tonightshow

After weeks of speculation following Conan O'Brien's abrupt and messy dismissal from 'The Tonight Show' by NBC, reports are emerging that Fox has officially offered O'Brien a role on its network. Not for his own talk show, though.

For 'American Idol.'

Yes, according to the Hollywood Reporter, the lanky redhead has been approached by Fox to appear on America's top-rated TV show.

Before you get your hopes up, though, this isn't the latest Ellen DeGeneres-style shock hire, and O'Brien won't be replacing Simon Cowell next season, either. In fact, even though the offer was simply to appear on 'Idol's' annual 'Idol Gives Back' charity special (airing April 21), O'Brien won't be appearing on 'Idol' at all. Why? Because NBC has refused to give O'Brien permission for the guest spot.

Both Conan O'Brien and Fox would love to be able to have a deal in place for a late-night Coco talk show starting this fall that Fox could announce by the time it makes its annual splashy upfront presentation to advertisers on May 17.

But so far, there's no deal, no dollar figures being discussed, and in fact, no talks at all between Fox and Team Coco over the past two weeks, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Still, according to the Reporter and the Los Angeles Times, the two sides have agreed on a basic framework for a deal. Now all they have to do is figure out the money and how to get all of Fox's local stations to agree to bump their current late-night programming to make way for the former 'Tonight Show' host. "We'll get there," a source close to O'Brien told the Times on Tuesday.

The rumors of a Conan O'Brien road show, called the 'Legally Prohibited from Being on Television Tour,' were finally confirmed today (see our post earlier today), but few details have been announced. TV Squad spoke with longtime Conan writer Brian Kiley a couple of weeks ago, when the rumors first started popping up, about what the show might be like. The show was still in the planning stages, and probably still is. But there are a few details we can relate.

First of all, don't expect the road show to be a carbon copy of the 'Tonight Show' or of 'Late Night'. "[On] TV, things can be very small," said Kiley. "This stage show is going to have to be big. So I don't think he's going to come out and do a long monologue about current events, for example. I think it's going to be a romp. I think it'll be kind of fun, wacky things. Things we can't do on TV. It should be a very loose, fun show."

Good news, bad news: The bad news is, while 'Saturday Night Live' will indeed have a "Women in Comedy" special in April, Betty White won't be part of it. The good news is, 'SNL' producers are still in talks with her about the solo hosting gig that her nearly half a million Facebook fans have been clamoring for.

The news came from a panel discussion in New York on Tuesday night about 'SNL,' whose attendees included longtime 'SNL' executive producer Lorne Michaels and 'SNL' head writer/'Weekend Update' anchor Seth Meyers. "I think it's happening," Meyers told Jezebel.com, about a White hosting gig. "We would love to have her."

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

To no one's surprise, Jay Leno's much-heralded return to 'The Tonight Show' on Monday was a ratings success, at least according to early overnight numbers. According to the Hollywood Reporter, advance numbers show Leno winning his timeslot with a 5.4 rating in metered market households and a rating of 2.0 among adults 18-49. That easily beat the 3.0 household rating for 'The Late Show With David Letterman' on CBS and the ABC ratings (cited by Entertainment Weekly) of 3.4 for 'Nightline' and 1.8 for 'Jimmy Kimmel Live.'

Leno's return had coattails too. Following 'Tonight,' NBC's 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon' posted a 2.1 rating, twice its fourth-quarter 2009 average and enough to beat usual timeslot victor 'The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson' by 40 percent.

Now that Olympic fever has subsided, it's time to look ahead to a March filled with many returning favorites, including ABC's 'Dancing with the Stars,' NBC's 'The Apprentice,' and Comedy Central's bad boys of 'South Park.' The month also offers both 'The 82nd Annual Academy Awards' on ABC and NCAA Basketball's "March Madness" on CBS.

March kicks off with one of the most controversial premieres of the year. After a dismal performance in primetime, Jay Leno returns to 'The Tonight Show' (Mon., March 1 at 11:35PM on NBC) desk he temporarily vacated for Conan O'Brien. Make sure you don't miss a moment of the biggest premieres and finales in March.

Check out our full list of highlights after the jump.

The Leno-Letterman rivalry is back in full-force.

