Just a quick follow-up to the new Conan O'Brien TBS talk show status. Had the show he delivered Tuesday night run instead as the Monday back-to-TV premiere, my review would have been substantially more positive...

It doesn't hurt, of course, to have Tom Hanks as a guest. Like O'Brien's opening-night guests on the first Conan (11 p.m. ET), he didn't bring a clip, either -- the movie he was "promoting" doesn't come out until next SUMMER. But Hanks is so at ease, and so wholly committed to making even a talk-show appearance be a lot of fun, that he spent minutes helping his host set up a sight-gag, soak-the-guest-with-water payoff.

Hence, after marveling at the oceanside "view" behind the talk-show set, and talking about having a lifelong interest in oceanography and marine biology thanks to watching Jacques Cousteau TV specials as a kid, Hanks pointed out that humpback whales were breaking the surface of the water. Eventually, they started spouting -- and eventually, Hanks got soaked by one whale of a "special effect."

Silly? Sure. But unlike the previous night's show in its entirety, it was amusing, and memorable.

And the lengthy taped sequence that began the show, with Conan meeting the TBS in-house censor and running various things past him to define the new limits of cable, was a stronger comic bit as well.

A sexual position described by the euphemistic "Taking Grandma to Applebee's"? Okay by TBS. And by Tom Hanks, who repeated it later. And by me.

Conan, his first time at bat at TBS, swung and missed. The second time, at least, he made solid contact, and got on base.

Now he just has to survive, and improve his batting average, over the long season ahead...