Conan Officially Leaving NBC, Last Tonight Show on Friday; ION Gets Emeril Lagasse For New Series

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Conan Officially Leaving NBC, Last Tonight Show on Friday; ION Gets Emeril Lagasse For New Series

NBC and Conan O'Brien have finally officially reached a resolution of the issues surrounding O'Brien's contract to host The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.
Under terms of an agreement (at about a $45 million buyout for he and his staff) that was signed earlier today, NBC and O'Brien will settle their contractual obligations and the network will release O'Brien from his contract, freeing him to pursue other opportunities after September 1, 2010.
O'Brien will make his final appearance as host of The Tonight Show tomorrow night (Friday, January 22). Jay Leno will take over The Tonight Show once again starting March 1 the night after the Winter Olympics end. The primetime Jay Leno Show will end after its Thursday, February 11 airing.
From Monday, January 25 through Thursday, Feb. 11, NBC will air repeats (at least Jan. 25-29, maybe guest hosts from Feb. 1-11?) of The Tonight Show, as the Winter Olympics will take over from Feb. 12-28, before Jay Leno returns.
NBC still has not mentioned a word about Last Call with Carson Daly. Is his show still going to on at 1:35am? Who knows. It is repeats half the year anyway...seriously. Anyway, Conan will be able to return to late night television on Sept. 1. But where? Tweet us where you think he'll end up? Fox, FX, TBS, or somewhere else?

Building on its 2009 momentum, ION Television today announced its first original non-scripted series, The Emeril Lagasse Show, a new weekly, entertainment television show featuring celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse. The original, primetime series will be recorded before a live studio audience and will capture Emeril's passion for people, entertainment, music, food and celebration. The hour long program will air on Sundays at 8:00pm ET/PT beginning Sunday, March 28.
The Emeril Lagasse Show will feature one of America's most popular chefs as he has never been seen before. Each week, Emeril will welcome celebrity guests, musicians and entertainers to break news and break bread as Emeril shares his world, his friends and his passions with the studio audience and viewers at home. A house band will be on set, playing live music and interacting with Emeril, guests and audience. The show also will include entertaining and surprising field pieces that will be shot in and around New York City where the show will be taped. TV veteran Karen Katz and After Five Productions, which executive produced Lagasse's long-running Food Network series, Emeril Live, will be executive producer of The Emeril Lagasse Show.
The Emeril Lagasse Show will be produced with innovative marketing opportunities that will appeal to advertisers from a broad range of categories. The show will be supported through traditional marketing and social media including Facebook where consumers can become a fan at Facebook.com/Emeril.
Stay with us in the coming weeks for our ION Television March 2010 highlights.

Don't forget the series premiere of The Deep End tonight at 8/7 central, right before Grey's Anatomy on ABC!

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Sunday, December 22

Bob's Burgers - "The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas" (Fox, 7:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When the power goes out two days before Christmas, The Belchers must spend the holiday at Mr. Fischoeder's family's old hunting lodge.

Krapopolis - "Krapocalypse" (Fox, 7:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Tyrannis is stuck in a time loop trying to save the city.

The Simpsons - "The Man Who Flew Too Much" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
The new and improved Pin Pals travel to Capital City for their first ever state bowling championship.

Universal Basic Guys - "The Devil You Know" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Mark insists on teaching his son Darren how to throw a handmade boomerang that was gifted to Darren by his father; the two soon find themselves on a trek deep into the Jersey woods; David is the recipient of a sex doll that he swears he didn't order.

The Great North - "The Lies Aquatic Adventure" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
While Beef is away, the Tobin fishing boat goes missing; the Tobin siblings wildly speculate on what could have happened.

Krapopolis - "National Lampoon's The Odyssey!" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
The family takes a vacation to Storgos for Shlub's mother's birthday.

Bob Hearts Abishola - "Full-Frontal Dottie" (The CW, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Excited by her physical therapy progress, Dottie insists she is ready to return to MaxDot, much to Bob, Douglas and Christina's dismay.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of December 16)

Friday, December 20

Jason Bateman (Arrested Development/George and Leo/Chicago Sons/Simon/The Hogan Family/It's Your Move/Silver Spoons) - Watch Jason on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Sharon Horgan (Bad Sisters/HouseBroken/Catastrophe) - Sharon is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Dwayne Johnson (Young Rock) - Dwayne appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Colton Dunn (Superstore) and Diona Reasonover (Clipped) - Colton and Diona are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Zachary Quinto (Big Mouth/So Notorious) - NBC's Today catches up with Zachary in the 9am hour.
Billy Eichner (Friends from College/Difficult People/Parks and Recreation) - Billy talks about Mufasa: The Lion King on NBC's Today in the 10am hour. He can also be heard on The Morning Mash Up on SiriusXM.
Kerry Washington (UnPrisoned) - Kerry talks about The Six Triple Eight on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am and on Sherri, so check your local listings.
James Marsden (30 Rock) and Ben Schwartz (The Afterparty/Space Force/Parks and Recreation) - James and Ben talk about Sonic the Hedgehog 3 on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
Jamie Lee Curtis (The Sticky/Anything But Love/Operation Petticoat) - Jamie Lee chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Whitney Cummings (Whitney) - Whitney talks about Max's Fast Friends on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - Access Daily with Mario & Kit has the best of Henry and Kit Hoover, so check your local listings.
Howie Mandel (Good Grief) - The Talk celebrates 15 seasons with a special finale episode; friend of the show Howie Mandel makes his 21st appearance on the show when he stops by one last time with a surprise for the hosts on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.