JUST IN: CNN to Air Bill Maher on Friday Nights
Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
CNN will be reaping another benefit of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger next month, when Overtime, the post-show segment from Bill Maher’s HBO program, Real Time With Bill Maher, begins airing on Friday nights.
The network made the announcement in a press release Monday, describing it as one of “several other recent partnership between HBO and CNN.”
The news makes official what Mediaite reported earlier this month regarding CNN head honcho Chris Licht’s plans for reshaping the network, including hiring an entertainment personality to fill the 9 pm ET weeknights timeslot. Licht is looking to “take a big swing” with a solid, recognizable name who is a great fit for the network to take that position and develop a show around them, a source with knowledge of Licht’s thinking told Mediaite.
There are no plans for Maher to take on an additional show or leave Real Time to move to that 9 pm spot, our source told us, but his show’s success with mixing current news and political topics with entertainment is a blueprint for CNN’s goals for the soon-to-be rebooted weeknight show, along with Comedy Central’s Daily Show, CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Licht was previously an executive producer on Colbert and Morning Joe.
Overtime, which will air Friday nights at 11:30 pm ET during CNN Tonight, features Maher holding extended conversations with his show’s guests that week, as well as answering viewer questions.
In addition to being available to HBO subscribers, Overtime is posted on the Real Time YouTube channel, where recent episodes had about a million views each.
