The Capri Lounge wandered across the street this afternoon to the 30 Rockefeller Center headquarters of NBC, where, in the worst-kept secret in show business, Jimmy Fallon was introduced as Conan O'Brien's successor as Late Night host when O'Brien takes over for Jay Leno sometime in 2009.

Fallon was his usually Fallon-y, charming, self-deprecating self, telling the assorted hacks that he'd always aspired to joining the late-night talk show racket. Standing beside Lorne Michaels — the man who brought him into TV via Saturday Night Live — Fallon said he wasn't "going to reinvent the talk show format" before adding "all the furniture would be suspended six feet in the air." He declined give details about his contract, other than to say, "I just want to live comfortablty — in Dubai."

The selection of Fallon for the Late Night chair has already provoked a fair amount of discussion, naturally. Those unimpressed by Fallon’s cutesy antics on SNL wonder if he has the bona fides for the Late Night grind.

But there's little doubt that Fallon is, at least in the short term, better positioned than the then-unknown O'Brien was when he was selected for Late Night. At 34, Fallon has good name recognition and fan base, and at his press conference he showed a quickness required for the interviewer's seat. But Michaels, recalling O'Brien's early woes, said that Fallon shouldn't expect raves from Day One. "It's a twelve round fight, and for the first eight rounds, they just pummel you," Michaels said.

The skunk-haired elephant in the room, of course, was the status of Jay Leno, who is being pushed into an early retirement in order for O'Brien to take the Tonight Show mantle. Leno remains the ratings king of late night television, and other networks and syndication outlets are rumored to be lusting to hire him when he leaves NBC. There's been some speculation that NBC might, at the last minute, choose to hang onto Leno rather than face an uncertain future with Conan — a decision for which they'd owe Conan a reported $45 million penalty. As it is, NBC has yet to give a firm date for the Jay-to-Conan transition, largely because it's trying to figure out a way they can keep both Leno and O'Brien in the fold. "Everyone wants Jay Leno to stay part of the NBC family," Michael said in explaining the murky ‘sometime-in-’09’ timing. "That's a big part of it."

Whatever happens, it's shaping up to be one of the better network television battles since NBC chose Leno to replace Johnny Carson and David Letterman packed up his stupid pet tricks and wandered over to CBS. It's possible that within a couple years you could see a dial with Conan on NBC, Leno on Fox, and John Stewart on CBS, should Dave choose to retire and become a full-time poppa. But it's also possible you could see the current status quo. For all the handwringing about the future of broadcast television, late night remains one of the few arenas that retains the drama and status of the good old days. People may TiVo it or watch it on the Internet, but they still care, as Jimmy Fallon is about to learn.

[Photo: Getty]