The Changing Face of Late Night Television

Latenight television will look a little more diverse during the 2009-10 television season as comedians of color Wanda Sykes, Mo’nique and George Lopez will host their own post-primetime shows on Fox, BET and TBS respectively.

 Nearly 15 years after the departure of The Arsenio Hall Show, both cable and broadcast television seem willing to broaden its latenight fare beyond white, male hosts.

 Fox is hinging its new Saturday latenight strategy on the as-yet-unamed Sykes project – described by the network as a mix of commentary and panel discussions in the mold of HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher. The show will certainly serve as a more ethnically and gender-diverse offering than the Letterman/Leno/Kimmel/Fallon/O’Brien-hosted shows that broadcast networks have offered latenight audiences for the most part over the past decade.

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BET’s The Mo’nique Show starring the versatile actress/comedian will give the network its first true latenight variety/entertainment offering targeted to African-American audiences over the age of 25.

TBS’s outdoor street party-esque latenight entry featuring Lopez will look to capitalize on the resurgent popularity of the veteran Latino comedian, whose off-network sitcom George Lopez has found a new audience among baby boomers and their kids through re-runs on Nick At Nite.

However, as we have seen with recent late primetime/latenight, entertainment shows such as Comedy Central’s Chocolate News and CNN’s D.L. Hughley Breaks The News – both of which are now gone after only a few months on the air — just offering a diverse, after-hours show doesn’t guarantee you ratings success.

Still, the presence of Sykes, Mo’nique and Lopez on the small screen will go a long way toward diversifying what has been one of the most homogenous programming time periods on television.