Thursday, January 7, 2010

Simmons/Lathan TV Back In Comedy Again?!

We just discovered that Simmons/Lathan TV, the driving force and production company behind the infamous Def Comedy Jam series and the Def Poetry Jam series that premiered on HBO (among many others), is jumping back into comedy after a two year hiatus, but with a different network!

We HEAR from our sources that Simmons/Lathan is on board with Comedy Central to bring a comedy series back to television, and so far the word is that there has been no decision on if the 30 minute series will feature several comics or if it’s a one man special per episode.

For those of you who do not know Stan Lathan and Russell Simmons partnered to create one of the most successful franchises in entertainment: HBO’s Def Comedy Jam series, which started the careers of some of today’s biggest television and movie stars, such as Chris Tucker, Dave Chappelle, Martin Lawrence, Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey, Mo'Nique, Mike Epps, and D. L. Hughley. After a nine year hiatus, Def Comedy Jam relaunched in 2006 to huge ratings. Together, they co-own The Simmons Lathan Media Group, a film and television production and acquisitions company that develops and distributes urban content across a variety of media platforms.

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Jay Leno Is Back At The Late Night Gig- Is Conan Gone?

Our sources have just told us that there is going to be a big shakeup at NBC as we predicted several weeks ago, but there is another surprise.

Several weeks ago we reported that NBC was very unhappy with the new Late Nite Show hosted by Conan O'Brien as their ratings had the worse decline in over 15 years of the network. The execs then spoke about approaching Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock as replacements and we were just told that they both declined the positions.

So, NBC went back to the drawing board- and that drawing board is Jay Leno. So as of this writing we just learned that Jay's 10:00 PM show will go on hiatus February 1. After the Olympics, Jay will take back his 11:30 PM time slot. We also hear that NBC is trying to figure out what to do with Conan, but it looks good for him to returning.

We're told Jay and Conan have both been told of the changes. As for Jay, interestingly, he'll get what he always wanted -- his 11:30 PM time slot.

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