Most Overrated:

5. Byron Allen - "Comics Unleashed" (Syndicated)
Byron Allen is the most bizarre pop culture figure of his time. He doesn't seem to have any discernable talent. He isn't funny, and could probably smile his way through a fire in the maternity ward. Despite all this, he continues to find great success as a talk show host, so somebody must like him. His latest effort, "Comics Unleashed", is a horrible rip-off of the criminally underappreciated "Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn." The differences between the two is that the jovial atmosphere is gone along with much of the show's humor. The only way to explain this is that Byron Allen is so bad that he's kind of a comic black hole: sucking the humor out of each guest.

4. Charlie Rose - "Charlie Rose" (PBS, Time Varies)
This guy is probably a great interviewer and probably has more thoughtful chats with his guests than any other host on television, but can anybody last more than five minutes without falling asleep? Rose is the worst type of overrated: A guy embraced by the cognoscenti for having the only "intelligent" chat show on the boob tube. The problem is, his show is so dreadfully dull that it doesn't belong anywhere near the late night airwaves. Rose would be better served to interview for magazines or on the radio and keep his pitch black studio away from the dark of night.

3. Jimmy Kimmel - "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (ABC, 12:05 AM)
How did this happen? How did Jimmy Kimmel become so popular? Is it because he mocks YouTube clips with about the same level of humor as anybody else who's ever mocked a YouTube clip? Is it because he trots out a batch of unfunny sidekicks who traipse around Hollywood being unfunny? Is it because he looks generally disinterested during celebrity interviews? Oh, it must be because he infinitely funnier girlfriend mailed him a hilarious video she made with Matt Damon, causing him to respond with a video co-starring Ben Affleck that was only funny because of an abundance of stunt casting. Kimmel is probably the least interesting talk show host out there, but thanks to a few five-minute clips, the one that earns the most buzz. Undeservedly.

2. Jon Stewart - "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central, 11:00)
Remember, you can still be good and be overrated. Stewart is definitely funny, but he's never really fit the idiom of a fake newscaster. He's also entered the dangerous self-assured territory of "I know my audience is going to laugh at whatever I do so I can just mug and be silly because I know I'll get applause if I do it long enough." This practice is also known as The Conan O'Brien Syndrome (see below). It's true, Stewart is very very funny and he manages to handle interviews with an actor with the same deftness he deals with major political figures. His overratedness lies within his interminable practice of the Conan O'Brien Syndrome and the fact that somewhere along the line he bought into the idea that "The Daily Show" was some sort of important piece of political satire on a par with the work of Jonathan Swift, and Stewart got too smart-alecky for his own good. Relaxing and realizing he's doing a comedy show might allow Stewart to return to a level on a par with his acclaim, but with acclaim this high and results this smug, he's nothing but overrated.

1. Conan O'Brien - "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (NBC, 12:35)
A further discussion of The Conan O'Brien Syndrome will shed a bright light onto why the host of Late Night is so overrated. O'Brien is simply adored by his fans: a group of people who followed him from the atrocious beginning of his program through its glory days around the turn of the century until now. Conan could literally come out and make honking noises at the camera for an hour and still receive thunderous applause. Here's the problem: he kinda does that now. When Conan is introducing a sketch, or a guest, or performing his monologue he often steps out of himself to make an observation about the graphic, make a weird noise, or just kind of stare at the lens. Every time he does this the audience responds with a level of thunderous laughter that sounds like they're being tickled while on Nitrous Oxide.

The simple problem with this is that Conan isn't doing anything remotely funny. If a stand up came out as a guest at the end and did the exact same stuff he would be greeted with little more than the sound of the studio's air conditioners. When a comic begins to behave like O'Brien - lazily slipping into unfunny and self-indulgent mini gags because he knows the audience will laugh at anything he does - he begins to suffer from the Conan O'Brien Syndrome. Clearly, the host of "Late Night" is greatly suffering from this malady and because of that is the very definition of being overrated.

Now that O'Brien's overratedness has been discussed, it's time for a bold prediction: Conan O'Brien will be off the air by 2011. This is the probable scenario that is going to unfold when Conan takes over "The Tonight Show" in 2009. Jay Leno, still a young man at 58 and after making it very well-known that he does not want to retire, will bolt for ABC, a network that will happily welcome him by canceling "Nightline" and pushing "Jimmy Kimmel Live" back a half-hour. This will leave Conan to compete with both Leno and Letterman. This tall order faces a guy who can barely beat Craig Ferguson at 12:35. This scenario has one of two outcomes: either Conan will have to drastically tone down the edginess of the show, becoming a poor man's Jay Leno or simply suffer with miniscule ratings while maintaining the trademarks of his show. Either one will probably result his cancellation, paving the way for a new host of "The Tonight Show".

Chris Rock perhaps?

Make sure to log on to Starpulse.com on Wednesday for a special mini-column: "The Most Underrated/Overrated Unsolved Mysteries of 'Lost'" and every Friday for a new revelation of under/overrated people, places and things.

Story by Andrew Payne
Starpulse contributing writer