Conan O'Brien heading to TBS

[zero]

Certainly didn't expect this:

Conan's new home: TBS

Conan O'Brien is going to cable.

The former host of NBC's "Tonight Show," who lost the program to Jay Leno earlier this year, has signed a deal for a new late-night program on TBS, the basic cable network owned by Time Warner. O'Brien's show will start in November at 11 p.m. George Lopez, the comedian who currently occupies that slot, will have his show move to midnight.

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

The deal with TBS is sure to catch many by surprise. Most industry observers expected O'Brien to land at Fox. While Fox's top entertainment executives Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly were on board with going after O'Brien, persuading Fox's affiliates to carry the show was going to be more challenging. That's because those stations make a lot of money from the reruns they currently run at 11 p.m. This was also an issue for the stations owned by Fox itself.

The talks with TBS heated up in the last two weeks. As recently as a month ago, Turner executives had indicated they had little interest in going after O'Brien. Lopez has given them some solid numbers with younger viewers and is a contrast to Comedy Central's late-night duo of Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.

But in the last few weeks, Turner's entertainment chief Steve Koonin changed his mind and started negotiating with O'Brien to come to the cable channel. O'Brien was game but did not want to go without Lopez being on board with the idea.

Turner executives huddled with Lopez and Warner Bros.' Telepictures Productions, which makes the show, and got the go-ahead.

"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."

[Guest JukeboxHero]

Just read about it myself. I'd rather he be on a network station, but whatever, I guess. At least he's coming back to TV.

[GoGo Yubari]

... wow, I was so sure that Twitter update was a joke.

EDIT: Also this means that he's running against The Daily Show so whilst TBS is just "oh, huh, that's surprising," that's actively annoying for me. Damn you, TBS!

[sahyder1]

Very interesting move. I like it. TBS has been trying to jump into the late night business for a while. I'm sure TBS will develop some original programming as lead in. The whole Cable vs Broadcast network argument doesn't work anymore. Most people have cable. It is not like TBS is some obscure channel.

TBS already has a mini promo up.

Edited April 12, 2010 by sahyder1

[Kyle_]

Not too surprising really, Lopez Tonight has been pretty popular and Conan will easily top that

[GoGo Yubari]

One thing that will be cool is I imagine being on TBS will give Conan a ton of freedom in how he wants to do his show, both because it's basic cable and because this is a huge get for TBS.

[Sousa]

Bah, Stewart and Colbert run a zillion replays and broadcast their shows in full for free without registration online. I think you'll manage.

EDIT: AAAAAAAAH! AUTOMATIC EDIT-BY TAGS. WHAT THE HELL, NON-DONATOR STATUS.

Edited April 12, 2010 by Sousa

[Guest Mr. Murray Head]

Hmm. Hopefully he gets a Canadian deal, we don't get TBS up here ever since they switched over to Peachtree TV.

[MalaCloudy Black]

... wow, I was so sure that Twitter update was a joke.

EDIT: Also this means that he's running against The Daily Show so whilst TBS is just "oh, huh, that's surprising," that's actively annoying for me. Damn you, TBS!

Yeah, I thought it was a joke as well. Huh.

[Universal]

Conan signs with TBS?

THINK OF THE MATCHES!!!

No though, to be serious, this could be interesting. Like others have alluded to, his power on TBS will be huge. He can pretty much do whatever he pleases with the show. It is also a HUGE signing for TBS, which is branding it's network into a comedy network in prime-time. Much of his fan base will follow him there but it will be interesting to see how big of a fan base he actually has.

My only concern is the late-night audience will get divided even more with Leno, Letterman, Kimmel, Conan and Stewart/Colbert all on at the same time. Though I can't say I am not excited as a viewer. Mon - Thur at least, if I can't find a late-night show I like, I have no sense of humor.

Edited April 12, 2010 by Universal

[zero]

Well, Kimmel doesn't come on until midnight, so Conan's show will be done by the time he gets started on ABC. Conan's only competing with half of Letterman and Leno, and as for Stewart/Colbert, it's like Sousa said, Comedy Central replays those shows 12,000 times a day anyway.

I'm really excited about this, actually, because it will give Conan the freedom to do HIS show. No network obligations, no toned down sketches, he can book the guests he wants to book, and best of all, no NBC.

[Universal]

Well, Kimmel doesn't come on until midnight, so Conan's show will be done by the time he gets started on ABC. Conan's only competing with half of Letterman and Leno, and as for Stewart/Colbert, it's like Sousa said, Comedy Central replays those shows 12,000 times a day anyway.

I'm really excited about this, actually, because it will give Conan the freedom to do HIS show. No network obligations, no toned down sketches, he can book the guests he wants to book, and best of all, no NBC.

I forgot Kimmel's show comes on afterward, so that's good. My bad there. I am happy his show is earlier because I have a hard time staying up past midnight lately. I also work early in the morning, so I will be able to catch the whole show and still get to bed by midnightish.

Edited April 13, 2010 by Universal

[apsham]

I'm just glad to hear that things worked for Conan after he got jerked around like that. The guy is a genuine nice guy who's great to watch - I was really hoping he'd find something that would give him the freedom to do a show.

[EndOfAnEra]

Did anything ever come from the rumors NBC were going to hold onto all of the characters created on the show?

[Damian WayLNKe]

Did anything ever come from the rumors NBC were going to hold onto all of the characters created on the show?

They'll keep whatever is legally theirs which I'm assuming might be a good bit of them. We'll probably see some David Letterman-like loopholes though from Conan to basically keep the characters while avoiding the legal trouble from NBC.

[zero]

Personally, I can't wait for Self-Pleasuring Lion and Bulimic Bugs Bunny.

[Guest Big Dog]

Personally, I can't wait for Self-Pleasuring Lion and Bulimic Bugs Bunny.

Don't forget Fidel Castro Cat DJ.

[A-Dub]

Apparently on his tour, to avoid legal repercussion, the Masturbating Bear has become the Self-Pleasuring Panda. I can't wait to see how the rest of these characters all turn out.

[Damian WayLNKe]

I'm assuming that there will be a tour DVD released sometime. That will be one of my most anticipated DVD buys ever.

[livid]

November 8th is when Conan's show on TBS debuts