SNL

When Jimmy Fallon takes over Conan O'Brien's seat in 2009, he'll have a familiar face behind the cameras to help him. His Saturday Night Live buddy Michael Shoemaker will be Late Night's showrunner next year.

Mr. Shoemaker ran Weekend Update on SNL when Mr. Fallon giggled his way through the segments as co-anchor. He also consults with Mr. Fallon on other appearances, like his 2002 MTV Video Music Awards performance (which included possibly the funniest opening ever).

"Jimmy and I work together all the time, and we've always had fun in the process," Mr. Shoemaker told Variety. "I have a nice job here at 'Saturday Night Live' but I couldn't turn down the chance to work on something like this."  read more »

Lorne Michaels told reporters Sunday that he plans to premiere Jimmy Fallon as the new host of Late Night on the internet. He plans five or six months of webcasts prior to the 2009 debut of Mr. Fallon's version of the show, according to TV Week.

The Observer interviewed Mr. Michaels about preparing Mr. Fallon for the dubious taks of replacing Conan O'Brien last May:  read more »

The Huffington Post notes that NBC Nightly News had almost a million more viewers last week than the week before, putting it back on top in the ratings--and attributes the bump, plausibly, to anchor Brian Williams' much-hyped November 3 appearance on Saturday Night Live.

The obvious lesson the networks will draw is that the best way to promote their news anchors to a younger audience is by putting them on shows that young people actually watch. In other words, brace for Charlie Gibson on Dancing with the Stars.