NEW YORK — The late-night guessing game is over, with a startling twist: Conan O'Brien is choosing TBS as his future talk-show home.

Expected to debut in November, the as-yet-untitled show will return O'Brien to the air after an absence that began in January when he left NBC, his employer of 17 years.

O'Brien's new program will air Mondays through Thursdays at 11 p.m. Eastern, which will shift "Lopez Tonight," starring George Lopez, to midnight. O'Brien's show will originate from Los Angeles, where he moved from New York for his unsuccessful stint hosting "The Tonight Show." And the second half of his show will face off against Jay Leno, who now hosts "Tonight."

Lopez said, "I can't think of anything better than doing my show with Conan as my lead-in. It's the beginning of a new era in late-night comedy," in a statement released by TBS.

There's a seemingly ironic ring to the time change for Lopez, who became the first Latino to host a nighttime talk show on a major network when his TBS show debuted last fall. O'Brien rejected NBC's effort to move him to a later slot to make way for Leno. This dispute led to O'Brien's abrupt exit.

O'Brien left NBC in January after hosting "The Tonight Show" for just eight months, as his ratings plunged from those of his longtime "Tonight" predecessor, Leno, who then reclaimed the hour. Until last June, O'Brien had followed Leno as host of "Late Night" since 1993.