Conan O'Brien: Obama, Tom Hanks enliven second night

Sure, everyone reviewed night one of Conan O'Brien's "Tonight Show" gig, but a few TV writers actually decided to weigh in on Night 2 as well. Courant.com's Roger Catlin, who gave a qualified thumbs-up to Night 1, said Conan's second show was "a little more relaxed than the first... He had time to do a monologue that touched lightly on issues and was hit or miss in the manner of these late night things." As for musical guest Green Day, Catlin remarked that "it was the second night in a row of rock that first emerged in the 90s. Someday he'll move back into the 21st century." Ouch! Afraid Conesy doesn't have a lot of cutting edge musical guests scheduled, but hey, Spinal Tap will be performing on the 15th. (Speaking of Green Day, they will be making four appearances on "Last Call with Carson Daly" next week.)

Alan Sepinwall of the New Jersey Star-Ledger wrote that "night two was Conan firing on all thrusters... I don't know that anything in episode two will change the minds of the Jay loyalists who e-mailed me yesterday to complain that Conan was, quote, 'Unbelievably childish.' (Because, of course, nothing says sophisticated and mature comedy like Jaywalking or the Dancing Itos.) But for the Conan fans, and those still on the fence, this felt much more akin to what the guy looks like at the top of his game."

Newsday.com's Verne Gay was also a fan: "Last night, the second night of the rest of Conan O'Brien's professional life, was much better, and in one or two instances, inspired... Tom Hanks is always a fine guest, and a good sport too."

And then there was President Obama, who seems to have an inexplicable willingness to plug talk shows (I mean, the man gave a shout-out to George Lopez):

I'm surprised the prez didn't record a bit for Chelsea Handler when she shifted from 11:30 PM to 11 a few weeks back. "Chelsea in an earlier time slot? That's change we can all believe in!"