Conan on TBS

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In a surprise announcement, TBS revealed this morning that the former "Tonight Show" host would join the cabler in the 11 p.m. time slot this November.

"Lopez Tonight," which currently airs there, will shift to midnight. Like "Lopez," the as-yet untitled O'Brien show will air four days a week, Mondays through Thursdays.

 

“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. "My plan is working perfectly.”

News was timed to the kick off of O'Brien's "Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television" tour, which starts Monday night in Eugene, Ore.

 

O'Brien had been widely expected to seal a deal with Fox -- and execs at the broadcast network remained optimistic last week that a deal could eventually be hammered out.

But Fox was running into serious financial roadblocks in clearing a late night yakker.

 

It's was a given that divisions such as the Fox TV Stations, Twentieth Television and 20th Century Fox TV would all take at least a short-term financial hit should an O'Brien latenighter become a reality for Fox.

And given the off-net sitcom contracts that Fox's O&Os -- and most of its affiliates -- have in place, it was looking more likely that an O'Brien show would air at 11:30 p.m., and even midnight in some markets, instead of 11 p.m. after Fox affils' 10 p.m. newscasts.

 

Considering that O'Brien exited NBC after that network downgraded his timeslot, O'Brien likely didn't want to have to wait years to secure full in-pattern clearances on Fox across the country.

TBS, on the other hand, allows O'Brien to be seen virtually nationwide, in-pattern, immediately.

According to TBS, talks began in earnest just last week -- and after "Lopez Tonight" star George Lopez personally gave O'Brien a call.

“I can’t think of anything better than doing my show with Conan as my lead-in,” Lopez said. “It’s the beginning of a new era in late-night comedy.”

Turner Entertainment Networks president Steve Koonin called O'Brien "the comedic voice for a generation."

"TBS already has a huge audience of young comedy lovers, and Conan’s show will give these fans even more reasons to watch our network,” Koonin said.

Lopez's talk show already posts the youngest median age among all latenight talkers. Koonin said he saw an opportunity to expand on that young audience.

For decades, late-night TV has been dominated by broadcast television,” Koonin said. “Now, with a young audience and a growing late-night lineup, TBS is set to be the choice of comedy fans for years to come.”

Under his exit package, O'Brien is able to host a new late night show starting in September.

He's also able to start conducting TV interviews in May (with some restrictions on what he can say about NBC and the January late night kerfuffle). Given Monday's announcement, it will probably be no surprise if O'Brien gives his first sit-down chat to Lopez.

I hope it doesn't suck as much as his last show

conan, andy, his writers and skit actors are all top notch

this will be fucking rad that they wont be as restricted as they were with NBC.. soo happy

if he doesn't keep repeating the same jokes every episode I'll be on board

if they bring back andy as his sidekick ( and not just as the announcer guy) it will be worth watching. conan was very slowly going downhill in the years after he left..

dood, conan and his writers are fucking genius, they had severe pressure from NBC to hit certain markets and you have to see how that created a wall in there creative inspiration. Conan writers love the insanely stupid, nerdy, high brow clever, nasty dumb shit that primetime late night NBC hated. that being said once you looked past the prison they were in, conans interviews were as awesome as ever, he actually had some purty great monologues and an actually priceless skit

  On 4/13/2010 at 5:00 AM, Z_B_Z said:

if they bring back andy as his sidekick ( and not just as the announcer guy) it will be worth watching. conan was very slowly going downhill in the years after he left..

wrong, andy leaving gave conan a fire under his ass to prove that he could be a solo powerhouse as well. I cried when andy left but my fears were put to rest. in any circumstance conan is late night at its finest

i still think conan is easily the funniest guy to do the late night talk show host thing, but i guarantee he would be funnier with andy. i dont know, its just funnier if theres two guys there.. sure its harder to do on your own, and that should be respected, but no one has co hosts anymore. might be good to change up the formula. or revert the formua (has there been a co host since mcmahon?)

didnt richter leave on his own? god what a stupid move that was. anyone remember that horrible show he had on fox? think that lasted about three episodes.

