NBC confirmed yesterday what has long been widely reported: Jimmy Fallon will take over "Late Night" once Conan O'Brien departs to become host of "The Tonight Show" sometime in 2009.

At a press conference yesterday in New York, Fallon, a former "Saturday Night Live" star, said it was his dream to get the job.

"I'm not going to reinvent the wheel with the talk show format, but when Conan took over for [David] Letterman, he wasn't Letterman, he was Conan," Fallon said. "I have to make my own show, and it just happens over time."

"Late Night" executive producer Lorne Michaels ("SNL") said, "You just find it through the process of doing it."

NBC announced plans for O'Brien to succeed Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" in 2004, but it's become increasingly clear that Leno has no interest in retiring. Because of that, NBC has been cagey about the specifics of when this transition will happen.

"Everyone wants Jay Leno to stay part of the NBC family," said an NBC executive. "That's a big part of what's going on now."

(Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor)

How can you tell Fox's decision to cancel Pittsburgh-set sitcom "Back to You" was a surprise? The network's publicity department sent out tomorrow's season finale for review, something they wouldn't have done if they knew the show was toast.

In a phone interview yesterday, "Back to You" executive producer Steven Levitan said he'd been assured as recently as Friday morning that the show would be picked up. Friday night they were told the show had been canceled.

"We were surprised, but not shocked," he said. "Nothing surprises me with [Fox Broadcasting] anymore."

Levitan conceded that "Back to You" was never a good match for Fox.

"We've been on the wrong network from the start," he said. "We got talked into it. That was our blunder. Our big mistake was going to Fox in the first place."

While in development, CBS and ABC had also expressed interest in airing "Back to You."

"Fox had the better deal and lots of big promises they didn't keep," Levitan said. "And the one person who didn't bid on it was Kevin Reilly at NBC, and then he came over to run Fox."

Levitan and the Fox studio, which produced the show for sister-company Fox Broadcasting, are now shopping the series to other networks, particularly CBS, where it would seem to be a natural fit.

"It's always a long shot, but they took 'JAG' from NBC, and that turned out to be a hit for them for years," he said, "so it's not unprecedented. But it is a long shot."

(Although ABC is poised to pick up NBC's "Scrubs" today, there's corporate financial incentive for ABC to do so: ABC's sister studio produces "Scrubs." That sort of connection doesn't exist in the "Back to You"-to-CBS scenario.)

Levitan acknowledged that "Back to You" is probably a more expensive show to produce than its lower-rated lead-in, "'Til Death," which was renewed, but he said Fox Broadcasting executives never asked them to reduce the show's expenses.

"Back to You" was hurt by pre-emptions during the writers' strike and Fox's decision to move the show to different time slots and never air more than five episodes consecutively.

"We were on a network that appealed to a different kind of people than we're aiming for," Levitan said. "Fox has a lot of people who tune in for 'American Idol' and then they tune out. They haven't launched a successful live-action comedy in I don't know how long."

In its place, Fox will announce Thursday it has picked up a sitcom called "The Inn" from "Back to You" writer and Washington, Pa., native Abraham Higginbotham. Levitan said he believes the network saw "The Inn" as more compatible with "'Til Death" than "Back to You."

"I'm very happy for him. In fact, we helped him with his show, so if it's gonna go to somebody, I'd rather it go to him," Levitan said.

Read more about Levitan and "Back to You" in Tuned In Journal at post-gazette.com/tv.

(R.O.)

After crowning Parvati Shallow the winner of "Survivor: Micronesia -- Fans vs. Favorites" Sunday night, host Jeff Probst revealed the series will return to Africa for its 17th season and feature 18 contestants living among wildlife. "Survivor: Gabon -- Earth's Last Eden" will premiere in the fall. The third "Survivor" season was filmed in Kenya. ... Production of ABC's "Ugly Betty" is moving to New York to take advantage of a 35 percent tax credit from the city and state when it makes the move from Los Angeles. The comedy will be filmed in Manhattan and Queens.

(Wire reports)