SYFY is going out of this world to change late night
By Matt Moore
The SYFY network announced Alien News Desk, its first late night series set to debut in 2019 with some help from Saturday Night Live.
Get ready for a shakeup in the late night landscape beginning in 2019. NBC, ABC, and CBS will have some competition from SYFY. The network announced Alien News Desk is coming in 2019 and plans to make the late night world a little more alien.
It may not be exactly what people meant when they said that late night needs to be more diverse. But it’s safe to say that the hosts of Alien News Desk won’t look like Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon, or anyone else behind a late night desk. That’s because they will be animated and aliens.
Alien News Desk will feature the voices of Saturday Night Live alum Will Forte and current cast member Heidi Gardner. The show will also be backed by SNL creator Lorne Michaels as well as producers Erik Kenward and Dennis McNicholas.
The show will be a half-hour weekly series that set in an extraterrestrial newsroom that will take a topical approach to news from the human species. McNicholas is also a head writer of SNL‘s Weekend Update so that should give a good indication of what to expect from Alien News Desk.
Reading the description of the series, it’s hard not to first think of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. That animated series had two different runs during the 1990s and early 2000s. It too was an animated talk show that used the 1960s superhero Space Ghost as the host of a talk show that was equally awkward and absurd.
Space Ghost was a major influence on Adult Swim and also inspired other series like The Eric Andre Show. While nothing explicit has been stated, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that the success and cult following of Space Ghost helped in the development of Alien News Desk.
The series seems to have too many talented people working on it for it not to be a success. Michaels knows how to do comedy on television like nobody else. He produces The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with Seth Meyers. That experience will come in handy whether Alien News Desk tries to adopt the same late night formula or subvert it.
Anything that gets Will Forte back on television should be celebrated. His series Last Man on Earth was cut tragically short and cancelled in May. He returns to voice acting for Alien News Desk after being heard in Bob’s Burgers, Gravity Falls, and Moonbeam City among others. Forte will voice the anchor Drexx Drudlarr.
Heidi Gardner will also be given a bigger chance to shine outside of her spot on Saturday Night Live. Like Forte, she is no stranger to voice work. She has worked on the series Bratz, SuperMansion, and Mike Tyson Mysteries. Gardner will be the voice of Tuva Van Void.
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Alien News Desk will have an initial run of 12 episodes. It will air at 11:00 PM EST on the SYFY network. The show will be the first animated original series from the network and could serve as a catalyst for similar programming in the future. Check back in with Last Night On for more updates about Alien News Desk.