George Lopez Starts the Party Again in Latenight
The People's Comic Launches New TBS Series Nov. 9
Oct 16, 2009
From January 1989 to May 1994, comedian Arsenio Hall rocked the latenight wars with a syndicated series the likes of which had never been seen on TV before. The Arsenio Hall Show featured a stylish, irrepressible star of color, electrifying urban music, provocative guests and high-energy studio audiences.
A virtual video party five nights a week, Hall's show was an instant success and might still be on the air had it not been for Letterman; when he decided to sign with CBS in 1993 to host The Late Show With David Letterman, the CBS affiliates who had been carrying Hall dropped him to accommodate their network's new acquisition. After a frantic scramble to secure new stations, The Arsenio Hall Show was cancelled the following spring.
Lopez – himself an irrepressible star of color – remembers that era, and hopes to recapture it when his Lopez Tonight premieres at 11 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays beginning Nov. 9 on cable's TBS.
"I talked to Arsenio Hall about this show," says Lopez, the spontaneous Mexican American comic who wrote, produced and starred in the groundbreaking hit sitcom George Lopez for six seasons and was the focus of the award-winning documentary Brown Is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream. "His show was always fun. It's time to get back to the kind of show that is fun for everybody to watch.
"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. We don't want to do anything but make the show fun for everybody to watch."
Watercooler Conversation?
TBS sent out mini-watercoolers to TV critics nationwide in promoting the show, suggesting that what happens on Lopez Tonight will be watercooler conversation the next morning. Lopez is aware, however, that his isn't the only new show that will be fighting for "Did you see that?" buzz. With Saturday Night Live alum Tim Meadows set to emcee The Very Funny Show (also on TBS) and comedian Wanda Sykes bringing a new talk show to FOX, the latenight field is not only becoming more cluttered, but also more diverse.
"As the country changes and people become more familiar with comedy and comedians, it's natural that there will be more diversity," says Lopez, 48. It's not your father's America anymore."
Lopez has landed keyboardist and composer Michael Bearden, the musical director for Michael Jackson's ill-fated "This Is It" concert tour, as conductor of his studio band, and has a corps of veteran television executives behind the scenes. Jim Paratore, executive producer of Lopez Tonight, is top man behind The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Bonnie Hunt Show and has developed high-profile series ranging from Jenny Jones to TMZ.
"It's really a very beautiful position to be in," Lopez says. "There's competition in every business. I believe there's an audience out there that's underserved, plus music and comedians that haven't been heard. I don't feel any pressure to do anything other than what I've been doing for the last 30 years, which is making people laugh and entertaining them."
Keep the Audience Guessing
He vows that the format of Lopez Tonight won't be the same every night. "I'm just trying to have a party, and parties are spontaneous," he says. "I don't want to see a monologue open every show. Some nights there will be a great guest or a great musical act opening the show. Why would you not bring out somebody fantastic early to get the party started?"
And although his commercials exhort viewers to "remember the three L's – Lopez, latenight and 'leven o'clock" – he hopes they'll also remember his location on TBS, a cable channel not known for its latenight programming. "TBS is great because it has an incredibly diverse audience," Lopez says. "Between Tyler Perry doing what he's doing, which he's amazing at, movies, sitcoms, and me. It's a Neopolitan network."
For more information, go to www.lopeztonight.com.
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