The TV Zone

The King am I.

Lorne Michaels was here yesterday and I'm beginning to get the sense that "press tour" wouldn't be a "press tour" without him. Held in such reverence -- the critics gave him their lifetime achievement award here in Beverly Hills Saturday -- Michaels confers legitimacy on this whole affair just by showing up, even if he has nothing to say. This year he did: NBC announced a series of Thursday half-hour specials (live, of course) leading up to the election; these three will air during October, (expect a "Weekend Update" format.) "SNL" last hit Thursdays in 2001.

Lorne had a lot to say about a lot of stuff at his presser yesterday. Herewith, the highlights:

* Yeah, he effectively admitted that Barack Obama's difficult to mock. "He's still defining himself and is cast as heroic, which I think he is, but sooner or later he'll do something to irritate us....It's still being dealt with cautiously and reverently, and it might stay that way to November, but I doubt it."

* Yeah, again, Amy Poehler is of course leaving for "The Office" spin-off but'll stay on the show for that Thursday series of specials and will leave after the election. Could Seth Meyers go solo on the "Weekend Update" desk? "I don't know [but] we toyed with the idea of Tina doing it alone..."

* Yeah, "I was enormously frustrated by the strike, and being off the air during an election year was unbelievably frustrating..."

* Jay out the door? "I have so little to say on that. I like Jay's show, I like Conan's show...I was brought in after David Letterman left. I tend to get the call late in the cycle."

* He will -- as I think "SNL" may have said before -- launch Jimmy Fallon's show on the Web to get the kinks out before it's on the air. (Fallon, you know, replaces Conan, who goes up an hour next year...) "I learned from Conan how brutal it is to change a show [while it's on] the air. It'll help by having Jimmy on the Web "five to six months before it goes on the air." Plus, this'll let Jimmy "do stuff you don't normally do on TV..."

* What'll it be like having Conan move from 6A to that gymnasium in Burbank? "Conan and Jeff [Zucker] so know what they're doing [but] it will be a big transition."

* Fallon will originate out of Studio 6B. That's -- as you know -- an historic studio in NBC, where Carson and Paar once worked. I also believe "Twenty-One," the old game show (scandal, remember?) came out of here too.

(Photo: Getty Images)