TBS Cancels Lopez Tonight

If you’re a fan of TBS’ late night talk show Lopez Tonight, there’s bad news. TBS is pulling the plug on the series. And for more bad news (might as well pull the bandage off quickly), tomorrow night’s episode will be the series finale.

The Hollywood Reporter posted the news, crediting a network spokesperson for the information. Thursday night’s episode will be the last new Lopez Tonight episode for the series as TBS has decided not to order a third season.

The late night talk show wasn’t showing strong numbers, and the ratings have slipped since the first season. Conan O’Brien’s arrival at TBS might have helped the series, bringing fans of the popular late night talk show host to the network who would perhaps stick around to watch George Lopez do his thing after O’Brien’s hour wrapped up. There was also the chance that being bumped back to midnight would hurt Lopez Tonight, regardless of the visibility Conan might bring the show. Midnight is after all, an hour later than eleven and thus, an hour closer to the time many people have to get up for work the following morning.

I don’t watch Conan every night, but it’s always set to record, if only to default my DVR to TBS at the end of my regularly scheduled TV viewing each night. If I do watch it, it’s usually the first half. I rarely make it to the end of the episode, so what airs afterward makes no difference to me. The LT cancellation does give me cause for concern as far as Conan’s fate goes. Hopefully, this isn’t a sign that TBS is considering abandoning the talk show format entirely. At this point, I'm thinking good news for Conan would be if TBS were to announce that another talk show (or some other comedy-themed project) was being brought in to take over the LT spot.