‘Conan’ staying on TBS through 2018

“Conan” will remain on TBS for several more years, the cable channel announced Wednesday (May 14).

TBS has renewed its late-night show through 2018, which will mark eight years on cable for host Conan O’Brien. The previous deal for the show was set to expire in 2015.

“Conan” draws a shade under 900,000 viewers per show and delivers strong results among the young-adults crowd TBS targets. The show has also seen a ratings uptick recently.

“Over the past four years, we have built a terrific relationship with Conan O’Brien and are thrilled to be extending his series for another three years,” says Michael Wright, president and head of programming for TBS, TNT and TCM. “Conan has not only brought an incredibly young audience to TBS but has also created a digital presence that draws millions of fans to his unique brand of comedy.”

O’Brien will become the longest-serving host in late night next year following David Letterman’s retirement.

Neil Patrick Harris Says He Declined to Take Over ‘Late Show’ at CBS

Neil Patrick Harris has a long history of success at the CBS network, from his starring role on “How I Met Your Mother” to his multiple Emmy wins for hosting the Tony Awards. So it should come as no surprise that CBS was interested in the multitalented actor to replace David Letterman on “The Late Show.”

Harris confirmed the news on Wednesday’s Howard Stern show that, before CBS hired Stephen Colbert for the “Late Show” post, network chief Leslie Moonves and entertainment head Nina Tassler pitched him the idea of taking over for either Letterman in the 11:30 slot or for outgoing Craig Ferguson at 12:30.

“They called me in and sat me down and asked if that would be something that I’d be interested (in),”’ he told Stern, revealing that the duo even served him “fantastic” sushi at Moonves’ New York office.

“I felt like I knew what my skill sets were, and I kind of knew what it is that I wanted to do after the show with (Moonves), so I was surprised he pitched me that idea,” Harris adds.

Harris ultimately declined the opportunity because he didn’t have much of an interest in hosting a nightly show for a long time.

“I think I would get bored of the repetition fast,” Harris admitted.

But Harris isn’t ruling out the possibility of a weekly show at CBS. In fact, he pitched the executives the idea of hosting a variety program in the vein of “SNL.”

‘Parks and Recreation’ to end after season 7

Your days in Pawnee are numbered: NBC announced on Sunday that season 7 of Parks and Recreation will be its last.

The small-town government comedy starring Amy Poehler will wind up its adventures this coming season, news that may sadden many fans but probably not come as a shock. Like the just-canceled Community, the beloved show has struggled in the ratings, drawing 3.7 million viewers and a 1.6 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic, including DVR playback, and series executive producer Michael Schur told EW last month that it was “fairly likely” that the show would wrap up at the end of season 7. “The natural rhythm of the show and the big creative jump we take at the end of this season certainly suggests that we’re moving in that direction,” he said, referencing the season 6 finale twist in which the last scene was set three years in the future.

The final season was not given a premiere date in the announcement of the 2014-15 schedule, and NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke said in a statement that the show would be held for midseason.

Debuting in the spring of 2009, Parks and Recreation got off to a lukewarm start before making some creative adjustments (including the addition of Adam Scott and Rob Lowe) in season 2 that helped propel the show onto critics’ Top 10 lists and cultivate a passionate fan base. The charming and clever mockuseries was nominated for the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy in 2011, and Poehler took home a Golden Globe for her role as the ever-optimistic government employee Leslie Knope in January. The show also passed the 100th-episode milestone that month.

“We felt it was time to bring #ParksandRec to a close,” Schur tweeted this afternoon. “NBC has been nothing but supportive. A happy network TV story.”
NBC revealed today that Parenthood will enter its final season this fall as well.

Neil Young and Jack White booked for ‘The Tonight Show’

One of Jimmy Fallon’s most well-known characters is his impression of Neil Young. But on May 12, the host of The Tonight Show won’t need to don the hat and wig — the rock legend himself will be appearing on the late-night show.

Well, not by himself — Young will be joined by Jack White, who worked with the Canadian icon on his new album, A Letter Home. White, meanwhile, has his own new album to promote, Lazaretto, due in June.

Bonus reason to stay up late Monday night: Louis C.K. will also be appearing on the episode.

The Tonight Show airs weeknights at 11:35 ET on NBC.

NBC renews ‘Hannibal,’ ‘Boy,’ but cancels ‘Community’

A kid and a killer will both be back on NBC, but school is out for the folks at Greendale Community College.

