Conan's new show announced...

[ManaByte]

...and it's on TBS

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Conan-OBrien-TBS-1017183.aspx

Conan O'Brien is going to TBS.

"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 statement. "My plan is working perfectly."

A formal announcement is expected at 1 p.m. ET.

Check out photos of Conan through the years

The currently untitled one-hour show will debut in November at 11/10c after the World Series, and will air Monday through Thursday. It will be followed by George Lopez's Lopez Tonight, which currently airs in the timeslot and has averaged more than 1.2 million viewers for its first season.

O'Brien's move marks a surprising end to a late-night shuffle that started with Jay Leno's return to the 11:35 p.m. slot on NBC and continued with O'Brien bowing out of hosting the Tonight Show after only seven months.

He was widely expected to go to Fox, and his shift to TBS dramatically raises the network's profile.

Conan O'Brien says goodbye to Tonight Show

"Conan has been the comedic voice for a generation," said Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks. "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. For decades, late-night TV has been dominated by broadcast television. 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."

O'Brien, 46, entered negotiations with the network last week after Lopez called and asked him to join TBS' late-night lineup. "I can't think of anything better than doing my show with Conan as my lead-in," Lopez said in a statement. "It's the beginning of a new era in late-night comedy."

Fox had expressed interest in recruiting O'Brien to stake its place in the crowded late-night field, but most affiliates currently air syndicated programs in the 11 p.m. hour.

NBC dumps Conan in $45 million deal; reinstates Leno as Tonight host

Rupert Murdoch, the head of Fox's parent company News Corp., told The Wall Street Journal in February that Fox TV executives Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly would have to "show us we can do it and be fairly confident of making a profit" for the network to hire O'Brien.

O'Brien, who hosted Late Night for 16 years, started The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien — his dream job — on June 1. He drew lower numbers than his predecessor, Leno, in part because The Jay Leno Show provided a weaker lead-in than the 10 p.m. programming it replaced.

In January, NBC concocted a plan to move Leno back to 11:35 with a half-hour show, to be followed by O'Brien at 12:05 a.m. O'Brien chose to leave The Tonight Show, saying that walking away was "the hardest thing I have ever had to do."

Live on stage: Conan hitting the road for live comedy tour

Under the terms of his $45 million exit deal, O'Brien is obligated to remain off the air until September. He has since kept busy on Twitter and planning his live comedy tour, Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour, which kicks off Monday in Eugene, Ore.

[Himu]

Are you fucking kidding me?

Conan....

what about Fox?!

[ManaByte]

Who needs a major network when you can go to TBS!

[Stoney Mason]

"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 statement. "My plan is working perfectly."

Conan is awesome. 

Honestly no big deal to me. Before Jon Stewart took over the Daily Show it was Comedy Central who I could generally care less about. As long as the show is funny, I'm down with it.

[Purple Filth]

REALLY???

[Himu]

Conan tweeted about this

"The good news: I will be doing a show on TBS starting in November! The bad news: I'll be playing Rudy on the all new Cosby Show."
 

[TakingBackSunday]

I'm feasting on so so so so much crow

willco was right  :'(

he has to throw to George Fucking Lopez.     Even Fallon was better than that.

[Stoney Mason]

Even Fallon was better than that.

No he wasn't despite how much you try to pimp him.


The one thing I do like about this is all the hipsters who are mad now that Conan is at such an unhip network as TBS. Hilarious.

[Phoenix Dark]

Another reason for his hipster fans not to watch his show, then complain that he doesn't get a better job lolol

[Stoney Mason]

Another reason for his hipster fans not to watch his show, then complain that he doesn't get a better job lolol

Instead of being happy that gets to do a job he wants apparently they are more concerned they might get caught watching TBS by one of their hipster friends and deemed uncool.

[Madrun Badrun]

Conan tweeted about this

"The good news: I will be doing a show on TBS starting in November! The bad news: I'll be playing Rudy on the all new Cosby Show."
 

[TakingBackSunday]

I never pimped him, I just gave him a fair chance.

[The Fake Shemp]

 

spoiler (click to show/hide)

:lenowned

[close]

[drew]

100 million will set anybody up for life, its a good goal to reach, and this nicca got half that from just signing an exit deal

[The Dark Shake 3000]

Well, that about wraps it up for Conan.

[drew]

who gives a fuck what station hes on?

everybody but me apparently!

[Stoney Mason]

Is Conan the bad guy now that he's bumped a fellow host out of his time slot?

 
 :lenowned

[Barry Egan]

this is somehow more emasculating than having to move Late Night to 12:00.

Sort of related to Stoney's point, but it's funny how Conan was given the image of a rebel simply due to the circumstances, and how moving to TBS completely fizzles that image.  My feeling is that Conan is completely oblivious to what his fans have projected on to him since he was kicked out of Late Night.

[drew]

cant wait to hear the stern show today

[Stoney Mason]

this is somehow more emasculating than having to move Late Night to 12:00.

Sort of related to Stoney's point, but it's funny how Conan was given the image of a rebel simply due to the circumstances, and how moving to TBS completely fizzles that image.  

It sort of shows how many people were in it for the bandwagon fun of piling on Leno and hoping on a side than actually caring about his show.

[Cheebs]

This is good in one way, he has a niche audience, the pressure to expand beyond that niche audience will be far less on basic cable.

[Stoney Mason]

This is good in one way, he has a niche audience, the pressure to expand beyond that niche audience will be far less on basic cable.

Honestly agreed.

He probably got a lot of money thrown at him.
TBS has a large viewing audience for basic cable.
He has enough name clout that he will still be able to pull relatively big guests.
He probably won't get any interference from TBS execs.
He has less pressure to alter his format to have to pull large scale numbers like he would on a traditional network.

If your simply a fan of his and not into pontificating or about status or into caring about more people being into the same thing you are to validate your taste then its probably the best move if you enjoyed his show in the past.

[BlueTsunami]

You know? Out of all the outcomes I hadn't even thought about TBS (Willco Showbiz Master ) but holy fuck coming on before Lopez is like the worst of all possible outcomes (yes even COMPLETE EXILE). Hopefully it'll work out, at least he's on earlier?

Edit: Misread, 11pm, aw shucks

[Cheebs]

This is good in one way, he has a niche audience, the pressure to expand beyond that niche audience will be far less on basic cable.

Honestly agreed.

He probably got a lot of money thrown at him.
TBS has a large viewing audience for basic cable.
He has enough name clout that he will still be able to pull relatively big guests.
He probably won't get any interference from TBS execs.

If your simply a fan of his and not into pontificating or about status or into caring about more peopl being into the same thing you are to validate your taste then its probably the best move if you enjoyed his show in the past.

The Wrap is reporting he will getting paid more than he did at NBC and he is being given complete control ala Letterman which he did not have at NBC. Seems like it would have been hard to turn down since Fox made it clear they would spend less than NBC did and I doubt they would give him complete control.

[The Dark Shake 3000]

Guys, please keep in mind that TBS is the station that shows Family Guy reruns like around the clock and is home of The George Lopez Show.

Conan lost.

[drew]

dont forget atlanta braves games!

[BlueTsunami]

Wait, so George Lopez got Jimmy Fallon'ed? (moved back a time slot). He's at 11 right now?

[Cheebs]

Guys, please keep in mind that TBS is the station that shows Family Guy reruns like around the clock and is home of The George Lopez Show.

Conan lost.

The articles I am reading keep saying the George Lopez show gets good ratings.  


Also this is cable and Conan for once has 100% creative control. It'll be far weirder than Late Night was I would imagine.

[The Dark Shake 3000]

Guys, please keep in mind that TBS is the station that shows Family Guy reruns like around the clock and is home of The George Lopez Show.

Conan lost.

The articles I am reading keep saying the George Lopez show gets good ratings.  

Why does that matter? Tons of awful programs get good ratings.

