Craig Ferguson's monologue is by far the best in late night. Rather than being a sequence of topical one liners (a la Leno), it is a self-contained, partially improvised, personal performance piece which uses some current topic as a catalyst. Ferguson's is also a sharp interviewer and provides some hilarious skits.

I just can't stand Ferguson. He just annoys the crap out of me. That being said, I hope the ad exec who thought up that stupid idea gets canned. The monologue is that for a reason...it sets up the desire to watch a show. To interrupt it for a commercial only pisses people off.

Whoa, I didn't know anybody actually watched this show.

me and my brother watched the first time he did that. it pissed him off so much. he sent 5 emails immediately!

wow. he made a difference!

Ferguson let his feelings be known at the beginning so it obviously was an executive decision and not something he "let" happen. You're quite right about the economics: Ad rates are/were being based on how many people watched the ads, not the show. So by putting the first round of commercials during the monologue, they were trying to make sure the audience stayed instead of -- like many of us do -- turning to *Conan* at the first break.

Actually, last Thursdays show was back to normal. Friday's show still had the crappy commercial break because Friday's show is recorded on Wednesday.