Froodee

Living. Blogging.

Conan Offers Early Preview Online

By

Conan O’Brien continues his experiments with various forms of media to promote his upcoming show on TBS. On the heels of his 24-hour “Live Coco Cam” webcast last week, Conan’s crew is putting together “Show Zero,” a sort of dress rehearsal for the new show that’s airing online a week ahead of the show’s launch.

Conan debuts on Monday, November 8th, but “Show Zero” will be webcast on TeamCoco.com, YouTube, and Facebook, on Monday, November 1st at 11:pm EST / 8:pm PST. Conan will host, with help from Andy Richter and his new “Basic Cable Band.” The preview show will also feature some surprise celebrity guests. 🙂

Anderson Cooper: The New Oprah?

By

There are many who would take up the mantle that Oprah Winfrey is laying down at the end of this season, when she departs her show for good (in order to start OWN, her own cable network). The latest to throw his hat into the ring is none other than Oprah’s newsy pal Anderson Cooper.

Cooper will still host Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, but his new daytime talk show will go into nation-wide syndication starting next Fall. The new show is being produced by Warner Bros. TV (sister company to CNN), which currently produces The Ellen Degeneres Show and produced The Rosie O’Donnell Show for the six years it was on the air.

WBTV says that Cooper’s yet-to-be-titled talk show will “cover social issues, trends and events, pop culture and celebrity, human interest stories, and populist news.” It’s also expected to allow Anderson to show off more of his personality than the news magazine-style 360 does.

Watch Conan arrive at TBS

By

Never before have I seen throngs of employees gathered to worship the man who is giving every one of them job security. Yes, Conan O’Brien has finally arrived at the TBS offices after his nationwide concert tour, to set to work on his new talk show. I have no idea if he expected to see this kind of crowd waiting for him at the TBS home offices in Atlanta or not, but it’s nice that he took the time to address the people gathered there.

As they scream and cheer when he exits his vehicle, the phrase “lord and savior” keeps coming to mind…

Conan has a new show – on TBS

By

Conan O’Brien has found his new network home, and it’s the last place anyone expected: TBS. Debuting in November, Conan’s new hour-long show will air at 11:pm Monday through Thursday, and will be followed by George Lopez’ talk/comedy hour.

Since NBC asked O’Brien to step down from The Tonight Show so Jay Leno could return, the smart money has been on Fox becoming the comic’s new home. But complications arose during negotiations with Fox, which allowed TBS to swoop in at the last minute with an offer Conan found too good to refuse: create and own your show. TBS has reportedly given Conan a blank check (metaphorically) to do basically anything he wants, on the show.

While some may wonder why O’Brien would go with a cable network that’s not known for its original shows, instead of a higher-profile gig like Fox, there is some strong logic to his decision. Fox would have put more pressure on O’Brien to deliver big ratings, while TBS can be more than satisfied with the numbers his established audience will bring. Essentially, Conan will be a very big fish in a very small pond — while working one less night a week (Friday nights are devoted to movies at TBS). And TBS will gain some much-needed cred among younger, hipper viewers.

It’s win-win.

George Lopez, whose show will be bumped from its current 11:pm time slot to midnight, was apparently instrumental in convincing O’Brien to sign on with TBS, calling O’Brien personally to ask that he consider joining the network’s line-up.

Conan offered put his signature spin on the situation by saying, “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.”

There’s no word yet on whether O’Brien will bring along his entire team to the new show, or his frequent collaborator Andy Richter.

Leno’s Star-Studded Return on the Tonight Show

By

Jay Leno will be returning to the Tonight Show slot next week. Come Monday the verdict on how people will react to the “re-toss up” of NBC’s late night lineup will known.

Leno is obviously trying to stack things up in his favor by getting big stars with lots of drawing power as guests for the entire month of March. On March 1 fisrt up will be Jamie Foxx, Lindsey Vonn (Winter Olympics gold medal skier)and Brad Paisley. The rest of the month will feature equally big (if not bigger) stars or at least equally controversial ones like Morgan Freeman, Meredith Viera, Kristen Stewart, Simon Cowell, Kim Kardashian, Colbie Caillat,Sarah Palin (March 2), and the cast of Jersey Shore (March 3).

Leno is obviously nervous about what will happen especially with the uproar Conan fans made after Leno’s decision to agree to go back. As he said to Oprah the decision was “agonizing” but “Who wouldn’t do that [host the Tonight Show]”? Let’s wait and see if the people will greet him warmly or if he does indeed just have”rose-color glasses” and if things will “fall apart” despite his star-studded gues list.

Let’s hope things work out for him or NBC will once again be faced with the humiliating job of scrambling around trying to fix their botched up lineup.