[TakingBackSunday]

Guys, please keep in mind that TBS is the station that shows Family Guy reruns like around the clock and is home of The George Lopez Show.

Conan lost.

He got a hella deal, though

whatevs, I'll be watching in November.  And then forget about him in December whilst still pledging my allegiance

[Stoney Mason]

Guys, please keep in mind that TBS is the station that shows Family Guy reruns like around the clock and is home of The George Lopez Show.

Conan lost.

Who gives a shit. I watch TV for entertainment. Not for winners or losers. I get Willco coming from that perspective because he has consistently been looking at it from sort of a business aspect. Which is fine. He's somewhat in that business.

I'm not. So essentially whatever network he is on is the equivalent of sales talk for videogames. All I care about is teh funny and if I get more of teh funny. Not saying it can't be analyzed or joked about. Hell its funny and weird. Conan is on fucking TBS. He gets how absurd that is. He even joked about it.  

[The Dark Shake 3000]

Be honest, most of you motherfuckers won't be regular viewers anyway. Tons of people jumped on the SAVE COCO bandwagon after contributing to his downfall in the first place -- i.e., not bothering to watch his show when it mattered, when he needed the ratings. I'm admitting right now I'll probably watch the first or second episode and then forget about Conan, like the majority of the American viewing public.

[Cheebs]

Again, as a Conan fan people should be happy about this. He would be forced to keep to the more mainstream needs of network TV at 11:00 on FOX. And FOX would never have given him full creative control. Plus FOX is notorious for not wanting to keep shows that are struggling on the air.

TBS gives him the freedom to be as weird as he wants thanks to the less cut throat viewership numbers necessary for cable with his now full creative control.

All this means is Conan will be probably be better than has has since Late Night ended. Am I really the only one who sees this? He isn't going to turn into some TBS-lite show. They are given him complete ownership and control over the program ala Letterman.

[Phoenix Dark]

This is like a thread on SOHH full of people arguing why a rapper sucks because he didn't sell x amount of records

[The Dark Shake 3000]

It doesn't matter what he sold, PD. No one is saying Conan sucks. Just that his network does.

[Tieno]

Conan is at his best in the underdog/loser position, which makes this a winner for me.

[Cheebs]

If you like Conan who gives a shit what channel is on, all that matters is he is given complete creative control so he can do whatever the hell he wants. Which is great for his style of comedy which was severely restrained till the last week of the Tonight Show. If you are a fan of his that is all that should matter.

[Phoenix Dark]

It doesn't matter what he sold, PD. No one is saying Conan sucks. Just that his network does.

You miss the point. Just as record sales don't matter, networks don't matter either as long as the product is of quality

[Cheebs]

It doesn't matter what he sold, PD. No one is saying Conan sucks. Just that his network does.

Why does it matter what you think of the programming of TBS is though? TBS has nothing to do with this show. They gave him complete ownership of it. He will be filming and doing the show completely separate from TBS, TBS will just put it on the air. Much like how Letterman does his show where his own company does everything and CBS just broadcasts it.

[The Dark Shake 3000]

It's kind of hard to play the underdog card when you're as rich and as sought after as Conan is. I like the guy too but jesus the internet white knight bullshit that has sprouted up since he got shitcanned from NBC is ridiculous. You know who an actual late night underdog is?



Where is all the I'M WITH CARSON t-shirts and shit at?

[Cheebs]

It doesn't matter what he sold, PD. No one is saying Conan sucks. Just that his network does.

You miss the point. Just as record sales don't matter, networks don't matter either as long as the product is of quality

And the product will be of higher quality than most recent Conan stuff (assuming you enjoy his brand of humor) since unlike on the Tonight Show he will be completely unrestrained from network interference. Conaco will be producing the show completely seperate from the TBS structure much like Worldwide Pants is with CBS for the Letterman show.

