Late Night show host Conan O’Brien will be leaving the show for bigger and better things.  NBC has announced that the Late Night host will be taking over the hosting position on the Tonight Show.  So who’s going to take Conan’s place?  None other than Saturday Night Live alumni, Jimmy Fallon.

Late Night Show Rick Ludwin had planned on making the official announcement in May, but because bits of this news was beginning to leak, he went ahead and confirmed the speculation.  He says that Jimmy Fallon was at the top of their list of possible hosts, and he believes that Jimmy will do a great job.

Conan O’Brien will be replacing Jay Leno on the Tonight Show, though sources state that he will be taking 6 months off before doing so.  NBC execs say that Jimmy Fallon will begin hosting Late Night in February of 2009. 

NBC has announced their decision to air a television show called “Icons From the Archives”, on April 27th.  the premise of this show is a showcase of interviews and news reels from various athletes and sports commentators from the 70’s and 80’s.  Amoung those being remembered are Muhammad Ali, Howard Cosell, and Hank Aaron.  Along side these bits of televsion history, will be some of today’s hottest names in the sports world. 

The idea behind this show came when NBC staff members found several film reels in a warehouse in New Jersey.  The film had been well preserved and is being carefully put together into an hour long event.  NBC officials say if the show does well in the ratings, there is a chance that this could become a regular event.  They also say that the best part of this was that they already owned the rights to these film reels and only had to get them put together.

This show is going to bring sports of the past to a whole new generation.  Many of the names we knew as kids, will now be passed down to ours.  They may have heard us talk about some of the legends of sports, but now they’ll have a chance to see it for themselves.

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has named six new members to be inducted into the hall of fame. Each of these six people have made the television industry their life’s work, and are finally going to be acknowledged for their accomplishments.

Among the six inductees are the late Merv Griffin. Mr. Griffin was synonymous for 1970’s game shows and had his own talk show during that time as well. Another member being inducted into the hall of fame is Bea Arthur. In the 70’s, she was known simply as Maude. In the 80’s she was the defiant Golden Girl, Dorothy. What most people don’t realize is that she had quite the movie career in her earlier years.

Also finding his way into the hall of fame is producer Sherwood Schwartz. Sherwood is most famous for being the man who brought the Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island to the world. He also helped to co-write the theme songs for both shows.

The other three inductees into the hall of fame are former heads of ABC, Daniel B. Burke and Thomas Murphy, and writer Larry Gelbert. Larry Gelbert helped write the first four season of M*A*S*H*. Congratulations go out to all these inductees from all of us here at The Television Blog.