With its prime time lineup crumbling away there's still a bright spot for NBC.
And that's late nights.
Despite the Conan O'Brien dust up the peacock proud network remains number one.
Leno's Tonight show consistently out ranks Dave Letterman on CBS.
But lately ABC's Jimmy Kimmel with a movie to 11:30 has proved he might overtake his elderly competitors.
And NBC has already announced Leno's replacement: it's Jimmie Fallon.
And now comes the surprise replacement for Fallon at 12:30: it's SNL's long running comic Seth Meyers who is also the head writer.
NBC Entertainment chair Bob Greenblatt calls Meyers "one of the brightest, most insightful comedy writers and performers of his generation."
Said Meyers: "I only have to work for Lorne Michaels for five more years before I pay him back for the time I totalled his car."
Michaels will continue as executive producer of the talk show as well as become executive producer of the tonight Show when it moves back to New York.
Talking to the New York Times Meyers, 39, said he had regrets about leaving SNL after 12 successful seasons.
The transitions are scheduled for next February right after NBC's Winter Olympics coverage from Sochi, Russia.
In April NBC announced Fallon will take over from Leno which remains the most popular late night talk series.
For months Meyers has been discussed in industry circles as the most obvious candidate. Fallon is also a SNL veteran. Meyers thus has experience in working in front of TV audiences.
Last year Meyers almost defected to the syndicated talk show circuit when Regis Philbin left his morning show. That job finally went to Michael Strahan.
Meyers has promised he'll remain on SNL until next January. Then he'll begin shotting test shows before his February debut.
And need I point out Canadian TV does not have a sigle late night show as competition?
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