[Stoney Mason]

Be honest, most of you motherfuckers won't be regular viewers anyway. Tons of people jumped on the SAVE COCO bandwagon after contributing to his downfall in the first place -- i.e., not bothering to watch his show when it mattered, when he needed the ratings. I'm admitting right now I'll probably watch the first or second episode and then forget about Conan, like the majority of the American viewing public.

I made this exact same post earlier.

Which is why I mostly stayed out of the whole Conan/Leno thing because it was more about taking the hip side rather than being realistic about the situation.

The realistic thing is that I understood why everybody did what everybody did including NBC. Conan is more niche than Leno. He is also about a billion times funnier for my particular sense of humour so that's all that matter. The only thing that's really changed now is that I have to decide whether I want to watch Conan sometimes or Jon Stewart sometimes. And often I simply watch them the next day on the internet anyway. So its all good.

[Purple Filth]

http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/conan-obrien-makes-tbs-deal/

A lot of showbiz reporters got it wrong about where Conan would land. They were fixated on Fox and assumed he would only go to a network. But the fact is that, from the very beginning, Team Conan (including his exec producer Jeff Ross, and WME's Rick Rosen and Ari Emanuel, and manager Gavin Palone), were thinking way outside the network box. For instance, there were discussions with Microsoft about an XBox deal for Conan's show that would have broken new ground. And yes, discussions took place with Fox. "But TBS was far more aggressive from the very beginning. They wooed him hard," one insider tells me. "And Conan was incredibly impressed by executives there." Team Conan also liked the strong lead-in of Family Guy and The Office, as well as the prospect that on cable he could have "more freedom to be creatively more exciting," a source tells me. "And then George [Lopez] called Conan and convinced him to do it."

Seems MS was interested in Conan doing something for them.


plus TBS rallied hard for him.

[The Dark Shake 3000]

It doesn't matter what he sold, PD. No one is saying Conan sucks. Just that his network does.

You miss the point. Just as record sales don't matter, networks don't matter either as long as the product is of quality

Except Conan's show has always by and large followed the same stale, boring template as every other late night show on television. I doubt him being given "full creative freedom" means he'll actually do something crazy and new and different. Conan was never a great host; people just act like he was because they wanted something to get pissed off about when NBC fired him.

[Cheebs]

And there in lies your issue, you don't enjoy Conan as much as some people. It has nothing to do with the networks or how much he is paid or his ratings, you just don't like his show or late night in general.


Also I do hope him given full control and the freedom of cable means he will mess with the general night show structure a bit.

[AdmiralViscen]

lmao, he bumps Lopez

I wonder if Lopez will walk away with a 32 million dollar severence?!

[BlueTsunami]

I wonder if they'll bring on Carlos Mencia for a 10 O'Clock variety show

[The Dark Shake 3000]

And there in lies your issue, you don't enjoy Conan as much as some people. It has nothing to do with the networks or how much he is paid or his ratings, you just don't like his show or late night in general.


Also I do hope him given full control and the freedom of cable means he will mess with the general night show structure a bit.

Exactly. Which is why he was kicked off NBC in the first place. Because even his so-called fans for the most part didn't support him when it mattered, and are now acting like he is some underdog god of television just because it's the cool thing to do.

[Stoney Mason]

Exactly. Which is why he was kicked off NBC in the first place. Because even his so-called fans for the most part didn't support him when it mattered, and are now acting like he is some underdog god of television just because it's the cool thing to do.

Yeah you seem to be completely coming at this from a different angle than I am...

You can like Conan and still be annoyed by hipsters doing the bandwagon move. You can still like Conan and find it funny that he is doing a show on TBS. I don't have to be a contrarion to be annoyed by hipsters.


But if you don't like him you're entitled to that opinion also. I just don't share it. I like him. I'm glad to see him on. And I'll watch. I'm actually more likely to watch now than I was on NBC although obviously that is just based on my viewing habits and not something that extends to the general public.

[AdmiralViscen]

And there in lies your issue, you don't enjoy Conan as much as some people. It has nothing to do with the networks or how much he is paid or his ratings, you just don't like his show or late night in general.