The network Friday picked up a second season of the comedy About a Boy and, in somewhat of a surprise, a third season of the drama Hannibal. It also canceled cult favorite Community, which stars Joel McHale and this season featured the return of creator Dan Harmon.

Hannibal follows the cat-and-mouse intrigue between Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and murderer Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen). The Friday series averages just 3.6 million viewers, but NBC touts the young median age of its audience compared to other dramas in the final hour of prime time (10 p.m. ET/PT) plus substantial time-shifted viewing.

About a Boy, a midseason addition, looks at what happens when a single mom (Minnie Driver) and her son (Benjamin Stockham) move in next door to a self-involved but good-hearted man (David Walton). It has averaged 8.3 million viewers this season and is beating comedic competitors in its half-hour in young adults. Jason Katims (Parenthood) is an executive producer.

NBC already has picked up new seasons of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Parks and Recreation.

Larry Wilmore to replace Colbert on Comedy Central

NEW YORK (AP) — Writer-comic Larry Wilmore of “The Daily Show” has earned Stephen Colbert’s coveted Comedy Central timeslot following Jon Stewart each night.

Wilmore, who’s black, will add a different perspective to a late-night landscape dominated by white men.

The network said “The Minority Report” will provide a platform for “underrepresented voices in comedy and media.” It was created and will be produced by Stewart, who will continue to host “The Daily Show.”

Colbert, a fellow “Daily Show” alumnus who was rewarded with his own show a decade ago, is wrapping “The Colbert Report” at the end of this year and will take over for David Letterman at CBS’ “Late Show” next year.

Comedy Central president Michele Ganeless said network officials were “thrilled to be expanding our relationship with Jon Stewart and Busboy Productions and are looking forward to the world getting to know Larry Wilmore even better.”

Wilmore will move from his Los Angeles base to New York to tape his new series.

“I’m beyond excited to have this chance to continue my relationships with Comedy Central and the brilliant Jon Stewart,” he said. “I love the city of New York and promise to only wear my Laker T-shirts when I’m layering.”

Stewart, calling Wilmore “a brilliant comic and showrunner,” joked that “this is all just a complicated ruse to get him to move to New York and turn him into a Knicks fan.”

The 52-year-old Wilmore serves as Senior Black Correspondent on “The Daily Show,” which he joined in 2006. Before that he had written for “In Living Color,” ”The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “The Jamie Foxx Show.” He co-created the animated series “The PJs” with Eddie Murphy as well as the critically acclaimed “Bernie Mac Show.”

More recently, he served as executive producer of ABC’s comedy “Black-ish,” which just received a series pickup.

Just who would fill the vacancy left by Colbert has spurred a guessing game in recent weeks. An obvious successor would have been John Oliver, who left “The Daily Show” for an HBO program, “Last Week Tonight,” which premiered in April. A presumed candidate: “At Midnight,” a comedic trivia show hosted by Chris Hardwick that has gained a following since premiering last fall. It will remain in place, following “The Minority Report.”

Wilmore’s new show isn’t the first Comedy Central venture to give a minority slant to satire. In fall 2008, the weekly “Chocolate News” was hosted by David Alan Grier, but it lasted just one season.

Ferguson to leave CBS’ ‘Late Late Show’

The late-night landscape continues its upheaval.

During Monday’s taping of CBS’ The Late Late Show, host Craig Ferguson told his studio audience that he will be leaving the talk show (12:37 a.m. ET/PT) in December.

“CBS and I are not getting divorced, we are ‘consciously uncoupling,’ but we will still spend holidays together and share custody of the fake horse and robot skeleton, both of whom we love very much,” Ferguson said in a statement.

No successor has been named for Ferguson, 51, who took over the show in January 2005.

Ferguson’s announcement comes just weeks after David Letterman, whose Late Showprecedes The Late Late Show on CBS, told viewers that he plans to retire next year. Letterman’s Worldwide Pants produces Ferguson’s show, and he was contractually promised Letterman’s chair when he retired.

But a week after Letterman’s April 3 announcement, CBS hired Stephen Colbert, who now anchors Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, to replace him. Ferguson was not considered a candidate for the opening. His contract is up this year.

