Conan O'Brien is moving to TBS. After his highly-publicized spat with NBC over The Jay Leno Show, the late night host shocked many by announcing his new show on cable channel, TBS. The show, which doesn't yet have a name, will air Mondays through Thursdays at 11pm. Of the deal, O'Brien 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. My plan is working perfectly."
Lopez Tonight, George Lopez's show that had been running at 11pm, will move back to midnight, a move which Lopez says he fully supports. Lopez raised the issue in his 12 April show, saying, "If you haven't heard by now, Conan O'Brien will be joining us on late-night on TBS. Welcome! Welcome! I want to say this – I want to say that I am completely, 100% on-board with this move. I talked to Conan on Wednesday and I talked to him last night and I said 'I welcome you into my deep loving embrace.'"
O'Brien's show will shoot in Los Angeles and will pay him $10 million+.
TBS Courts O'Brien
Turner Entertainment Networks head Steve Koonin personally flew from Atlanta to Los Angeles to discuss the new show with O'Brien. One sticking point was the issue of pushing George Lopez's show back to midnight, which would understandably concern O'Brien since he recently faced just such a situation. Koonin assured him that Lopez would approve; Lopez then called O'Brien to reiterate his support. That started the negotiations, which reportedly took less than two days, almost unheard of given the intricacies involved. TBS has already started promoting O'Brien's new show; TBS' website was often unavailable on Monday due to high demand for its new O'Brien promo.
Benefits of TBS-Conan O'Brien Show
The benefits for O'Brien are myriad. Cable ratings are lower than broadcast ratings, so the expectations for O'Brien's show won't be as high as for a show on Fox. Cable also has more relaxed content standards, so O'Brien will have a bit more creative freedom. TBS offers an average viewer age of 35, markedly lower than NBC or CBS and right in the demographic to which O'Brien appeals. But one of the biggest benefits for O'Brien is that he will own his new show, so he has a large financial upside in success.
That said, while he won't be directly competing with Jay Leno or Dave Letterman, O'Brien will be up against Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. TV Critic Alan Sepinwall has more on the benefits and limitations: Why Conan O'Brien's TBS move was the right one.
O'Brien and Fox
Many had speculated that O'Brien would be headed to Fox, the only broadcast network without a late night stable. O'Brien's representatives were talking with executives at Fox, but the network couldn't make a deal quickly because of longstanding syndication contracts with its owned & operated and affiliate stations. Industry insiders are still squabbling over the issue of whether Fox knew about the TBS deal or not. Regardless, after news of the deal broke, Fox issued a statement saying, "Conan is a great talent and we wish him every success."
For now, fans of Conan O'Brien can celebrate his imminent return to television, though no date has been set. As George Lopez put it, "Everybody's heard of 'I'm with CoCo' but now everybody can 'Go LoCo.'"
Nikki Finke has all the details: CONAN O'BRIEN MAKES TBS DEAL! How It All Went Down. And How Team Conan Thought Out Of The Network Box All Along.
Kimberly Shumway - Kim has worked all over the entertainment industry, from reality networks to film companies, from the agency world to the production ...
