When we think about late night shows trying to appeal to the unruly youths of today, there’s one tried-and-true technique that guarantees anyone (even Bill Cosby) some street cred. Other than doing a Reddit AMA, I mean. Apps! Apps, glorious apps, Blackberry or iPhone! Some of them can rap, others can just play tones. (That was to the tune of “Food, Glorious, Food,†from the musical Oliver!, you uncultured plebeians.)
The latest offering is Team Coco To Go, Conan’s companion series, which includes options for tablets, smartphones and mobile web. How does it compare to, say, the Late Night With Jimmy Fallon app?
First of all, it’s interesting to note that the Late Night app launched on November 8 2010, which was the very same night Conan premiered on TBS. So while Fallon admittedly had a head start, good on them for being tech-savvy while Conan was still an itty-bitty newborn infant of a show.
Both phone apps are free and feature clips from recent episodes, their respective host’s Twitter accounts and the show’s blogs, including the schedule of upcoming guests. While Team Coco also offers up slideshows, Fallon gets more creative with goofy mini-apps like “Axl Rose Relaxation†(in tune with his separate and more recent Wake Up Call app, which costs 99 cents).
Though Fallon had a jump on them chronologically, the Team Coco app has the advantage of coming out to a world with another newly widespread form of mobile technology, the tablet. In addition to the phone app features, the tablet app allows you to watch full episodes, and even sync your viewing with “app-exclusive content and conversation in real-time.†While Fallon’s phone app looks more fun than Conan’s, the ability to watch full episodes on a tablet is a major advantage for Team Coco - at least until Jimmy develops a tablet app of his own.