Colbert will go up against NBC’s The Tonight Show, where Jimmy Fallon succeeded longtime host Jay Leno in February, and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. On Sunday, John Oliver, who filled in for Jon Stewart as host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show last summer, premiered his new HBO late-night show, Last Week Tonight. CBS last summer approached Oliver about taking Ferguson’s slot, before he signed with HBO.

Before The Late Late Show, Ferguson, a Scottish actor and writer, was best known to American audiences for playing Nigel Wick on The Drew Carey Show. For an April Fools’ Day joke, he and Carey, who hosts CBS’ The Price Is Right, traded hosting duties on April 1.

Ferguson, who was joined on the show by sidekicks Geoff the robot skeleton and Secretariat the fake horse, took the show to Paris and his native Scotland. The Late Late Show won a Peabody Award in 2010 for Ferguson’s interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Ferguson is working on several projects, including hosting a syndicated game show,Celebrity Name Game, that is scheduled to premiere in the fall.

“During his 10 years as host, Craig has elevated CBS to new creative and competitive heights at 12:30,” CBS Entertainment chairman Nina Tassler said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “He infused the broadcast with tremendous energy, unique comedy, insightful interviews and some of the most heartfelt monologues seen on television.

She added: “While we’ll miss Craig and can’t thank him enough for his contributions to both the show and the network, we respect his decision to move on, and we look forward to celebrating his final broadcasts during the next eight months.”

NBC To Celebrate 40th Anniversary Of SNL With 3-Hour Special

NBC will air a three-hour live special on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015 , in celebration of the 40th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live.” The air date comes about eight months before the show originally debuted on the Peacock in the fall of 1975.

Past and present cast members, as well as special and musical guests from the show’s run, will appear on the telecast, with the specific lineup of guests to be determined in the coming months.

“This brand, which is still one of the highest-rated comedies on television, was the brainchild ofLorne Michaels, who still presides over the whole enterprise today,” said Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, in a statement. “This special is just one of the many ways we plan to celebrate ‘SNL’s historic 40th season next year.”

The “SNL” anniversary specials often serve as a time capsule of sorts, with major players from the program returning to reprise their old antics. In 1989, Chevy Chase opened a 15th anniversary special by doing one of the pratfalls that made him famous when he starred in the comedy program in its first season back in 1975. Bill Murray opened a 1999 25th anniversary special by doing his “Nick the Lounge Singer” character.

Fans of the latenight program will no doubt be watching to see if Michaels and NBC can convince actor Eddie Murphy to return to the show for the special. Murphy, who is one of the program’s most successful alumni, has never appeared on one of several specials that NBC has aired over the years to celebrate the show’s longevity.  Nor has he returned to the program in the way that other cast members like Tina Fey, Will Ferrell or Dan Aykroyd have. Murphy got his start on “SNL”  in the early 1980s, during a time when Michaels had left the program to pursue other ventures.

Other alumni of the show include Dana Carvey, Jon Lovitz, Adam Sandler, Mike Meyers, Kristen Wiig, Amy Poehler, Billy Crystal, Chris Rock and Maya Rudolph.

Chelsea Handler to end talk show after 7 years

TV presenter Chelsea Handler has decided to end her talk show, Chelsea Lately, after seven years on the air.

The comic has fronted her own late night chat series on the E! Network since 2007, but will not renew her contract for additional seasons.

Her manager Irving Azoff confirms the departure in a statement which reads: “Chelsea intends to leave when her contract expires. She hired me to figure out her life after E! We have at least seven suitors and many ideas.”

He adds that Handler is open to the possibility of hosting her own radio show or another TV talk show.

In addition to Chelsea Lately, Handler has written four best-selling memoirs and acted in several TV shows and films, including 2012’s This Means War with her friend Reese Witherspoon.

‘Saturday Night Live’: Louis C.K., Anna Kendrick and Seth Rogen to host

“Saturday Night Live” has announced three new episodes airing in March and April. Louis C.K., Anna Kendrick and Seth Rogen will be the hosts, while Sam Smith, Pharrell and Ed Sheeran will be the musical guests for these dates.

Louis C.K. is up first, hosting “SNL” for the second time on March 29. His hosting gig was announced earlier, but the addition of British artist Smith — making his show debut as the musical guest — is new.

Kendrick follows on April 5 in her “SNL” hosting debut. Pharrell is the musical guest, making his first solo appearance on the show.

Rogen gets the April 12 episode for his third hosting gig. British singer Sheeran will join Rogen as the musical guest.