I'm not the hugest fan of TBS, but I'll totally watch Conan when he comes back.

  On 4/13/2010 at 5:14 AM, Z_B_Z said:

i still think conan is easily the funniest guy to do the late night talk show host thing, but i guarantee he would be funnier with andy. i dont know, its just funnier if theres two guys there.. sure its harder to do on your own, and that should be respected, but no one has co hosts anymore. might be good to change up the formula. or revert the formua (has there been a co host since mcmahon?)

 

didnt richter leave on his own? god what a stupid move that was. anyone remember that horrible show he had on fox? think that lasted about three episodes.

i do remember that, some fat girl opens the door and hes like, "are you pregnant"?

TBS is a pretty odd choice . The last really good thing to air on that channel was Joe Bob Briggs MonsterVision ( it aired on TNT as well...if I remember correctly )

I know the show will be funny , I just hope people will watch this time .

  Quote

"Lopez Tonight," which currently airs there, will shift to midnight.

Conan gets bumped on NBC, so he quits, moves to another network, and bumps someone else's show..

lopez is cool with it. he'll get a lot more viewers

.. yeh this nothing like Jay Leno pushing the conans tonight show to tomorrow. Lopez was the one that called conan to confirm the deal, lopez is hella stoked out about the pairing, as zbz said he will get a lot more viewers. he twittered a welcome for conan tbs and that they should change the name to Team Lo-Co. conan wanted to make sure this deal was very solid straight forward with no shady shit unlike the nbc jewfest.

Yeah nothing wrong in having better ratings at midnight after Coco than by himself at 11!

  On 4/13/2010 at 2:40 PM, chaosmachine said:

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"Lopez Tonight," which currently airs there, will shift to midnight.

 

Conan gets bumped on NBC, so he quits, moves to another network, and bumps someone else's show..

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According to TBS, talks began in earnest just last week -- and after "Lopez Tonight" star George Lopez personally gave O'Brien a call.

I'm just hoping there will be somewhere to view it online.

I has no TV =(

  On 4/13/2010 at 5:52 AM, GrandPopPoplock said:

TBS is a pretty odd choice . The last really good thing to air on that channel was Joe Bob Briggs MonsterVision ( it aired on TNT as well...if I remember correctly )

 

I know the show will be funny , I just hope people will watch this time .

i miss monstervision

i liked how it would seem like he'd just wrapped up to go to commercial, pause, and then he'd keep talking

TBS is known for airing great shows , such as Tyler Perry's House of Pain and Tyler Perry's Meet the fucking Browns

Good job Conan.

  On 4/14/2010 at 3:00 PM, jefferoo said:

I'm just hoping there will be somewhere to view it online.

I has no TV =(

dewd the interwebs rips vids nightly of even the worst shows ever, you wont have a problem finding a streaming divx link for his shows an hour after they air every night

  On 4/14/2010 at 4:56 PM, Boxing Day said:

TBS is known for airing great shows , such as Tyler Perry's House of Pain and Tyler Perry's Meet the fucking Browns

 

Good job Conan.

i am so tired of tyler perry

  On 4/14/2010 at 4:56 PM, Boxing Day said:

TBS is known for airing great shows , such as Tyler Perry's House of Pain and Tyler Perry's Meet the fucking Browns

 

Good job Conan.

you do realize he now is on cable and has much less comedic restrictions, TBS gave him a good deal with lots of respect. this is most likely going to work out very well.

to relate it to music, most of the best bands/artists worried more about creative freedom and respect from the record label they would sign with than if it was the biggest label with the most money that would confine and limit their directional freedom.

this will most likely turn TBS into a viable network. next step is getting rid of George Lopez and replacing him with Jay Leno

rumor is max won't be with conan on the new show...still not sure about andy

I hope Andy returns.

TBS isn't a channel in CANADA..

FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU