Leno was considered the King of late night as he had a long and successful run up to last year when he handed over the reins to Conan O’Brien. Sadly that move ended in disaster as Conan failed to hold on to the ratings built up by Leno and the show entered a disastrous downward rating spiral which eventually saw the exit of Conan. The fact that NBC was willing to sacrifice the entire month of February so that Leno could prepare for a debut in March speaks volumes for his stock as well as damns Conan’s star power.

There are questions though, as to whether Leno will be able to re-capture the lost ratings. NBC seems to be confident of this as they point out that Leno’s faithful followers were not part of Conan’s demographics. They also point out that although The Jay Leno Show did not do well in the ratings, it did not do badly either. Leno averaged 5.2 million viewers for “The Tonight Show” in his last season and averaged 5.3 million in his new prime time slot. The only reason the new show was deemed a failure was that it was expected to bring in a lot more in terms of viewership.

Although the return of Leno to his old slot is not being the subject of hype as the prime time slot was, this appears to be a smart move. Experts say that by keeping a fairly low key approach, expectations will not be overly high thus helping the show to hit the ground running. All of the old gimmicks (the desk, chair and couch) will be back with a new color scheme. However, the new set is still under wraps so it could hold a few surprises when it opens next week!

Andrew had suffered from depression and was known to be on medication. But recently he had cleared out his L.A. apartment, given away all his belongings and announced to his friends that he was moving to Vancouver to “start over”. Most importantly at this point he had gone off his medication. The actor was last seen on February 14 in Vancouver where he was visiting friends. By the 18th, he was reported missing by his parents and they appealed to the public a few days later to help them find him.

Although Andrew was originally thought to be laying low and avoiding human contact, the family’s worst fears were realized when his body was found in a park in Vancouver a few days later. The actor had apparently taken his own life in an area of the park which was rarely visited. His father later stated that he did not suspect any foul play and that his son had indeed committed suicide.

The Koenig family has urged the public to not let this fate happen to anyone else and has appealed to them to persuade those who suffer from depression to seek help.

The last incarnation of “Nikita” lasted five seasons in its run on TV and CW seems to be banking on that as it has commissioned a pilot for a new rebooted version. The new plot takes off from the point where the old Nikita has gone rogue leaving the requirement for a replacement to be trained. The replacement has been cast and the name may come as a surprise to many because it is Maggie Q.

Traditionally the role of Nikita has been played by a Caucasian, but with the reboot idea, creator Craig Silverstein decided to give it a twist by casting the new Nikita as “Beautiful and Exotic”. Not only will this be Maggie’s highest profile series role, it is so for any Asian actress in the TV business. Maggie has been in several big screen hits such as “Mission: Impossible III” opposite Tom Cruise and “Live free or Die Hard” opposite Bruce Willis, but this will be her biggest TV opportunity if the series does take off.

On the future of Idol without Cowell, the judge said that whoever replaces him should be a person with a solid background of music industry experience. He downplayed Howard Stern’s chances by saying that since Stern did not fit those criteria it was unlikely that the shock jock would be chosen. However, Cowell did wish Stern the best of luck if he was serious about taking up the job. Stern has been stirring up a storm on his radio station Sirius XM trying to get his name into the hat for consideration. Many think that this is another attempt in a long line of attempts to belittle the show.

When asked to name a replacement, Cowell remained neutral and reiterated his earlier point by citing an example of judging Olympic Ice Skating. He said that unless you know exactly what the sport is about you cannot pass criticism or award points. He also pointed out that increasingly on TV, judges were being replaced by personalities and that this trend would cause issues in the long run as they would not be able to spot a “diamond in the rough” as well as a person from the industry would.
Cowell leaves Idol at the end of this season to launch his own show next year.

Richie is once again part of the song, this time as a conductor along with Quincy Jones who was also an integral part of the 1985 effort. “We are the World: 25 for Haiti” was initially not designed for the Haitian earthquake relief efforts, but with the unfortunate events that unfolded in Haiti, Richie and Jones decided to transform the commemorative effort into one that would once again be about relief.

The new version of the song features over 75 artists, updated lyrics and music. It also has a rap segment and a duet between Michael & Janet Jackson. The song was unveiled during the broadcast of the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics on NBC. All of the proceeds generated by the song will be channeled through the We Are the World Foundation to support the relief efforts in Haiti.

The earthquake hit on January 12, 2010 leaving the country devastated with millions homeless. The death toll is eventually expected to top 200,000 in number.

The video, directed by Paul Haggis and the single, are available for purchase on iTunes.