Also I do hope him given full control and the freedom of cable means he will mess with the general night show structure a bit.

Exactly. Which is why he was kicked off NBC in the first place. Because even his so-called fans for the most part didn't support him when it mattered, and are now acting like he is some underdog god of television just because it's the cool thing to do.

He didn't lose his fans from Late Night to the Tonight Show. He got the same number of viewers, they just weren't enough for that timeslot.

[AdmiralViscen]

P.S. I'd watch this over the Daily Show more often than not.

[The Dark Shake 3000]

I'm just laughing at the idea that people don't think him moving from PRIME TIME SLOT ON NBC to hosting a show on fucking TBS is a downgrade. It's delusional.

Yes, the content of the show might not be affected much, but that's not what people are laughing at (including Conan). They're laughing at the fact that TBS is a channel known mostly for showing re-runs of syndicated shows and having their own awful original programming like Lopez's show. Stop getting so defensive. :tbslol

[AdmiralViscen]

There's someone who doesn't think this is a downgrade? He should have just taken the NBC 12am slot.

[Cheebs]

I still think people are under-estimating just how important him getting the Letterman style deal of full ownership. Letterman produces his own show from his studio and then CBS just aires it. He refuses to even let CBS execs into the studio. Fox would not given Conan that type of deal. TBS did.

Conan will be more free to do what he wants on this than he was even on his Late Night on NBC. And freed up Conan is when Conan is at his best (look at his last week on the Tonight Show when he stopped paying attention to what NBC told him to do or during the writer strike where he had to make it up as he went along).


I don't give a shit what channel it is, I care that he is given more control over his show which thus means it will be funnier. Why would I want the restrained Tonight Show Conan on Fox when I can more Late Night stlye Conan on TBS? I am not a tv exec I don't give a shit what channel logo is in the corner. Why should I?

There's someone who doesn't think this is a downgrade? He should have just taken the NBC 12am slot.

Content wise it would be a downgrade compared to his TBS deal. He didn't have "final cut" as it were at NBC, he does at TBS. Not to mention TBS is giving him more money than NBC did.

[The Dark Shake 3000]

There's someone who doesn't think this is a downgrade? He should have just taken the NBC 12am slot.

Exactly

Fuck, you can't even laugh at the absurdity of it without a legion of fake Conan fanboys jumping down your neck anymore.

[Stoney Mason]

P.S. I'd watch this over the Daily Show more often than not.

I would probably also. Not because I don't enjoy The Daily Show alot but I tend to watch the Daily Show more when big political news is happening.

[Cheebs]

There's someone who doesn't think this is a downgrade? He should have just taken the NBC 12am slot.

Exactly

Fuck, you can't even laugh at the absurdity of it without a legion of fake Conan fanboys jumping down your neck anymore.

Since when is a higher budget and more creative control a downgrade?


Fox offered him less money than NBC gave him and no ownership over the program much like at NBC. Should he have taken it just because Fox is a more "prestigious" network? He took the deal that results in a higher quality show. Period.

[drew]

Where is all the I'M WITH CARSON t-shirts and shit at?

ive always said i like his show on here, only for the fact that he had gavin mcinnes on as a guest

[The Dark Shake 3000]

I'm bowing out of this thread, some of you are being fucking ridiculous. Again, no one is saying the show will suck. They are saying this is a downgrade, which it is, and that TBS sucks. How you can even debate that is beyond me. I didn't know I lived in a world where people gave a fuck about TBS; oh wait, no they don't. They only pretend to because Conan is moving there.

[AdmiralViscen]

There's someone who doesn't think this is a downgrade? He should have just taken the NBC 12am slot.

Exactly

Fuck, you can't even laugh at the absurdity of it without a legion of fake Conan fanboys jumping down your neck anymore.

Since when is a higher budget and more creative control a downgrade?


Fox offered him less money than NBC gave him and no ownership over the program much like at NBC. Should he have taken it just because Fox is a more "prestigious" network? He took the deal that results in a higher quality show. more money. Period.