WHAT'CHA DOIN'?  The NYT explores how Nickelodeon is battling with the Disney juggernaut on TV.

THE MASTER: Biographer Robert Caro turns 75 today.  According to an interview he did with Charlie Rose last year, we should be seeing the fourth and final volume of The Years of Lyndon Johnson at some point in 2012 -- and if there's a more (and longer-) anticipated work of nonfiction out there, I don't know what it is.  (The first three volumes were published in 1982, 1990 and 2002.)

For some forty years, he has made his life's work illuminating the way in which power functions -- through Johnson and NYC's Robert Moses (The Power Broker) -- and I cannot begin to express how indebted to him we all are.  If there's anyone here who has not read all four of Caro's books yet, please stop reading this blog, buy them, read them and come back here in a few months when you're done.  Seriously.

"NOT REALLY SOBBING. MORE LIKE A GOOD 'SPORTS CRY.'"  A Texas attorney sought permission of the Court to continue a conference scheduled for Game 1 of the World Series.  Motion granted.

A BREATHTAKING PORTRAIT OF THE END OF DAYS: I like zombies, and I like TV, so I -- ouch, what the -- was already pretty excited for Sunday's premiere of AMC's Walking Dead, which is basically the next Mad Men, except that the style is tattered instead of retro and Pete Campbell is decaying and people order their scotch with grey matter, not ice. Then I saw the fan-made unofficial credits, and my excitement boiled over into a, I don't know, a dull, aching hunger, a hunger, a hurrrrrrrr hurrrrr

braaaains

"I JUST HAVE A BAD FEELING," O'BRIEN SAID. "I JUST THINK JAY'S GOING TO HURT ME IN SOME WAY."   Finally, (an excerpt from) an excerpt from the impending Bill Carter book for which you've been waiting:

“I know how hard I worked for this,” Conan told the NBC executives. “It was promised to me. I had a shitty lead-in.” His tone was soft, but the words were clipped. Graboff knew this was Conan in the raw, speaking from the heart. ...

Conan listened to Gaspin, still with a faraway look in his eye. Finally he did have something he really wanted to say, something that was all but burning a hole in his chest. “What does Jay have on you?” Conan asked, his voice still low, his tone still even. “What does this guy have on you people? What the hell is it about Jay?”

Neither of the NBC executives had an answer and cast their heads down. Conan thought they were working at looking sympathetic, following some lesson that had been taught at corporate school.

One nice detail: part of what informs O'Brien's suspicions is the Leno-in-the-closet story that Carter broke in his first telling of the Late Night Wars.  This VF excerpt also gets into the making of O'Brien's public statement, which we discussed back in January with reference to another Carter excerpt (from the last book).

IMPORTANT: DENG PICKED ME UP IN #2605 AT 12:35 P.M.: Tapping into the ALOTT5MA hive mind here with a travel-related question: Why do blank cab receipts have all the wrong information? There's no room for the passenger's name or a client billing number/identifier, but there are always blanks for cab number, driver name, and time. Are there not enough billable-hour lawyers and consultants and accountants taking cabs to make a client-identifier field useful?

(If you can answer that one, then move on to the bonus round: what malformed person designed the Delta seat backs -- fence-post upright with a sack of rice bolted right where your head should go?)

DATING WITHOUT PITY: In a rare (at least in recent vintage) new media to old media transition, Sarah Bunting (formerly of TWOP) has joined Time Out New York as their new dating advice columnist.