"Conan O'Brien will take over 'The Tonight Show' in 2009," NBC Universal President and CEO Jeff Zucker said Monday in New York at an event arranged by Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Zucker said he'd like Leno to remain with the company and that "we are in those conversations now."

"I'm hopeful that Jay will be with us," the executive told the question-and-answer session.

Continuing in a more somber tone, Zucker added, "Of course, sometimes these conversations don't lead anywhere, and a loved one makes the choice to leave the family. We'd really hate to see that happen. And it would be sadder still if, on the way home from the conversation in which we decided to go our separate ways, the brakes on one of those unreliable old jalopies Jay is so fond of mysteriously give out, and the car winds up in a ditch off of Mullholland Drive, tragically cutting short his search for a new family."

• NBC exec: Leno will leave 'Tonight' on schedule [CNN.com]

Sources said Stage One, once home to the "Jack Benny Show," may next become the home of "The Tonight Show" starring Jay Leno, and after 2009, Conan O'Brien, although a studio spokesman insists that is still being evaluated. Construction is expected to start by early next year and take at least one and a half years to complete. A studio spokesman said completion depends on getting the necessary permits.

O'Brien was in Los Angeles, Burbank and Universal City on Wednesday, according to sources, discussing the plans with top NBC U brass. The complex is said to include a public area, a spacious state of the art theater, dressing rooms and a four story office complex that would be perfect for the "Tonight Show" staff, currently cramped into aging space at NBC in Burbank.

Conan, of course is waiting at the door. This could seal the deal for O'Brien to agree to host the franchise late night talk show from the West Coast. "No final decisions have been made," said a NBC U spokeswoman in a statement issued to Hollywood Today. "A stage at Universal Studios is one option under consideration, but we are still very much in an evaluation stage."

It might still be too early for the officials to comment on their exact plans for the space, but it seemed like a sign that things are moving forward when the spokeswoman let it slip that NBC executives were already mulling the feng-shui implications of placing O'Brien's new desk on the exact spot where they will assassinate Jay Leno in 2009, thereby eliminating the possibility that the outgoing host will decide he's got a few more years in him and set up shop at a competing network.

• Longoria, Desperate Housewives Evicted! New home for Tonight Show without Leno? [Hollywood Today]

The course of cackling-hens-sitting-on-a-couch-and-clucking-about- current-events history has been irrevocably altered: Rosie O'Donnell has just announced that she will not be returning to The View next year, a decision she blames on an inability to reach acceptable contractual terms for her daily involvement in the show. (Insiders reveal the impasse was reached when ABC's legal department flatly refused to install a button on the set that would deliver a paralyzing electric shock to longtime nemesis Donald Trump's genitals each time it was pressed.) We know that your initial response to this sad news is to rush through your house or place of business and smash all the mirrors you can find, then use the jagged shards to carve "ROSIE" on the underside of your forearm, but take heart: she will be dropping by occasionally to guest host and deliver special reports, and, when the spirit moves her, just to choke that skinny bitch Hasselbeck a little.

• The View [ABC.com]
• Exclusive: O'Donnell Leaving 'The View' [ABC News]