George Lopez, TBS get in late-night game

By Rick Porter, Zap2It.com | March 24, 2009

George Lopez

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Talk show set to premiere in the fall

In a year of upheaval in the late-night talk-show world, TBS will try to carve out a spot for itself with a show starring comedian George Lopez.

The show, which is scheduled to premiere in November, will feature Lopez hosting from "an outdoor street party atmosphere" that will encourage both Lopez and his guests to interact with the audience. Lopez will also executive produce the show with Jim Paratore ("The Ellen DeGeneres Show").

"George Lopez is a special talent, with an everyman appeal that makes him uniquely positioned to be the next great late-night host," Turner programming chief Michael Wright says. "George and TBS are going to change the late-night television landscape."

Adds Lopez, "If change can come to the White House, then change can come to late night. Yes I can!"

Lopez's show will join a late-night slate that will soon include a new "Tonight Show" host in Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon as O'Brien's "Late Night" replacement as well as established shows like CBS' "Late Show" and "Late Late Show," ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and Comedy Central's "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report." Current "Tonight" host Jay Leno will be moving into primetime with a nightly NBC show at 10 ET.

Lopez starred in an eponymous sitcom on ABC from 2002-07. His second HBO special, "Tall, Dark and Chicano," is slated to premiere this summer. He co-starred in "Swing Vote" and did voice work on "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" last year.