‘Conan’ To Switch To A Weekly Format

TBS’s popular late night talk show Conan, starring host Conan O’Brien, will make the switch from nightly to weekly, though the timing of the change has not yet been announced.

CONAN TO CHANGE TO WEEKLY FORMAT

Turner CEO John Martin confirmed the planned change, but a statement released by the channel said the formatting change would not be at this time. “TBS is planning to retool… Conan to a weekly format instead of a nightly one,” Martin said. The statement, however, gave conflicting and confusing information.

“As the media landscape continues to evolve, Conan will continue to lead the evolution of what a talk show will be in the digital age. At this time, we have no plans to change the format or frequency of his popular TBS show,” the statement read. “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.”

One major reason for the switch is that late night TV has become so competitive in the last decade, and Conan constantly loses viewers and ratings to The Daily Show on Comedy Central. In fact, Conan is last in total viewership for late night talk shows. Martin was clear to say, however, that O’Brien will play an important role in the TBS lineup for years to come.

TBS also found success with Samantha Bee‘s show Full Frontal, which, as a weekly show, did quite well in the ratings, especially during election season. Another reason for the change, though probably more minor, is that O’Brien saw a lot of popularity when he did shows abroad. He took his show to Cuba, Germany, South Korea, and other locations, and the ratings rose during that time.