'Grey's' Isn't Going Anywhere
'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
Conan Is Coming Back To TV... on TBS
by Bob Sassone, posted Apr 12th 2010 1:15PM
The long wait is over. Right on the day that Conan O'Brien starts his cross-country tour in Oregon comes this rather large announcement: Conan is coming back to TV this November! But if you're thinking that he's going to do a late night show on FOX, you'd be mistaken. Instead, think "Very Funny."Joe Adalian at TheWrap.com (and Conan himself on Twitter) confirm that he's going to do a late night show on TBS. This is rather interesting, because everyone assumed that FOX would be the place that Conan would want to go to because they're the last "big" network where he could have a late night show. CBS and NBC already have something and while ABC was sorta mentioned in the mix, they're happy with 'Nightline' and 'Jimmy Kimmel Live.'
Congratulations to Conan. Honestly, this is a much better move for him than FOX would have been. Sure, FOX would have given him a bigger platform (if the affiliates would have been happy about it, which a lot of them weren't), but that bigger platform might have been his eventual downfall. There would have been more pressure to succeed and more pressure to succeed quickly.
All of the talk in the media would be "is he beating Leno yet?" This way, he's in a place where he can be Conan, and the people who are going to tune into TBS at 11PM ('Lopez Tonight' is going to move to midnight) will be his true loyal fans. I bet the whole NBC fiasco soured Conan on doing something major on a major network. But hey, TBS is pretty big on cable. It's not like he'll be doing a 1AM show on Lifetime ("Conan: Television For Women").
In other words, Conan has decided that instead of being a big fish in a big pond he's going to be a giant fish in a pretty big pond.
It's a good deal too. Not only is Conan getting the deal of his life, Adalian says that he's going to own the show as well. Right now Conan is doing that little string dance he did for 17 years on 'Late Night' and the four and a half minutes he had 'The Tonight Show.'
If I remember correctly, TBS was mentioned in the list of places Conan could end up, but it was down on the list, after networks like FOX and maybe even FX. So what do you think of this development? Is he making a mistake or is it the perfect fit? As usual, O'Brien gets off the best line about the situation: "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 should release a funny, mock-angry press release, saying that he refuses to go to midnight because if he does it will no longer be 'Lopez Tonight.'
I wonder if Jay will congratulate him on the show tonight?
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