Conan Goes To TBS!

[FreddyE1977]

Lopez personally called Conan and talked him into taking has 11PM time slot.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/how-the-conan-obrien-tbs-deal-happened/

George Lopez, whose talk show currently fills the 11 p.m. slot at TBS, reportedly helped convince Conan O’Brien to come to the channel.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the way in which he reacted to this. He showed a lot of class. I think he did the right thing to embrace this move and try to turn it into a win-win as much as possible. He has talent, and can only lose audience by becoming bitter and throwing allegations around. I am sure that anyone with some pride cannot be 100% happy about it deep inside though. Clearly George learned from his ABC experience.

 

[firepoint525]

Somewhere out in yonder, FOX affiliates are breathing a sigh of relief. Now they can merrily continue airing The Simpsons, TMZ or King Of The Hill reruns without nary a worry. :

That is what I have thought all along. The local affiliates never really seemed to be all that enthused about carrying a new late-night talk show. After all the drama over the past year, who can blame them?

Still, it's puzzling how old reruns can beat supposedly "current" talk shows in the ratings. Are the old shows that good, or the talk shows that bad?

Anyhow, FOX affiliates can rest easy for now. But I'm sure that the issue of a late-night talk show on FOX will show up again sometime soon! :

 

[ding12]

Still, it's puzzling how old reruns can beat supposedly "current" talk shows in the ratings. Are the old shows that good, or the talk shows that bad?

Anyhow, FOX affiliates can rest easy for now. But I'm sure that the issue of a late-night talk show on FOX will show up again sometime soon! :

Talk shows aren't for everyone. If ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox did talk at night, it could be oversaturation of the same genre. It'd be like 4 pizza joints in a mall food court, but no sandwich joint. With TBS running talk, FOX keeps syndicated programming, atleast the mix of talk and variety programming is spread across broadcast and cable.

Also, a Fox affiliate would be essentially giving up airtime to the FOX Network. Higher ratings at that slot, might not yield the profits to the affiliate.

 

[imhomerjay]

I was pleasantly surprised to see the way in which he reacted to this. He showed a lot of class. I think he did the right thing to embrace this move and try to turn it into a win-win as much as possible. He has talent, and can only lose audience by becoming bitter and throwing allegations around. I am sure that anyone with some pride cannot be 100% happy about it deep inside though. Clearly George learned from his ABC experience.

Embrace it? He helped set it in motion.

 

[TheBigA]

Embrace it? He helped set it in motion.

That's if you believe the press release.

 

[imhomerjay]

And let the conspiracy theories begin. : Never mind that there's no evidence of such things.

 

[DToTheJ]

I'll give you a conspiracy theory: Over the last 24 hours on Google's news homepage, if you look at the terms that pop up in the "In The News" section, not a single time does Conan's name show up. Hell, it doesn't even appear in that space now; Ben Roethlisberger is the top trending term in Google News. "Tonight Show" briefly appeared in that space earlier, however. I guess maybe it has to do with Conan's name having an apostrophe in it? Hmmm...

 

[TheBigA]

And let the conspiracy theories begin. : Never mind that there's no evidence of such things.

What conspiracy theory? The fact is that Conan and TBS did to Lopez what Leno & NBC were going to do to Conan. The difference is that Lopez acted like a mature adult. And he probably doesn't have a no-move clause in his contract. Had Conan acted like Lopez, he would still be at NBC. But he'd be poorer, and he wouldn't have become a martyr.

 

[imhomerjay]

The idea that what's been reported about Lopez--that he pushed for the move--is somehow untrue. Nothing was "done to" Lopez if he got the ball rolling; Conan by all reports wasn't calling up NBC or Leno with a similar proposal.

Again, there's nothing presented that indicates the accounts that Lopez took an active role in making it hapen aren't accurate.

 

[LKellerIII]

Lopez may be taking the view that having a bigger name (Conan) as a lead-in might actually increase viewership for TBS, and his show, even if it's on later. And he may feel that getting a 35 minute jump on the 12:35 shows is better for him than competing with the first half hour of Leno and Letterman.

