Conan to make TBS his late-night home

[ELVIS]

NEW YORK - Late-night mainstay Conan O'Brien is headed to TBS to resume his comedic duties with a talk show expected to debut in November, the network says.



The program will air Mondays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. Eastern, shifting TBS' "Lopez Tonight," starring George Lopez, to midnight.

Monday's surprise announcement hit the same day O'Brien starts a two-month, nationwide comedy tour in Eugene, Ore., amid persistent reports that he was likely to claim Fox as his new late-night home.

Barring Fox, syndication was widely considered O'Brien's most likely option. Few if anyone mentioned TBS as a plausible destination.

O'Brien began serious talks with TBS just last week, the network said.

"In three months, I've gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I'm headed to basic cable," O'Brien said in a tongue-in-cheek-toned statement. "My plan is working perfectly."

O'Brien left NBC in January after hosting "The Tonight Show" for just eight months, as his ratings plunged from those of his longtime "Tonight" predecessor, Jay Leno, who reclaimed the hour. Until last June, O'Brien had followed Leno as host of "Late Night" since 1993.

O’Brien's parting deal bars him from appearing on TV until September.

[Kristy]

Conan just signed his own death warrant. Nobody and I mean nobody watches TBS. Anyone remember when they tried to push the NBA in to a regular prime-time only to lose both ratings and revenue in the process? I'm betting the reason he didn't go with Fox is that they want Conan to take on a political stance and also they'd have sole rights to re-broadcast his show royalty-free on the likes of Fox News. Since Conan pretty much has to start over from scratch (with NBC owning all of his "intellectual property") TBS will turn him into some sort of bullshit "variety hour" themed host where his dog and pony tactics will become even more dog and pony. And like Lopez (which nobody has yet to see) it'll die within three to six months and hobble like a wounded animal for a year after painfully waiting out Conan's contract to expire.

[indeedido]

Lopez will come out now complaining he got screwed by getting pushed back by O'Brien. It's a never ending saga.

[High Life Man]

Lopez will come out now complaining he got screwed by getting pushed back by O'Brien. It's a never ending saga.

Lopez volunteed his time spot.

I think this will do well. Cable has a different set of rules - hopefully Conan can use that to his advantage. I also imagine he has an out when Letterman retires.

[Doctor Dude]

Conan just signed his own death warrant. Nobody and I mean nobody watches TBS. Anyone remember when they tried to push the NBA in to a regular prime-time only to lose both ratings and revenue in the process? I'm betting the reason he didn't go with Fox is that they want Conan to take on a political stance and also they'd have sole rights to re-broadcast his show royalty-free on the likes of Fox News. Since Conan pretty much has to start over from scratch (with NBC owning all of his "intellectual property") TBS will turn him into some sort of bullshit "variety hour" themed host where his dog and pony tactics will become even more dog and pony. And like Lopez (which nobody has yet to see) it'll die within three to six months and hobble like a wounded animal for a year after painfully waiting out Conan's contract to expire.

I sense a lot of anger in you.

I'll be putting you on ignore as soon as that feature is available.

[POJO_Risin]

This works for O'Brien on several levels...he has a more open door on cable, and he won't have ratings expectations, because he'll never beat Leno...

There are rumors that his contract is in yearly increments...so he can walk out for a bigger gig...

[Blaze]

Wow! nice hair.

[Mr Walker]

I'm not much of a late night TV watcher... I'll turn on Kimmel if I'm ever up that late, but given the shows that are on now, I find myself tuning into George Lopez's show the most. I've seen Lopez get away with some pretty edgy shit on TBS so I see this as win/win for Conan. No pressure to compete with Leno/Letterman and no pressure to toe the network company line. Conan will be a huge fish in a tiny pond. I'm looking forward to being a regular Conan viewer at 11pm. I think he's found his perfect niche to solidify his underground/cult status. I'll draw this parallel... U2 will always sell millions of albums and millions of tickets for stadium tours... but a band like Motorhead will always be 1000 times fucking cooler and so are their fans.

[kwame k]

Lopez has a decent show and moving to a later spot won't hurt him. Conan on the other hand.......have to wait and see but not being on a major network will be a hindrance, IMO.

[Kristy]

To be honest, I didn't even now Lopez had a show- must be the popularity of TBS that overwhelms me into ignorance.

[ELVIS]

To be honest, that overwhelms me into ignorance.

It's ok, we understand...

[Northern Girl]

Lopez plays the racist shit too much...boring...sleep is much more important than TV anyway...:tongue0011:

[Terry]

The thing of it is when you get beyond the "Jay Leno is a dick for stealing Conan's Tonight Show gig" biz (something I'm inclined to agree with, btw, if only because I plain think Leno is not funny), the fact of the matter is Conan's ratings weren't all that great. Certainly not as good as Leno's, and Conan had 15 years on the 12:30AM NBC farm team to work out the bugs and build his following prior to taking over the Tonight Show slot. Truth be told, his ratings at 12:30 were never that great, either, but NBC was willing to let a lot of that slide after the Letterman/Leno fiasco of "Who Gets To Replace Johnny" of 1991-1993. In the aftermath of that series of network fuckups, NBC was content enough with O'Brien to have someone who could take over Letterman's slot and not pull a Chevy Chase.

Sure, it doesn't speak much about NBC or Leno in terms of class and personal loyalty that O'Brien was bounced after less than a year, but from a financial standpoint the choice was a no-brainer, and O'Brien got...what...a 30 million dollar severance package? I mean, how sorry am I supposed to feel for this guy now that he has a show on TBS?

Fuck me.

[Panamark]

Is it just me or does Leno seem to be going through the motions these days ?
Letterman and Conan are funnier.. (In my humble opinion)
Ferguson is funnier !

Maybe its Leno's writers, I used to laugh ??

[Anonymous]

I sense a lot of anger in you.

I'll be putting you on ignore as soon as that feature is available.

Yeah, but have you seen that nose? It's perfect! People pay through the nose to get a nose like that & it's not guaranteed that it will come out right. Awesome hair, too.

Cheers! :bottle: