An optimistic 'Late Night'?

From the Department of Wishful Thinking: An e-mail sent out by NBC Entertainment this afternoon lists tonight’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” as a repeat but has the show in originals for the rest of the week.

Could O’Brien be planning to pen the late-night show by himself?

If only it were so. In fact, the network is “updating listings on a day to day basis as the strike continues,” a publicist explained. Which means there will be yet another new listing tomorrow, announcing –- surprise, surprise! –- that Tuesday’s show is a repeat as well.

But for those of you wearing equally rose-colored glasses, you’ll be happy to know that in case today’s acrimony is miraculously resolved before then, tomorrow’s “Late Night” will feature Heidi Klum and Lou Dobbs, with musical guest Grizzly Bear. Don’t forget to tune in!

More news on the strike

--Matea Gold

Comments

[Jim O]

For what it's worth, one interesting aspect (alterior motive?) of NBC's approach is the effect in DVR numbers. Since most DVR's (like TiVo) update schedules approx every 3-4 days, they won't catch NBC's last-second switch from repeat to new episode, which will lead DVR's programmed only to record new episodes in "season-pass" functions to mistakenly record the repeats, and boost Late Night's numbers "artificially".