Turner Entertainment Networks

TBS asked comedian George Lopez to move his noisy and hip late-night program again — this time off the network. Last year "Lopez Tonight" became an unwitting player in a late-night domino game when TBS pushed back the talk show an hour later than originally planned to make room for Conan O'Brien — who had been shoved off his late night perch at NBC. On Wednesday, the cable network announced Thursday's show would be the last one. ...

TBS asked comedian George Lopez to move his noisy and hip late-night program again — this time off the network. Last year "Lopez Tonight" became an unwitting player in a late-night domino game when TBS pushed back the talk show an hour later than originally planned to make room for Conan O'Brien — who had been shoved off his late night perch at NBC. On Wednesday, the cable network announced Thursday's show would be the last one. ...

Gerry F. Hogan, president of Turner Entertainment Networks, has been named vice chairman of Whittle Communications, the Knoxville, Tenn.-based media company headed by Christopher Whittle. In the newly created position, Hogan will become the third vice chairman of the company and will oversee Whittle Private Media, Hispanic Media, American Style magazine, Whittle Regional and Whittle International.

First Oprah, now Conan. In the latest sign that the field has leveled between broadcast and cable television, former "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien has decided to make his late-night comeback this fall on TBS, a cable network that has largely been synonymous with old network reruns and Atlanta Braves baseball. "This is the day the last brick wall fell down between broadcast and cable," declared Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks. O'Brien, dumped by NBC as host of "The Tonight Show" in favor of his predecessor, Jay Leno, just four months ago, will return in November on TBS with an 11 p.m. show.

Can Ted Turner create a new cable network so big, so strong and so different that it can compete with the Big Three networks? Yes, says Gerry Hogan, president of Turner Entertainment Networks. "Not on the first day, though," he added modestly. The first day is Monday, when Turner's company launches its multi-year plan to outdo the established networks with Turner Network Television (TNT), a 24-hour-a-day cable service that will debut in 17 million cable households nationwide.

First Oprah, now Conan. In the latest sign that the field has leveled between broadcast and cable television, former "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien has decided to make his late-night comeback this fall on TBS, a cable network that has largely been synonymous with old network reruns and Atlanta Braves baseball. "This is the day the last brick wall fell down between broadcast and cable," declared Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks. O'Brien, dumped by NBC as host of "The Tonight Show" in favor of his predecessor, Jay Leno, just four months ago, will return in November on TBS with an 11 p.m. show.

In only its second year of operation, TNT this year won six ACE Awards, cable television's highest honor, including best original cable movie of the year. TNT is also the home of both NFL and NBA games. But what has really given the cable channel an air of legitimacy in Hollywood is the Sunset Boulevard billboard that hypes its original movies alongside huge ads trumpeting the recent offerings from Universal, Paramount, Fox and Warner Bros.

John Stephenson loved working with those adorable pink little piggies in the 1995 film "Babe." But the director found that the pigs who inhabited his film version of George Orwell's novel, "Animal Farm," behaved, well, like swine. "The pigs were huge," Stephenson recalls. "They were fully grown beasts. They are monsters, actually. It was virtually impossible to get them to do anything. They were handpicked to be ugly."

Reporting from Milford, Conn. — There are generally two types of sports talk shows: loud and louder. And then there's Dan Patrick. The former ESPN anchor who along with Keith Olbermann helped establish the cable channel in the cultural zeitgeist through their dry wit and repartee, has carved out a second act as host of a sports talk show that relies more on brains than brass. Broadcasting on radio and simulcast on television for three hours every weekday morning from a converted apartment here known as the "man cave" Patrick — backed by his four sidekicks, "The Danettes" — has created a hit that has become an important stop not only for athletes but actors, musicians and the occasional super model.

John Stephenson loved working with those adorable pink little piggies in the 1995 film "Babe." But the director found that the pigs who inhabited his film version of George Orwell's novel, "Animal Farm," behaved, well, like swine. "The pigs were huge," Stephenson recalls. "They were fully grown beasts. They are monsters, actually. It was virtually impossible to get them to do anything. They were handpicked to be ugly."

In only its second year of operation, TNT this year won six ACE Awards, cable television's highest honor, including best original cable movie of the year. TNT is also the home of both NFL and NBA games. But what has really given the cable channel an air of legitimacy in Hollywood is the Sunset Boulevard billboard that hypes its original movies alongside huge ads trumpeting the recent offerings from Universal, Paramount, Fox and Warner Bros.

Gerry F. Hogan, president of Turner Entertainment Networks, has been named vice chairman of Whittle Communications, the Knoxville, Tenn.-based media company headed by Christopher Whittle. In the newly created position, Hogan will become the third vice chairman of the company and will oversee Whittle Private Media, Hispanic Media, American Style magazine, Whittle Regional and Whittle International.

Can Ted Turner create a new cable network so big, so strong and so different that it can compete with the Big Three networks? Yes, says Gerry Hogan, president of Turner Entertainment Networks. "Not on the first day, though," he added modestly. The first day is Monday, when Turner's company launches its multi-year plan to outdo the established networks with Turner Network Television (TNT), a 24-hour-a-day cable service that will debut in 17 million cable households nationwide.

Ted Turner's Turner Entertainment Networks has bought future cable rights to show CBS' hit miniseries, "Lonesome Dove," both on Turner's Atlanta superstation, TBS, and his new TNT channel. The purchase price wasn't disclosed, but speculation put it around $2 million. CBS, which aired the eight-part Old West show last month, has rights for a second broadcast. A Turner spokeswoman said "Dove" probably won't air on Turner's cable empire until 1991.

Elsewhere in broadcasting, Turner Broadcasting System Inc., Atlanta, has promoted several of its executives to more senior positions, after the recent departure of longtime executive Gerry Hogan. Terence McGuirk, president of Turner Sports, has been named executive vice president of Turner Broadcasting. Scott Sassa, previously executive vice president of Turner Network Television, has been named president of Turner Entertainment Networks. And Julia W.