Conan O’Brien format change under consideration at TBS

LOS ANGELES - Turner is eyeing a major change for its resident late-night star.

Speaking with Variety Thursday, Turner Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly confirmed that the company is considering moving O'Brien's nightly late-night talk show 'Conan” to a weekly format.

'Maybe,” Reilly responded when asked about the possible move, which had been reported earlier Thursday. Noting that the network has several projects in the works with O'Brien, Reilly added, 'He has a very full plate in things that we're going to be going the next step on in the next six months, and that led him to ask me, ‘Well, how do we balance this with the talk show?'” He added, 'He's going to have a show on TBS for many years to come. Right now what form that takes in relation to these other endeavors is in flux. Is going to once a week a possibility? It is. That's going to come from him when he's ready to get his hands around that.”

Reilly said that no decision has been made about a format change and likely will not be made before spring.

Noting that O'Brien's current contract with Turner runs through 2018, Reilly said, 'You can anticipate that we will be going beyond that.” He said that Turner is not in active negotiations with O'Brien, and likely will not begin talks until some time between spring and fall.

News of a possible format change was first reported Thursday by the Wrap.

Turner executives have been encouraged by positive fan response to the comics on-location special episodes, which have seen him take the show abroad. O'Brien's 2013 Cuba special was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. Last year, TBS broadcast special episodes from Qatar, South Korea, and Germany.

TBS has garnered critical praise and positive buzz for its more recent venture with another late-night veteran, 'Daily show” alum Samantha Bee, whose 'Full Frontal” was nominated for an Emmy last year for outstanding writing in a Variety series. Although the show airs once a week in the primetime 10 p.m. hour, it is often compared to other weekly late-night style shows such as HBO's 'Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” and 'Real Time With Bill Maher.”

Representative for O'Brien and his production company Conaco directed questions regarding to the status of the comic's late-night show to Turner.

O'Brien launched his weeknight late show on TBS in 2010, after being bounced from his gig as host of 'The Tonight Show” on NBC. Though its audience skews far younger than other late-night programs, 'Conan” lags far behind other late-night comedy shows. For the week of Dec. 23, the most recent in which TBS aired original episodes of the show, 'Conan” drew an average 544,000 total viewers. 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” the most watched show in late night, drew 3.52 million.

O'Brien's contract with Turner was last renewed in 2014 and is set to expire next year.

A Turner spokesperson released the following statement Thursday: 'Conan remains an invaluable franchise, partner and producer for our TBS brand and we'll be in business with him for a long time. 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. 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.”