I wrote a story a few weeks ago in response to a Wall Street Journal piece addressing Conan's first year with his new show and his continuing relationship with TBS. The short of it was that Conan's ratings started strong (likely due to a lot of help from the drama surrounding his departure from NBC) but they quickly began to decline and continued to do so throughout the first year, dropping about 60%. In spite of this TBS has signed on for a second year of his talk show, with rumors of a third still floating. They also gave Conan a huge vote of confidence, calling him "the centerpiece of our network".
And today TBS continued to walk the walk regarding their support for Conan. According to a THR exclusive, Conan has sold a comedy pilot to TBS. The pilot is set to be a multicamera comedy for a half-hour slot. Here's what we know about the setting so far: the pilot will follow a family man who quits his day job and returns to the neighborhood where he grew up. He reunites with his former best friend there. And that's it. It's not much and it isn't anything out of the ordinary, but the news that Conan might have a second show, alone, is probably enough to get Conan fans watering at the mouth. It's not clear just how involved he will be, but if the project is successful I can only imagine it will do good things for his late night program with TBS. EPs will include Conan O'Brien, Jeff Ross, and David Kissinger. Ben Wexler, Ross Novie, and Jay Rondot will write. Production on the pilot begins later this year.