Following Monday's announcement that Jay Leno would return to 'The Tonight Show' next week with such divisive guests as Sarah Palin and the cast of MTV's 'Jersey Shore,' the 'Late Show with David Letterman' yesterday revealed a similarly heady guest lineup.

CBS' 'Late Show' will counter former vice presidential candidate-turned-Fox News correspondent Sarah Palin with another ghost of presidential election past (and 2012 hopeful): former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

Sorry, Darius Rucker: The reports stating that Kevin Eubanks would not be returning to 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' just aren't true -- at least for the next couple of months.

The infotainment show 'Extra' reported earlier today that Leno's longtime bandleader was leaving the show because he "wanted a change" and was hoping to pursue other opportunities.

And while the network confirmed to AOL TV that "Kevin has expressed interest in pursuing personal touring and recording opportunities," he "will be with the show when it returns" on March 1.

Did Conan O'Brien's 'Tonight Show' fail because of an Andy Richter curse?

Actually, it probably failed because of a Jeff Zucker curse. But still, what of poor Andy? He seems to have been operating under a perpetual cloud ever since he left Conan's side the first time, when he quit his job as sidekick on 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien' in 2000 for a Hollywood career. He's worked consistently since then, but his list of credits over the last decade consists largely of box office flops and short-lived TV series. To which we can now add 'The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien.'

Now that the battle over 'The Tonight Show' is officially over, with Jay Leno taking back his old job and Conan O'Brien all but out the door with an eight-figure severance check, it's time to sift through the rubble to see who's come out on top. Surprisingly, the debacle has turned out to be a win for almost everyone involved, with three glaring exceptions.

Though the official announcement is still pending, the imminent departure of Conan O'Brien from 'The Tonight Show' is being heralded by an unlikely harbinger: Will Ferrell.

As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, 'The Tonight Show' released its list of upcoming guests for the week and notable for all the wrong reasons are Friday's stars, Tom Hanks and Will Ferrell. Ferrell, you may recall, was the first guest on the show when O'Brien took over back in June, while Hanks followed the next evening as the lanky host's second guest.

To quote Jack Nicholson's Joker in 'Batman': "If you've gotta go, go with a smile!"

If Conan O'Brien's stint on 'The Tonight Show' is indeed ending on Friday, it looks like the host is at least going out with a bang.

The Wrap reports that Conan continued his ratings resurgence on Monday night, averaging a 1.8 Nielsen rating, doubling the 0.9 rating of 'Late Show with David Letterman.' 'Tonight Show' also beat 'The Jay Leno Show' on Monday, which averaged a 1.3 rating, according to TV By the Numbers.

Today looks like the day the great 'Tonight Show' wars of 2010 will end. NBC is expected to announce today the terms of Conan O'Brien's departure from the network and its plans for Jay Leno to resume his old post at 'The Tonight Show' at its original hour of 11:35PM. Still, a lot of questions remain unanswered. Here's the latest on how we expect it to play out.

For crimes against Conan O'Brien, NBC is on trial. As with so many trials lately, this one is being played out in the media.

I'm sure NBC executives were somewhat prepared to endure a few jabs from Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais last Sunday. After all, the 'Late Night Wars' are the only recent news that could possibly be turned into a joke. But when Julia Roberts tells you off on the red carpet, you know you are losing the PR war. Instead of telling the inflatable pre-show hosts "who" she was wearing, Julia turned to the camera and told NBC they were "in the toilet right now." Even Juliana Margulies - who rose to fame on 'ER', an NBC drama that aired at 10 o'clock - took an indirect potshot at NBC. As she accepted her award for best actress in a television drama for 'The Good Wife' she thanked her network, CBS, for "believing in the 10 o'clock drama."

The late-night war just got dirtier thanks to NBC exec Dick Ebersol.

According to the NY Times, Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports, claims that the reason for Jay Leno's rumored return to late-night is a simple one: disappointing ratings for 'The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien.'

Regarding the attacks on Leno made by O'Brien and CBS's David Letterman on their respective shows, Ebersol says it was "chicken-hearted and gutless to blame a guy you couldn't beat in the ratings," and "what this is really all about is an astounding failure by Conan."