"Lopez Tonight" May Be Canceled

[Brian Damage]

The future is not looking so bright for TBS latenight series "Lopez Tonight."

Sources say Turner Broadcasting recently informed host George Lopez and the show's producer, Telepictures Prods., that it needs more time to decide whether the strip will get a third season.

That's a troubling sign given the ratings for Lopez's show have been dropping this year despite having Conan O'Brien come in last November as a lead-in. Though "Conan" bumped "Tonight" to midnight, TBS hoped Lopez would get increased visibility in the later timeslot thanks to O'Brien.

But after a brief increase in late 2010, "Tonight" is dropping across key demos including total viewers, from an average of 810,000 in the last quarter of last year to 544,000 in the second quarter of this year to date.

"Conan" ratings are also down compared with its launch numbers. After averaging nearly 1.95 million total viewers in the fourth quarter of last year, it has dropped to 1.09 million in the second quarter of this year to date.

While TBS has opted not to grant "Tonight" an early renewal, the cabler still has until August to decide whether it wants to stick with the show, which would go into production on a new season in November.

Lopez, who appeared at Turner's upfront presentation last week, is said to be hopeful that he will be brought back for another season.

Turner and Telepictures declined comment. A call to representatives for Lopez was not returned.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037562?refCatId=14

[ryan423]

I've been predicting this since January. If Conan is averaging a little over a million, good retention would be in the 800,000-1mil range, no? I like Lopez, and I think he is a good host, but, the show IS NOT funny.

"Give me a better writing staff, and I'll give you a better show" is how Lopez should be approaching TBS executives. But just like when ABC canceled his sitcom, he'll play the race card. I remember reading that he was complaining about how ABC didn't want a "minority sitcom" back when it was canceled in 2007. I mean, it's ashamed it was canceled, because it was a funny sitcom, but like many others, I had no idea it was even a show until it ran on Nick@Nite, and now I'm a fan!

TBS needs a Fallon-type personality to place at 12 if they cancel Lopez. They need a host with combatibility with Conan O'Brien, and someone who galvanizes the 18-49 better than Lopez does.

[icecream]

I liked the George Lopez sitcom for awhile. But I tried the monologue of Lopez Tonight once, thought it was really unfunny.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...two things will determine whether George stays on or not: certainly the ratings, and whether TBS is willing to hand out more money for him to continue next season {"does the response to the show justify what we're paying Lopez for it?"}. After all, they've already paid "through the nose" for Conan O'Brien's services, and his ratings aren't that spectacular. But he's a better bet right now than Lopez is. Maybe there's room for only ONE late night talk show on TBS now....