George Lopez and TBS Get Ready to Change the Late-Night Landscape With Groundbreaking New Talk Show Launching in November

George Lopez and TBS Get Ready to Change the Late-Night Landscape With Groundbreaking New Talk Show Launching in November

High-Energy Show from Telepictures Productions and Warner Horizon Television To Break Late-Night Mold with Outdoor Street-Party Atmosphere, Live Musical and Comedy Performances and Celebrity Appearances

ATLANTA, March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The late-night landscape is about to shift when comedian and actor George Lopez headlines a new talk show for TBS. The program - from 2.2 Productions, paraMedia Inc. and Telepictures Productions, in association with Warner Horizon Television - will bring the excitement back to late night with an outdoor street-party atmosphere and a high-energy crowd. The fun will include visits from celebrity guests, live music and comedy acts and the benefit of George's own flair and personality. Lopez and Jim Paratore (The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Bonnie Hunt Show) serve as the executive producers for the not-yet-titled series, which will air on TBS Mondays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. (ET/PT), beginning in November 2009.

While high-energy, Lopez's new series will feature a casual environment that invites guests to engage fully with the crowd, giving audience members the chance to interact with the guests, ask questions and walk away feeling as though they've experienced something new.

"George Lopez is a special talent, with an everyman appeal that makes him uniquely positioned to be the next great late-night host," said Michael Wright, executive vice president, head of programming for TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). "George and TBS are going to change the late-night television landscape and bring a brand-new energy to the talk-show genre by giving it a street-party atmosphere. We're excited to see this show come to life."

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

"George Lopez is one of the most talented, popular and successful comedic performers today, and we are thrilled to partner with him and with TBS on a nightly talk-variety show," said Hilary Estey McLoughlin, president of Telepictures Productions. "He has an extraordinary ability to authentically connect with a diverse audience and will bring a really different point of view that will be a game-changer in late night."

Executive producer Jim Paratore said, "George will bring a fresh voice to late-night talk. He's done it all, from standup to television to movies. He's a proven writer, producer and performer with the kind of broad appeal that will have real impact and speak to an audience largely underserved in late night."

The new talk show represents Lopez's return to series television after co-creating, writing, producing and starring in Warner Bros. Television's groundbreaking hit sitcom George Lopez, which ran for six seasons on ABC. George Lopez remains a hit with viewers in syndication on both broadcast stations and cable's Nick at Nite, ranking as one of the top-rated shows on the network and among the top five comedies and top 20 weekly programs in syndication. George Lopez is one of only four off-net comedies to post weekly ratings gains among households from the 2007-08 to 2008-09 season.

Lopez has risen to become one of the premier comedic talents in the entertainment industry. He has been praised by audiences and critics alike for his work in television, film and standup, as well as his extensive charity work with various foundations.

Lopez's most recent film credits include the box-office hit Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Swing Vote, Henry Poole Is Here and Balls of Fury. He will next be seen starring opposite Jackie Chan in The Spy Next Door and Mr. Troop Mom, with Jane Lynch.

In August, Lopez will film his second HBO Comedy Special, Tall, Dark and Chicano. He headlined his first HBO Comedy Special, America's Mexican, in 2007. Lopez has also performed as part of HBO and TBS's Comic Relief 2006. His acclaimed comedy concert, Why You Crying?, debuted on Showtime in 2004. Lopez released his third standup CD, El Mas Chingon, in 2006, earning a Grammy nomination in the category of Best Comedy Album. Prior to that, in 2004, he was nominated for a Grammy in the same category for his CD Team Leader. In May 2004, his autobiography, Why You Crying?, entered The New York Times Bestsellers Top 20. The book was co-written by Emmy(R)-winning writer and sportscaster Armen Keteyian. Lopez also was the focus of the award-winning documentary Brown is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream.

In 2006, Lopez received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition, Time magazine named him one of the 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America, and the Harris Poll named him one of the Top Ten Favorite Television Personalities. Lopez has made more than 200 television comedy, talk show and hosting appearances, including co-hosting the Emmy Awards and twice hosting the Latin Grammys. In 2001, Lopez hosted a major morning radio show in Los Angeles, becoming the first Latino to headline the key morning slot on an English-language station in one of the nation's top radio markets.

