Chin up, Conan, you get to be Jay – in five years
Conan O’Brien will take over from Jay Leno as host of the “Tonight” show, NBC announced Monday. But O’Brien will have plenty of time to write his jokes – the planned succession won’t happen until 2009.
The move solves a delicate problem for NBC, which realized O’Brien was getting antsy in his 12:35 a.m., post-Leno “Late Night” time slot and wanted to keep him from jumping to another network.
“In 2009, I’ll be 59 years old and will have had this dream job for 17 years,” Leno said. “When I signed my new contract, I felt that the timing was right to plan for my successor and there is no one more qualified than Conan.”
“Plus, I promised (wife) Mavis I would take her out for dinner before I turned 60,” the notoriously workaholic Leno said.
Leno beat out David Letterman to succeed Johnny Carson on “Tonight” in 1992. At first he trailed Letterman’s “Late Show” on CBS in the ratings, but now dominates the time slot.
O’Brien, who took over from Letterman on NBC’s “Late Night,” was nearly fired after several weeks of painful shows but has gone on to success.
Pop tart wants one in the oven
As we write this, Britney Spears still may not be legally married – she and Kevin Federline, who had their ceremony Sept. 18, are expected to file their marriage license this week – but she’s already talking about kids.
“I can see us as parents. I can see myself as a mom. Next year, at 23, I am so there,” she tells People magazine.
Spears first becomes stepmother to Federline’s two children from a previous relationship with actress Shar Jackson (“Moesha”).
Kevin dances with bride
“Dances with Wolves” star Kevin Costner married his girlfriend of five years, Christine Baumgartner, at his Colorado mountain ranch over the weekend.
It is the second marriage for Costner, 49, and the first for Baumgartner, 30.
Same city, different team
Emmy-winning “Sex and the City” actress Cynthia Nixon is reportedly in a relationship with another woman.
The New York Daily News and New York Post said Nixon has been dating a woman since January.
“My private life is private,” Nixon told the Daily News. “But at the same time, I have nothing to hide. So what I will say is that I am very happy.”
Could Paris be more than skin deep?
Paris Hilton says “looks don’t matter anymore” when it comes to her dating preferences.
“I’d rather have someone with a good heart than some good-looking idiot with no brain, because looks fade and I know that,” the 23-year-old hotel heiress/model/actress, who broke up with Backstreet Boy Nick Carter this summer, told the “Access Hollywood” television show.
“I know that I’m not going to be good-looking forever,” she said. “No one is, so it doesn’t matter.”
Quoteworthy
Jim Carrey, on the DVD release of his last movie, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”: “I guarantee you, couples who see this movie – and it’s not gooey, it’s not romanticized in any way – but couples who see this movie will love each other after. They’ll go, ‘Awww, what the hell … you’re not so bad!’ It supports love.”
The birthday bunch
Actor William Windom (“Murder, She Wrote”) is 81. Actress Brigitte Bardot is 70. Singer Ben E. King is 66. Actor Joel Higgins (“Silver Spoons”) is 61. Actor Jeffrey Jones is 58. Writer/director/actor John Sayles is 54. Actress Sylvia Kristel (“Emmanuelle”) is 52. Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 40. Actress Mira Sorvino is 37. TV personality Moon Zappa is 37. Actress Naomi Watts is 36. Country singer Mandy Barnett is 29. Actress/singer Hilary Duff is 17.