In a very surprising move, it was announced today that Conan O’Brien will be heading back to late night, but not on a major broadcasting network. He will be going to TBS starting in November.
All industry rumors had O’Brien as a lock for the FOX Network after being forced out of the Tonight Show on NBC. FOX has been out of the five night a week late night talk shows since the disaster of The Chevy Chase Show back in 1993.
Within the last year, TBS entered the late night wars with comedian George Lopez hosting Lopez Tonight. Conan O’Brien has been quoted saying “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.”
His settlement with NBC restricts him from appearing on the air with another show until November of this year.
George Lopez seems to be excited saying “I can’t think of anything better than doing my show with Conan as my lead-in. It’s the beginning of a new era in late-night comedy.”
The bottom line to this whole late night war saga is that FOX couldn’t get the affiliates on board. TBS in recent years has been ramping up their efforts to possibly be the sixth major network by offering original programming throughout the week and entering the late night talk show wars. Will this work? It’s hard to tell, but as of right now rest assured Conan O’Brien has his work cut out for him getting new ratings on a cable network.
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