Coco's With TBS

In a move that surprised almost everyone, TBS announced today that they've signed a deal with Conan O'Brien for a late-night show that will begin in November. Timed perfectly to coincide with the launch of O'Brien's nationwide comedy/variety tour, the announcement comes on the heels of last week's reports that O'Brien and Fox were in late-stage negotiations to bring the deposed Tonight Show host to a network that could use the jolt that an O'Brien late-night show would bring as it prepares to bid adieu to longtime stalwart 24 and faces the prospect of a Simon Cowell-less American Idol in 2011 (and that's the first and last time you'll hear about American Idol on this site). The sticking point apparently was that not enough Fox affiliates would commit to airing O'Brien's show, leading Team Coco to head to TBS for a lucrative deal where O'Brien will own his own show (much like David Letterman does with The Late Show) and air four nights a week (Monday thru Thursday). This is a surprise as everyone and their mother expected Fox to finally exorcise the demons of late night failures such as Joan Rivers and Chevy Chase while giving O'Brien a network platform to compete with Satan... er... Jay Leno. Instead, O'Brien takes over George Lopez's timeslot (a move he reportedly was reluctant to make following Leno's coup but one that he proceeded with after receiving a personal call from Lopez asking him to join TBS) and immediately makes TBS a player in the Late Night Wars. A couple of opinions here - first, maybe cable is actually the best home for O'Brien. There will be less pressure (and likely less network interference) that will allow Conan to be Conan without receiving any bullshit feedback from morons like Dick Ebersol on how to dumb the show down so that it will appeal to Middle America. Secondly, hey Fox affiliate owners. You bunch of GD morons. You have a white-hot Conan O'Brien with a built-in fanbase looking to come to your network with an axe to grind against a direct competitor in Adolf Leno but you don't want to give up the timeslot currently occupied by Seinfeld reruns and effing TMZ? Really. Enjoy fourth place, bitches, 'cause that's where you're headed. You can only schedule So You Think You Can Dance (last time for that one on this site, too) so many times before it bites you in the ass. And do you really think that Glee is going to hold up as anything more than a fad? I mean, you know how this Ryan Murphy-helmed movie ends. It was an unwatchable cartoon called Nip/Tuck. Also, think about this - you just got scooped by effing TBS. TBS - the former home to WCW and Atlanta Braves games. Suck on that one. But, hey, you have eight-year-old Everybody Loves Raymond repeats to keep you warm at night, right? Right.