Some people are so easily shuffled and dealt." (Of course, they've written the ultimate vindictive song about a corporate glad hander with "The Agony of Laffitte," blistering written about A&R man Ron Laffitte, then with Elektra, featuring the lyric, "It's like I knew two of you, man / The one before and after we shook hands.")

Meanwhile, Spectacle's second season is winding down, when it seems it had just begun. The final two episodes are an edited down version of the four-hour love fest Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello put on last year at the famous Apollo Theater. The two spent so much time talking and playing the music they love, that there was just no way to edit all the magic down to one hour. At one point, Spingsteen posits "The greatest rock ’n’ roll musicians are desperate men," but the only thing desperate on this night was the need to hear more from these two legends of rock.



Finally, the Baltimore dream pop duo Beach House make their network television debut on Fallon Friday night, performing their lead single "Norway" in support of their third full length release, Teen Dream (out January 26, 2010). Awareness of the band has risen on the heels of singer Victoria Legrand's collaboration with Grizzly Bear and participation in the soundtrack to Twilight Saga: New Moon, but the majestic sound that is Teen Dream should make a splash all its own.

Playlist: Picks for the week
Monday, January 18
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Really Doe (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Charlotte Gainsbourg was late scratch, instead The Heavy (backed by the Dap Kings horns)
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Steve Jones
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Cold War Kids
NBC: The Jay Leno Show: Ringo Starr with Ben Harper
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: The Cribs
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Weezer (REPEAT)
Tuesday, January 19
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: The Swell Season
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Suffocation
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Spoon
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: The Mountain Goats
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Xx (REPEAT)
Wednesday, January 20
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Pearl
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: James Taylor and Carole King
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Growlers
IFC: Dinner With the Band: Owen Pallett/Final Fantasy (REPEAT)
SUNDANCE: Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...: Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen (Part 1)
Thursday, January 21
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Blind Boys of Alabama with Lou Reed
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Suicide Silence
Friday, January 22
ALL NETWORKS: Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief: Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, U2's Bono and the Edge, Coldplay, Keith Urban, Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Sting, John Legend
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Heartless Bastards
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: The Heavy (bumped up to Monday)
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: The Hotrats
FOX: Lopez Tonight: Omarion
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Beach House
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Gossip (REPEAT)
Saturday, January 23
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Rihanna (REPEAT)
PBS: Austin City Limits: The Avett Brothers, Heartless Bastards