Jimmy Fallon is to succeed Late Night host Conan O’Brien on NBC in 2009, the Hollywood Reporter has quoted sources as saying.

O’Brien is moving into the 11:35 slot after the retirement of the Tonight Show’s host Jay Leno.

The Hollywood Reporter claims that Fallon will take over in the 12:35 slot and that NBC is expected to confirm the appointment on May 12th.

The legendary chat show host Leno has now become a much sought-after free agent since announcing his retirement in 2004. ABC and Fox are both believed to be trying to seduce the host into joining their ranks, while NBC Universal is reported to be attempting to develop a new show to keep him on the company’s books.

Fallon has considerable experience after hosting Saturday Night Live and starring in a number of Hollywood films including Fever Pitch and Taxi.

NBC has not made any comment on the reports.

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WENN

NBC has announced the stars participating in this summer’s Celebrity Circus series, to be hosted by Joey Fatone: Christopher ”Peter Brady” Knight (My Fair Brady), former supermodel Rachel Hunter (Dancing With the Stars), soap opera star Antonio Sabato Jr., Grammy-nominated neosoul singer Blu Cantrell, Olympic swimmer Janet Evans, and Jason ”Wee Man” Acuna (Jackass).

The show, which debuts with a 90-minute premiere on June 11, features celebrities learning circus stunts, like the high wire, flying trapeze, and fire dancing. After training, contestants will perform and then face the verdict of judges and viewers.

Variety

So how many of you watched Lipstick Jungle last night on NBC?

I watched it, and I actually really liked it!  I would much rather watch LJ than the disappointing Cashmere Mafia.

What did you think?

Answer after the jump! (more…)

Golden Globe-nominated actors and presenters won’t attend the televised award show Jan. 13 because of the writers’ strike, the Screen Actors Guild announced Friday.

“After considerable outreach to Golden Globe actor nominees and their representatives over the past several weeks, there appears to be unanimous agreement that these actors will not cross Writers Guild of America picket lines to appear on the Golden Globe Awards as acceptors or presenters,” said SAG president Alan Rosenberg. “We applaud our members for this remarkable show of solidarity for striking Writers Guild of America writers.”

The announcement plunges into turmoil the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s annual awards show and its star-studded parties.

“The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been placed in an extremely difficult position with the ongoing Writers Guild strike,” Jorge Camara, the group’s president, said in a statement. “We are making every effort to work out a solution that will permit the Golden Globes to take place with the creative community present to participate. We hope to announce a resolution to this unfortunate predicament on Monday.”

The WGA has voted against a waiver to allow its writers to work on the show and said members would set up picket lines. Before the SAG announcement, NBC had said it still planned to air the show despite the picket threat.

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Jay Leno and his network NBC are embroiled in a battle with the striking writer’s union over whether the talk show host violated union rules by writing his own monologues.

Leno, who was back on-air for the second time last night in more than a month, was criticized by the Writers Guild of America for writing and delivering his own material.

According to NBC, though, Leno is permitted to write his own monologue. While the guild’s contract expired Oct. 31, says NBC, the current agreement allows that “material written by the person who delivers it on the air” is permissable.

Guild representatives say that Leno is in violation of either “strike rules” or writing while the guild’s contract is expired.

Of the returning late night hosts, Leno was the ratings leader, followed by David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, both of whom gained viewers since before the strike.

Said Leno of the monologue controversy, “We are following the guild thing. We can write for ourselves.”

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It seems presidential candidate Mike Huckabee apparently knows enough about Hollywood culture to poke his nose into Jamie Lynn Spears’ teen pregnancy, yet claimed he was “unaware” he was crossing picket lines appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

“The Writers Guild is disappointed that Mike Huckabee crossed the WGA picket line today at NBC. We welcome the statements of support he has made for striking writers, but we ask him to respect our picket lines in the future and urge the media conglomerates to return to the bargaining table to make a fair deal that will put writers and the entertainment industry back to work.”

Does anyone know how many NBC producers live and vote in Iowa? Can’t be that many.

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