Conan's New Show on... TBS?!!

"The good news: I will be doing a show on TBS starting in November! The bad news: I'll be playing Rudy on the all new Cosby Show."

The AP story HERE...

The program will air Mondays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. Eastern, shifting TBS' "Lopez Tonight," starring George Lopez, to midnight.

More from VARIETY...

O'Brien had been widely expected to seal a deal with Fox -- and execs at the broadcast network remained optimistic last week that a deal could eventually be hammered out.

But Fox was running into serious financial roadblocks in clearing a late night yakker.

It's was a given that divisions such as the Fox TV Stations, Twentieth Television and 20th Century Fox TV would all take at least a short-term financial hit should an O'Brien latenighter become a reality for Fox.

And given the off-net sitcom contracts that Fox's O&Os -- and most of its affiliates -- have in place, it was looking more likely that an O'Brien show would air at 11:30 p.m., and even midnight in some markets, instead of 11 p.m. after Fox affils' 10 p.m. newscasts.

Considering that O'Brien exited NBC after that network downgraded his timeslot, O'Brien likely didn't want to have to wait years to secure full in-pattern clearances on Fox across the country.

TBS, on the other hand, allows O'Brien to be seen virtually nationwide, in-pattern, immediately.

According to TBS, talks began in earnest just last week -- and after "Lopez Tonight" star George Lopez personally gave O'Brien a call.

"I can't think of anything better than doing my show with Conan as my lead-in," Lopez said. "It's the beginning of a new era in late-night comedy."

I don't know... a little disappointing to see him go from a major network to basic cable. The home of Tyler Perry "comedies", no less.