What a shocker! Just when it looked like Fox had a deal to bring Conan O’Brien back to our TV screens, another network has snapped him up. Cable network TBS released a surprise statement this morning:

Conan Picks a Home – And It’s TBS

Comedy icon Conan O’Brien is joining TBS to host a late-night talk show that is expected to debut in November. The Emmy-winning comedian’s new program will be followed by Lopez Tonight, which will shift to a midnight time slot.

O’Brien began talks in earnest with TBS just last week, after George Lopez personally called him to ask that he consider joining the network’s late-night line-up. “I can’t think of anything better than doing my show with Conan as my lead-in,” Lopez said. “It’s the beginning of a new era in late-night comedy.”

Said O’Brien: “In three months I’ve gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I’m headed to basic cable. My plan is working perfectly.”

O’Brien and Lopez will give TBS a dynamic lineup in late-night television. TBS – which has built a programming slate that appeals to a young, diverse audience – expects O’Brien to be a long-term addition to the network’s late-night landscape. O’Brien will host his hour-long, yet-to-be-titled show Mondays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. (ET/PT).

We hear that the deal-breaker with Fox was the reluctance of their local stations to give up their lucrative 11 p.m. reruns for a late-night talk show. Also, the TBS deal allows Conan to own his show (as David Letterman already does) and tape in Los Angeles. It will be very interesting to see how the younger-skewing Conan-Lopez block will fare against the older and more entrenched Leno and Letterman.