Canadians might be bleary-eyed if they want to watch Conan O'Brien's new talk show on CTV.
But fear not, the CTV-owned Comedy Network may yet ride to the rescue, a la Dudley Do-Right, saving some sleep for Conan-crazed Canucks from coast to coast.
CTV confirmed officially on Thursday that yes, it has acquired the new Conan O'Brien show, which debuts in November on U.S. cable network TBS (not available legally in Canada any more).
While Conan's show will air at 11 p.m. ET on TBS, CTV won't show Conan until 1 a.m. ET, Monday to Thursday. However, CTV indicated there's a good chance the Conan show will air earlier in the evening on the Comedy Network, too.
In recent years CTV has adopted a similar strategy with The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, airing those programs back-to-back starting at 11 p.m. ET on Comedy, and again starting at midnight on CTV.
Time slots aside, the CTV-Conan connection is significant in one regard and ironic in another.
Significant: Unlike the other new U.S. acquisitions CTV confirmed on Thursday - the most important being the new Simon Cowell reality-competition series The X Factor (Fox), which is coming in the fall of 2011 - had a Canadian network not picked up Conan, Canadians would not have been able to see Conan.
Ironic: In the United States, O'Brien was bounced from a major network (NBC, where he briefly hosted The Tonight Show) and landed on a cable channel (TBS). But in Canada, O'Brien is the only late-night host - including David Letterman, Jay Leno, Craig Ferguson, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon - whose show is on a major Canadian network. What a funny world it is.
On the Canadian front, The Marilyn Denis Show - a long-rumoured daytime project - will premiere this fall on CTV.
Confirmed-to-return Canadian series on CTV include Dan For Mayor (second season), Hiccups (second season), The Bridge (second season), Flashpoint (fourth season), The Listener (second season), So You Think You Can Dance Canada (third season) and Comedy Now! (13th season). Plus, CTV is part of the international co-production on the new series The Borgias.
Fall additions for CTV from south of the border include No Ordinary Family with Michael Chiklis (ABC), The Defenders with Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell (CBS), Law & Order: Los Angeles (NBC), William Shatner's controversially titled $#*! My Dad Says (CBS), and Blue Bloods with Tom Selleck (CBS).
Mid-season acquisitions include Paula Abdul's new competition series Got to Dance (CBS), the comedy Mr. Sunshine with Matthew Perry and Alison Janney (ABC), and the Criminal Minds spinoff Minds 2.0 with Forest Whitaker (CBS).
CTV's A affiliates have added three new U.S. series: Mike & Molly (CBS), Hellcats (CW) and Nikita (CW).
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