In 2005, Lopez received a kidney transplant with a kidney donated by his wife, Ann. They have since become spokespeople for the National Kidney Foundation, helping to raise millions of dollars for the cause. Lopez was presented with the Artist of the Year and Humanitarian Award by Harvard University and the Spirit of Liberty Award by the American Way. He has received the Manny Mota Foundation Community Spirit Award and was named Honorary Mayor of Los Angeles for his extensive fundraising efforts benefiting earthquake victims in El Salvador and Guatemala. Other honors include an Imagen Vision Award, the Latino Spirit Award and the National Hispanic Media Coalition Impact Award.

For the 2008-09 season, Telepictures Productions, an industry-leading and Emmy-winning producer of syndicated programming (having garnered 54 Emmys in 12 years, including Outstanding Talk Show/Talk Show Host for 10 of the last 12 years), is producing eight nationally syndicated strips. Telepictures launched the critically acclaimed The Bonnie Hunt Show, a talk-variety show that is a combination of the best of the classic format, heartfelt human-interest stories and invaluable takeaway that real women can use in their everyday lives. The slate also includes the sixth season of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, winner of four consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Talk Show and four for Outstanding Talk Show Host; the second season of TMZ, the half-hour series that brings the TMZ.com brand to television, expanding upon the Web site's mission as a 24-hour-per day, seven-day-per week entertainment news destination providing a fresh, unfiltered look at celebrities and their real lives; the fourth season of the Emmy-winning The Tyra Banks Show, a one-hour, daily talk show serving as a young woman's guide to life, hosted by Tyra Banks; the 10th season of the hour-long court series Judge Mathis; the 25th season of The People's Court; and the 15th season of the pop culture newsmagazine Extra. In addition, Telepictures also launched Judge Jeanine Pirro, a one-hour daily court program airing at 3 p.m. on The CW, featuring Jeanine Pirro, the former Westchester County (N.Y.) District Attorney and county judge, highly respected legal commentator and author and champion of women's rights. Telepictures is focused on expanding in the broadband and wireless content landscape, launching Momlogic.com, a new online destination and cross-platform advertising network created as the ultimate lifestyle and parenting community for women with children. Telepictures has also teamed up with Time Inc.'s Essence Communications on a cross-divisional collaboration to launch Essence.com as the ultimate online destination for African-American women.

Warner Horizon Television (WHTV) is one of the entertainment industry's fastest-growing television companies, specializing in the creation of scripted series for the cable marketplace and primetime reality series for both network and cable. Founded in 2006, this second production entity allows the Warner Bros. Television Group to expand its programming offerings and explore creative options made possible under a new business model. Current series produced by WHTV include unscripted programs The Bachelor, Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew, The Bachelorette, High School Reunion, True Beauty, The Cougar, Here Come the Newlyweds and the upcoming There Goes the Neighborhood, among others. On the scripted side, WHTV produces the TNT drama Trust Me, as well Jerry Bruckheimer Television's forthcoming police drama Dark Blue and the political thriller Rubicon. In total, WHTV has 12 series currently airing or scheduled to debut during 2009.

TBS, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., is television's top-rated comedy network. It serves as home to such original comedy series as My Boys, The Bill Engvall Show, Tyler Perry's House of Payne and Meet the Browns; hot contemporary comedies like The Office, My Name is Earl, Sex and the City, Everybody Loves Raymond, Family Guy, King of Queens, Seinfeld and Friends; specials like Funniest Commercials of the Year; special events, such as TBS Presents A "Very Funny" Festival: Just For Laughs in Chicago; blockbuster movies; and hosted movie showcases.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

This information can also be accessed on TBS, Inc.'s press site at
news.turner.com.
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Source: TBS

CONTACT: Michelle Sisco, Atlanta, +1-404-885-4784,
michelle.sisco@turner.com, or Heather Sautter, Atlanta, +1-404-885-0746,
heather.sautter@turner.com, or Eileen Quast, Los Angeles, +1-818-977-2336,
eileen.quast@turner.com, or Diane Herzog, Los Angeles, +1-818-977-5479,
diane.herzog@turner.com, or Susan Ievoli, New York, +1-212-275-8016,
susan.ievoli@turner.com, all of TBS

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