Late Night Shocker: Conan O’Brien To Do New Show On TBS Starting In November

In a surprise move, Conan O’Brien has announced that he will start a late night show on cable station TBS, beginning in November.  The show will be an hour long and fill the 11pm time slot currently filled by comedian George Lopez (his show will move back to midnight).

O’Brien’s live concert tour begins in Eugene, Oregon tonight.

O’Brien has been in talks with FOX for a new show and most everyone in Hollywood thought that was a perfect pairing. But, apparently there were some snags in the negotiations…

But, the move to cable seems to have been initiated by Lopez and TBS. Conan O’Brien’s manager, Gavin Polone, said that a whirlwind negotiation of only about 10 days led the late-night star to leave network television and jump to the cable network, TBS. A phone call from Lopez himself: “George called Conan to sell Conan on this idea. He was all for it. It really was George who made this happen.”

Word is that O’Brien will continue to base his show in Los Angeles.

TBS has promised an all-out marketing blitz, using the NBA playoffs this month and the MLB playoffs the month before the show starts. The shows preceding Conan’s show are hip and edgy shows like Family Guy and The Office- the perfect lead in to the shows.

In a release accompanying the announcement Mr. 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.”

In the statement, Steve Koonin, the president of Turner Entertainment Networks, emphasized the change from network to cable.

“For decades, late-night TV has been dominated by broadcast television,” Mr. 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.”

HIM’S TAKE: TBS just became a late-night giant. They will dominate the ratings with the younger generations with the Conan/Lopes 1, 2 punch!