Creator / TBS

We're comedy.

This Atlanta-based cable channel began as WTCG, (for Turner Communications Group), an independent station owned by Ted Turner. It then changed its call sign to WTBS (for Turner Broadcasting System) as its U.S. cable coverage increased, mainly due to satellite coverage (hence why it used to be called TBS Superstation, as a superstation was a term for a broadcast TV station carried in many markets; from the late 90s until the 2004 format change, it was branded mainly as "the Superstation"). Now known as TBS, and separate from the Atlanta station ^note now known as WPCH, "Peachtree TV" (and also now an affiliate of The CW), which split in 2007 to allow TBS to carry Major League Baseball games involving teams other than the Braves. TBS doesn't even run it anymore, having leased its operations to Atlanta's CBS station WGCL 46 (now WANF); Turner finally sold it to them in 2017, breaking the final link to the superstation era it and the other Turner properties currently belong to Warner Bros. Discovery (also the owner of Warner Bros.).

Its secret weapon was "Turner Time", scheduling programs 5 minutes after the top of the (half) hour in order to make sure viewers would miss the beginnings of other channels' fare and thus be resigned to stay with TBS for another show^note Hilarious in Hindsight now that Conan is the only late-night talk show to not regularly air 5 minutes after the (half) hour. It would also get its own listings in TV Guide back when that was still a big thing, hence attracting more attention. Up until the 2004 format change, it was, befitting the genesis of the network, a grab bag of older movies, off-network reruns, Turner-owned cartoons from Hanna-Barbera, MGM and WB, the occasional CNN-produced news update in between programs, Atlanta sportscasts, and the National Geographic Explorer series. Starting in the mid-80s, some low-budget original sitcoms, movies, and game shows like Starcade began creeping their way in. Also during this time, the national feed carried one of the few American Teletext services, Electra, which was a joint venture between TBS, Zenith Electronics (who made Teletext-capable TV sets) and Taft Broadcasting (who programmed the service).

By the mid-90s, original programming had increased, with TV movies and new Hanna-Barbera output (specifically Ted Turner's own Captain Planet and the Planeteers (though the first couple of seasons were produced by DiC), as well as SWAT Kats and 2 Stupid Dogs) constituting the majority of the new stuff, alongside sportscasts, movie wraparounds (some of which lasted until 2011), and WCW wrestling (see below). 1998 saw the removal of kids' programming, as sister station Cartoon Network took over that demographic.

Back in the 1990s, most TV watchers referred to TBS as "The Beastmaster Station" because of its frequent showing of the film The Beastmaster. The channel was "the Mothership" of WCW and its antecedent promotions (GCW, CWG, Mid-Atlantic/Jim Crockett) from basically the national launch until the premiere of Monday Nitro in 1995. Afterwards, Thunder, the B-show, aired on TBS.

TBS was also known for many years (1973 to 2007, to be more precise) as the TV home of the Atlanta Braves. Famously, at one point Ted Turner tried to get pitcher Andy Messersmith (who wore #17) to wear the name "CHANNEL" on the back of his jersey (CHANNEL 17, get it?) The league immediately put the kibosh on that. However, the national broadcasts on TBS helped the Braves build a considerable nationwide fan base, so much so that the franchise was nicknamed "America's Team". They also aired Atlanta Hawks basketball as well (Turner owned them and the Braves for a while).

In June 2004, in response to sibling TNT's post-2001 focus on dramatic programming (and possibly Time Warner's divestiture of its stake in Comedy Central to Viacom the previous year), it decided to situate itself into the genre of comedy, after years of not having a genre (the comedy focus is a little looser than TNT's on drama, though, as evidenced by the movies it tends to run). To that end, on April 12, 2010, Conan O'Brien announced a five-year deal with TBS to do an 11 PM talk show.

On April 26, 2022, Variety reported that TBS and TNT would cease their productions on original scripted shows for the foreseeable future. The Last O.G. by Tracy Morgan was the first scripted show to be cancelled in light of the news.

Original content from the channel is available as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service HBO Max, debuting in 2020.

Not to be confused with the Tokyo Broadcasting System, which is known for airing many anime series.

