Another tribute to the late Tim Russert, this time from Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Hulu.com. On Friday, just a few hours after Mr. Russert's death was announced, Mr. O'Brien said in his monologue, "This is pretty shocking for us He's been a pretty good friend to me and us here at the show." Mr. O'Brien added that Mr. Russert's son, Luke, had been one of his show's interns last year.

Mr. O'Brien praised Mr. Russert by saying, "From the moment I met him, he put me at ease. I always told him countless times, he reminded me of my Irish Catholic uncles: Big head"—here he gestured to indicate he meant big in size, not in self-regard— "big laugh, huge heart."  read more »

According to The Hollywood Reporter's Alex Woodson, Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels received a "lifetime achievement award for the role that 'Saturday Night Live' has played in the development of online video" at last night's Webby Awards.  read more »

There were no surprises at 30 Rock today as NBC announced the new host of Late Night when current host Conan O'Brien decamps to 11:30 PM sometime in 2009. As far back as February 2007, Bill Carter, The New York Times' veteran TV reporter and de facto historian of late night, had been reporting that Saturday Night Live alum Jimmy Fallon would be tapped to host the show. As reporters and film crews assembled on the 67th floor to take their lucite seats in a room with floor-to-ceiling windows dramatically framing a rainy, overcast day, Fallon's name was openly bandied about.  read more »

Look out, Pat Kiernan! The world of round-the-clock local New York news channels is about to get a whole lot more competitive.

According to The New York Times’ Bill Carter, NBC Universal is planning to start a 24-hour local news channel, to be called … “New York’s Newschannel.”

More from the Times:  read more »

NBC has moved 30 Rock to 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays, butting it out of its self-proclaimed "family hour," from 8 to 9 p.m. The schedule change comes a couple of weeks after NBC had the Parents Television Council calling them "hypocritical" for tainting their (antiquated, irrelevant) "family hour." "You know, 30 Rock just a couple of weeks ago had a show that I can't even mention, with a vulgar acronym for older women that pursue younger men," said Dan Isett, a PTC spokesman. He was talking about MILF Island, a Survivor-like reality show in which 50 eighth grade boys are stranded on an island with 20 "holy hot mamas."  read more »

NBC has applied more Lipstick Jungle, ordering six more episode scripts, according to Variety. The show's ratings are catching those coveted 18-34 slot among women, apparently. Maybe it's hitting a note among those women that Cashmere Mafia was too corny to reach (the show was recently axed from ABC's line-up). In Sara Vilkomerson's Observer article on Lipstick Jungle, star Brooke Shields discussed how the show tackles real women's issues. “I like that it’s not only about the happily ever after,” Ms. Shields told the Observer. “What I love about these women is that the goal is not finding the man and having that be the only type of happiness. We spend so much of our younger years thinking that’s what you have to get: you have to get the relationship, you have to get the family. … Now when you’re actually in it, when you get what you wished for, how do you spend your days in it?”

A recent episode of 'Race For the White House.'

“MSNBC and NBC are one,” said Phil Griffin. “We’ve said that for over a decade. It actually is true now.”

Mr. Griffin, the senior vice president of NBC News, was speaking on the phone to NYTV on Monday afternoon. He had brought up the unification of the two news operations as a way of explaining the internal politics underpinning the launch of MSNBC’s new prime-time show, Race for the White House, which premiered on March, 17 at 6 p.m., replacing Tucker.  read more »

Not only will David Shuster, the MSNBC talent who got into trouble over claiming the Clinton campaign had "pimped out" former first daughter Chelsea on the hustings, be returning to the network; his suspension will have lasted two weeks, and he'll be back in time for the NBC-sponsored debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama Feb. 26. Broadcasting & Cable reports:  read more »

After Hillary seemed to suggest that his suspension was not enough of a punishment for his pimp remark, MSNBC affirmed to Greg Sargent at Talking Points Memo that David Shuster will not be fired.

"He remains on suspension indefinitely, but he will not be fired and will be returning to MSNBC," MSNBC director of communications Alana Russo told Sargent, who then speculates (pretty plausibly, we think) what it all means:  read more »

NBC's CEO Jeff Zucker has been hinting that the network will cancel their song-and-dance spectacular for advertisers at Radio City Music Hall in May. Although no official announcement has been made, the writers' strike is affecting the spring series of presentations, which preview upcoming shows and schedules to lure advertisers into spending the big bucks for the best spots. With writers still on the picket lines, there are no new scripts to start developing in time to show Madison Avenue.  read more »