The word is out among the NBC brass: As rumored and bounced around for some time, Jimmy Fallon is set to take Conan O’Brien’s job as host of "Late Night" in 2009. It’s a done deal.

Conan, of course, will be taking over for Jay Leno, who will leave the "Tonight" show in May 2009 as part of a forced retirement.

There’s much debate about letting Leno leave NBC etc., but right now let’s just concentrate on Jimmy. He’s the perfect successor to Conan and should have just as big an audience when he takes the reins. Fallon is one of those great underrated performers. This should be the right milieu for him.

I’m told NBC will make the formal announcement about Fallon around May 11 or 12, when the network presents the fall '08 schedule to advertisers here in New York.

Fallon, who recently married producer Nancy Juvonen, is said to be thrilled and ready, if not a little scared, about taking Conan’s desk. He still has to pick a producer and a band, among other things.

As for Leno, he has plenty of options. One of them might be to replace "Nightline" on ABC, pushing Jimmy Kimmel back to 12:30 a.m. But a lot can happen between now and May 2009 in the chess game they call TV programming.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352397,00.html

Considering that I -and many others - find Jimmy Fallon as funny as getting hit in the face with a hammer...I think this is a terrible move for NBC. Then again, I'm a huge Craig Ferguson fan - so from that perspective this is wonderful...no more competition at 12:30 for him!

"Fallon is one of those great underrated performers."

That can't be further from the truth. He is completely overrated and unfunny.

I will never watch the show with him on it.

Serioulsy, what has Fallon ever done that can be considered even "great".
Weekend Update? Please.

IMO, i think they couldn't have picked a better choice. they both make it fun to have ADHD/ADD. lol. In all seriousness, I like them both and wish nothing but the best for Jimmy and Conan.
i guess his movie career went no where? i loved 'taxi.'

so Late Night will Jimmy Fallon will air at 11:37 pm

"Fallon is one of those great underrated performers."

That can't be further from the truth. He is completely overrated and unfunny.

I will never watch the show with him on it.

Serioulsy, what has Fallon ever done that can be considered even "great".
Weekend Update? Please.im a long time snl fan and even i think that nbc ciould have made a better choice .jimmy was pretty good on snl but i just cant picture him as a late night talk show host even in his last 2 or 3 years on snl he couldnt keep his mind on his work so how in the world is he going to handle it when a bad guest bores him to tears and besides his frat boy style of comedy will get old night after night

This whole thing is a big crappy mess. I'm no fan of Jay Leno, but he gets the ratings and I don't see the point of letting him go. I LOVE Conan, but I don't think he should do the Tonight Show. I love him right where he is, he doesn't need to move earlier in the night. I dislike Jimmy Fallon tremendously. So I'm not happy about him taking over for Conan.

I'll have to choose between Letterman and Conan now. :(