“Lopez Tonight” Gets The Axe
August 11, 2011 The Laugh Button Staff News, Television
George Lopez is out of a job. TBS announced that the comedian’s late night talk show, Lopez Tonight is getting canceled after two seasons. Lopez’s last show will air tonight, with Eva Longoria, Benjamin Bratt, Ron Artest, Slash, and Russell Peters scheduled to appear.
Though the cancellation may seem sudden, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Lopez’ ratings have been hovering around a 0.2 rating with 400,000 viewers. Since moving from the 11pm time slot, ratings have apparently plummeted by 40%. One may point the finger at his lead-in Conan O’Brien, who (with Lopez’s approval) bumped Lopez to the midnight slot while Conan took over the 11pm slot. Others may point to Lopez’s show being…well, to put it nicely, not funny.
Despite getting canceled, Lopez was still in good spirits Wednesday night, even joking in his monologue about losing his job by saying “The unemployment rate is high, and for Latinos, it just got a little higher!” While George was in good humor, Conan expressed sadness over the news, saying “Had it not been for George being so incredibly supportive of me, I would not have come to TBS and we would not be doing this show right now. I owe that man a lot and frankly, it makes me very sad that TBS and George could not work this out. We understand, believe me, how hard this is for all of you, and we wish you all the best.” It also looks like Conan’s numbers are really great for the network.
No need to feel too bad for Lopez, though. Apparently a sequel to The Smurfs (in which he voices Grouchy Smurf) has already been green-lighted and he’ll probably make a few bucks from Spy Kids: All The Time In The World. We’re sure Lopez will continue to find more work in the future.
