Cable network Turner Classic Movies announced yesterday that Conan O’Brien will be the host of Carson on TCM, a new series that packages together classic Johnny Carson Tonight Show sketches. O’Brien who succeed Carson’s successor Jay Leno for a brief stint on The Tonight Show, got the gig since he is the host of the flagship talk show of TCM’s sister network, TBS. Carson on TCM will air Monday nights at 8, and the sereis kicks off July 1st with an episode that includes the king of late night’s interviews with a young Drew Barrymore (taped in 1982), Kirk Douglas (1988), Mary Tyler Moore (1978), writer Neil Simon (1980) and George Burns (1989). Other Carson interviews scheduled to air in July include his chats with Doris Day (1976), Charlton Heston (1976), Tony Curtis (1973), Shelley Winters (1975), Ronald Reagan (1975), Robin Williams (1981), Mel Brooks (1975), Bette Davis (1983), Fred Astaire (1979), Henry Fonda (1980), Elizabeth Taylor (1992) and William Holden (1976). It’s great Johnny Carson’s old interviews have found a place on TV, where they can be enjoyed by new viewers, and that Conan O’Brien is at least getting to keep some connection to The Tonight Show after getting screwed out of his hosting gig three years ago.
