TV & VIDEO - March 10, 1989

Johnny Carson fans can sleep better now. The longtime host of NBC’s “Tonight Show” told his TV audience Wednesday night that he’ll be back for at least one more season after this one. As Carson related it, the agreement came about during lunch with Brandon Tartikoff, president of NBC Entertainment. “We talked as we do about this time every year. He said ‘What are your plans?’ I said, ‘Maybe we should do another year.’ So we signed it and we’re going to continue for another year from September.” Carson added that last year, he made “a foolish mistake--I said I’ll do another year when it snows in Malibu . . . and it snowed in Malibu, so here we are.” In years past, Carson often has been the subject of much will-he-or-will-he-not-stay speculation, an exercise squelched for the time being by his announcement.