 

[TheBigA]

Again, there's nothing presented that indicates the accounts that Lopez took an active role in making it hapen aren't accurate.

No one really knows. All we have so far is a press release, and all the accounts are based on the information TBS is giving. No investigative journalist has actually looked into this, and we'll probably get the truth when Lopez leaves TBS and writes his tell-all book.

 

[imhomerjay]

And then the men in the black helicopters will come to spirit away anyone who speaks differently, unless they're protected from the brain-control waves by a handy tinfoil hat.

 

[DToTheJ]

Lopez... may feel that getting a 35 minute jump on the 12:35 shows is better for him than competing with the first half hour of Leno and Letterman.

Maybe he secretly doesn't want to compete with "Family Guy" reruns on his sister network (which, as recently reported on this forum, is beating some of the late night talk shows in certain demographics).

 

[Nate Wesley]

Likely not a big deal becuase TBS (like TNT) will re-air the original programming again in the night.

And possibly the next morning or midday, just like Comedy Central does with its comedy talk block, further monetizing its appeal. You can't do that on network TV.

 

[Nate Wesley]

What conspiracy theory? The fact is that Conan and TBS did to Lopez what Leno & NBC were going to do to Conan. The difference is that Lopez acted like a mature adult. And he probably doesn't have a no-move clause in his contract.

Actually, the two situations are quite different. The NBC situation revolved around a failed primetime experiment and the well established Tonight Show franchise. Lopez Tonight hasn't been on the air a full year. Along with 'The Coco Show' ($20 says that'll be the name!), you can pretty much consider this a new block of comedy on TBS.

 

[KentBrockman]

The Leno 10pm debacle & this whole Conan/TBS deal totally show how antiquated the over-the-air broadcast network business model is compared to cable when it comes to programming. Broadcast networks have to worry about the affiliates being pleased when it comes to programming/compensation from the network... sounds like a big hurdle when it comes to making money in this economy. With cable/satellite's penetration numbers being so huge, why should a network still do business with local affiliates instead of going direct to cable?

 

[johnnya2k6]

I wonder if Conan will bring "In The Year 3000", "Conan (and Andy) On The Aisle", "If They Mated", "State of the Show", and "Celebrity Survey" to his new TBS show.

Hey, if Letterman carried over "Stupid Pet/Human Tricks" and the Top Ten to CBS (he stopped doing "CBS Mailbag" and "Dave's Record/Video Collection" years ago), Conan might not have any problems.

 

[DToTheJ]

The Leno 10pm debacle & this whole Conan/TBS deal totally show how antiquated the over-the-air broadcast network business model is compared to cable when it comes to programming. Broadcast networks have to worry about the affiliates being pleased when it comes to programming/compensation from the network... With cable/satellite's penetration numbers being so huge, why should a network still do business with local affiliates instead of going direct to cable?

Makes me wonder if such a loophole existed had Channel 17 in Atlanta would still be airing all TBS programming... :

 

[DToTheJ]

I wonder if Conan will bring "In The Year 3000", "Conan (and Andy) On The Aisle", "If They Mated", "State of the Show", and "Celebrity Survey" to his new TBS show. Hey, if Letterman carried over "Stupid Pet/Human Tricks" and the Top Ten to CBS... Conan might not have any problems.

Considering how Conan had to work around direct references to NBC intellectual property at a recent concert in Eugene, OR, I wonder if it will be plausible come November.

Link to Conan singing "I Will Survive" at said concert:
http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2010/04/conan-obrien-on-tour-he-will-survive.html

 

[The Voice of Reason]

George Lopez was quoted as saying that he welcomes Conan and has no problem with his show being moved to midnight. Considering that nobody was watching his talk show anyways, Lopez might actually pick up some viewers after Conan's program.

In all fairness to Lopez, while he did complain about the cancellation of his show on ABC, his biggest complaint was that his co-stars and crew would be out of work. Yes he did toss in some remarks about discrimination against Hispanics, but considering that "Caveman" was his replacement, I can understand where the guy's coming from. That show (Caveman) lasted what...four episodes before it was cancelled? Lopez's sit com was on the air for several years and it was funny.