CONAN STARS AT TBS’S UPFRONT PRESENTATION

Conan O’Brien was the poster boy for TBS Wednesday as he appeared at the cable network’s upfront presentation at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. “I realized this morning this is my first time back in New York City since I was here exactly one year ago for the NBC upfront,” he said. (NBC moved him to a new studio in California when he took over the Tonight show.) He clearly was not going to revive the controversy surrounding his departure, telling reporters, advertisers, and assorted reps that if any of them knows “what the hell happened four months ago,” he’d be in the lobby anxious to hear about it. “The plot to Lost is more plausible,” he quipped. When the schedule for his current tour was announced, reporters noted that a few days in May had not been booked and they speculated then that O’Brien had set aside the time so that he could appear at Fox’s upfront presentation. Instead he wound up at TBS’s. “I can’t wait to go back to having fun on television,” he said. He also claimed to be excited about switching to cable “I don’t want to live in a country with fewer than six ESPNs,” he remarked. Asked whether his show for TBS will be significantly different from those he did for NBC, he replied, “You have to evolve; there’s no way the new show won’t be influenced by what’s gone on the last couple of months. I’ve changed in many ways. I’m much physically stronger than I used to be … (but) emotionally much weaker.”