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TBS Says Conan Won't Be Going Weekly 'At This Time'
(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Turner)
Update [1:45]: Not so fast. It turns out that, for now at least, Conan O'Brien's show on TBS will remain nightly. "At this time, we have no plans to change the format or frequency of his popular TBS show," TBS president Kevin Reilly said said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. In addition to Conan's daily responsibilities to his talk show, we continue to have very ambitious plans that will further broaden and evolve our relationship with Conan."
When speaking to Variety, Reilly still kept open the possibility of changes to the format of O'Brien's show. When asked if it was switching to a weekly format, he simply said, "Maybe," but added that no decision would be made until at least spring.
Our original story is below.
As if a new year under President Donald Trump wasn't already looking bad enough, it now appears that we won't even be able to count on Conan O’Brien for nightly laughs. On Wednesday night, Turner CEO John Martin told The Wrap that TBS is planning to "retool" the late-night talk show Conan from a nightly format to a weekly one. Martin cited the overcrowded and competitive late-night market as part of the reason for the switch, but also told the site that the show still holds its own in ratings. (The Wrap contests this slightly, noting that "Conan regularly loses in Nielsen TV ratings to cable competition The Daily Show—and by a pretty decent margin.")
The new Conan will be a weekly, one-hour show, though it's not yet known when the switcheroo will occur. O'Brien has starred on Conan in its current incarnation on TBS since 2010. Before that, he helmed Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009.
Guess there goes any chance of 2017 shaping up to be better than 2016.
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