{alltv} From NBC to TBS, he's still Conan

It's like he never left.

Which has its pluses and minuses.

If you're a fan of Conan O'Brien, the pluses in his much-hyped, post Tonight Show-debacle return Monday with TBS' Conan are obvious. He's back, doing pretty much what he's being doing on late-night TV since 1993, give or take a few months off for bad-ratings behavior.

There have been some trade-offs in his basic cable shift. It's a smaller set and a smaller outlet. He's lost a band leader, gained a huge floating moon, and retained Andy Richter— along with the masturbating bear, perhaps to NBC's dismay. But it's basically the same show, a little closer to the more-structured Tonight Show Conan than the funnier, looser Late Night Conan, but not so much that his fans are likely to object.

Which probably leaves the millions of Americans who never watched either show wondering what the fuss is about.

As often happens with first shows, even with experienced talents, what you got Monday was a highly amped version of O'Brien. The performance was more hyper than he could sustain or an audience could take over an extended period, but given his track record, you can expect sedation to set in fairly quickly.

To no one's great surprise, much of the opening episode was devoted to his last closing, starting with a long pretaped bit about losing The Tonight Show and looking for a new job. That led into a monologue that was heavy on NBC bashing and jokes that were meant to be self-effacing, but really weren't. He didn't get to a guest until 11:27 — or, in talk show time, right before The Daily Show ended and Tonight and Late Show began.

Then we were off to Seth Rogen ("I'm so glad everyone more famous was busy right now"), and to the same talk pattern followed by every show for the last few decades. Rogen talked about his new movie, Lea Michele talked about her magazine shoots. And then Conan sang with Jack White while playing guitar and wearing a Conan-emblazoned guitar strap — which falls somewhere on that line between geeky and star-self-absorbed.

For the premiere, it was inevitable that Conan itself was going to be O'Brien's main topic, and that old stories and grievances were going to be rehashed. The jokes were understandable, and some of them were funny. But it's time now for O'Brien to dump the "making the best of it" self-pity pose, even when used for comic effect. He's made millions. He'll make millions. Stop crying on the national shoulder.

Unlike many Americans, you've got a job. Get on with it.