George Lopez and TBS Get Ready to Change the Late-Night Landscape with Exciting New Series LOPEZ TONIGHT

George Lopez and TBS Get Ready to Change the Late-Night Landscape with Exciting New Series LOPEZ TONIGHT

High-Energy Show from Telepictures Productions To Break Late-Night Mold with Party Atmosphere, Live Musical and Comedy Performances and Celebrity Appearances LOPEZ TONIGHT Set to Air Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m. (ET/PT), Beginning Nov. 9

ATLANTA, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The late-night landscape is about to get a jolt of electricity when comedian and actor George Lopez headlines an all-new talk show for TBS. LOPEZ TONIGHT - from 2.2 Productions, paraMedia Inc. and Telepictures Productions - will bring the excitement back to late night with a party atmosphere and a high-energy crowd. Lopez, Jim Paratore (The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Bonnie Hunt Show) and Mike Gibbons (The Late Late Show) serve as the executive producers for LOPEZ TONIGHT, which will air on TBS Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m. (ET/PT), beginning Nov. 9.

LOPEZ TONIGHT will include guests from the worlds of entertainment, sports, pop culture and politics. The show will feature a street-party feel, with pumped-up music, audience interaction and a format that is open to change each day. Lopez cites The Arsenio Hall Show as one of his biggest influences. "It's time to get back to the kind of show that is fun for everybody to watch," he said.

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.

"There are enough heavy things going on every day that you should be able to sit down late at night, have a drink, relax and enjoy a party on television," Lopez said. "This is also going to be a place that includes everyone. There's a natural energy with everybody being there."

Musical director, keyboardist and composer Michael Bearden will serve as band leader for LOPEZ TONIGHT. Bearden has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry and was most recently the musical director for Michael Jackson's planned concert tour "This Is It."

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. Lopez's other credits include the movies 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, Mr. Troop Mom, with Jane Lynch and Valentine's Day, directed by Garry Marshall. Lopez's comedy specials include America's Mexican, Why You Crying? and the recent Tall, Dark and Chicago. He was also the focus of the award-winning documentary Brown is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream.

For the 2009-10 season, Telepictures Productions - an industry-leading and Emmy® Award-winning producer of syndicated programming (having garnered 59 Emmys® in 13 years, including Outstanding Talk Show/Talk Show Host for 11 of the last 13 years), is producing eight nationally syndicated strips. The slate includes the seventh 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 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 third season of TMZ, the half-hour series that brings the TMZ.com brand to television, expanding upon the website'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 fifth season of the Emmy® Award-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 11th season of the hour-long court series Judge Mathis; the 26th season of The People's Court; the 16th season of the pop culture newsmagazine Extra; the second season of Judge Jeanine Pirro, a one-hour daily court program, which airs on the Fox Television Stations , 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. In November 2009, Telepictures will add George Lopez's new late-night talk show, Lopez Tonight, airing on TBS to its slate. Telepictures is focused on expanding in the broadband and wireless content landscape, launching MomLogic.com, an 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 premier online destination for African-American women.

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, Tyler Perry's House of Payne and Meet the Browns, as well as the upcoming Neighbors from Hell; late-night series like the upcoming Lopez Tonight, starring George Lopez, and The Very Funny Show, hosted by Tim Meadows; hot contemporary comedies like The Office, My Name is Earl, Family Guy and Seinfeld; specials like Funniest Commercials of the Year; special events, including star-studded comedy festivals in Chicago and Las Vegas; 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.

Source: TBS

CONTACT: Heather Sautter, in Atlanta, +1-404-885-0746,
heather.sautter@turner.com, or Diane Herzog, in Los Angeles, +1-818-977-5479,
diane.herzog@turner.com, or Susan Ievoli, in New York, +1-212-275-8016,
susan.ievoli@turner.com all for TBS

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