First-run and Original programming seen on TBS include (ongoing shows marked in bold):

• 2 Stupid Dogs (1993-95)
• 17 Update Early in the Morning (1976-79)^note essentially a predecessor to The Daily Show and its' ilk, with the concept being a straight-laced anchor- Bill Tush, a major personality in the early days of WTCG/WTBS- reading the news with a comedic bent; it wasn't intended to be funny at first (Turner only started a newscast per FCC regulations, and he decided to air it at around 3:00 AM), but one day someone decided to hurl a paper airplane from off-screen and it was kept in and from that point on Tush, co-anchor Tina Seldin, and the off-screen crew decided to add more and more comedy, including such things as "Rex the Wonder Dog" (a dog dressed up in a suit and with an off-screen VO to make it seem like he was reading the news) and the "Unknown Newsman" (a takeoff on the Unknown Comic), and the show became an early cable legend, especially after the station went to satellite transmission; it ended in 1979 because Turner was about to launch CNN and a thing like this would present credibility issues; Tush and Seldin also anchored straight-laced news capsules during the day
• AEW Dynamite (2022-present; Channel Hopped from TNT)
• American Dad! (2014-present; performed a Channel Hop from Fox)
• Angie Tribeca (2016-18)
• The Bill Engvall Show (2007-09)
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990-92)
• Cartoon Planet (1995)
• CeeLo Green's The Good Life (2014)
• College Football on TBS (1979; 1982-91; 2004-06) ^note WTBS, as it was then-known, aired the very first live cable college football broadcast of any kind, the 1979 Independence Bowl between Syracuse and McNeese, and the first live regular season cable college football broadcast, the 1982 BYU at UNLV game. After ESPN entered the live football business in 1984, TBS focused on Southeastern Conference games until dropping the sport at the end of 1991. In 2004 they revived the brand for three more seasons, but subcontracted the production out to FOX Sports Net.
• Conan (2010-21)
• Cougar Town (2013-15; Channel Hopped from ABC)
• The Cube (2021)
• The Detour (2016-19)
• eLeague (2016-18)
• Final Space (2018-21) ^note From the second season, the show airs on [adult swim] first before airing on TBS a week later.
• Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (2016-22)
• Ground Floor (2013-15)
• The Guest Book (2017-18)
• The Joker's Wild (2017-18; 2010s revival, produced and hosted by Snoop Dogg. Yes, this is real.)
• Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures (1996-97; also aired on TNT and Cartoon Network)
• King of the Nerds (2013-15)
• The New Leave it to Beaver (1986-89; previously aired on the Disney Channel; also aired in syndication from 1988-89)
• Men at Work (2012-14)
• Miracle Workers (2019-21, 2023)
• MLB on TBS (2007-present; prior to its current format, it exclusively aired Atlanta Braves games from 1973 to 2007)
• My Boys (2006-10)
• NASCAR on TBS (1983-2000; moved to TNT)
• NBA on TBS (1984-2002; NBA coverage became TNT exclusive)
• Neighbors from Hell (2010)
• People of Earth (2016-17)
• The Pete Holmes Show (2013-14)
• Ripley's Believe It or Not! (2000-03 series)
• Search Party (2016-17; moved to HBO Max with season 3)
• Starcade (1982-83)
• Sullivan & Son (2012-14)
• SWAT Kats (1993-95)
• Tarantula! (2017)
• Trust Me, I'm a Game Show Host (2013)
• Tush (1980-81) ^note Sketch comedy show, hosted by the aforementioned Bill Tush; Retroactive Recognition came from Jan Hooks as a castmember, and Bonnie & Terry Turner, who wrote for the show
• Tyler Perry's House of Payne (2007-12)
  • Meet the Browns (2009-11)
  • For Better or Worse (2011-12; Seasons 1 & 2)
• WCW:
  • Best of World Championship Wrestling (1973-87)
  • Georgia Championship Wrestling/NWA World Championship Wrestling/WCW Saturday Night (1971-2000)
  • Clash of the Champions (1988-97)
  • WCW Thunder (1998-2001)
  • NWA/WCW Main Event (1988-98)
  • NWA/WCW Power Hour (1989-94)
• Wipeout (2021-present; revival of 2008 show)
• Wrecked (2016-18)
• Your Family or Mine (2015)

---