Entertainment Tonight has been on for 400+ years … and Mary Hart has been there since the inception.  Well, give or take the first few months … but those were lame.

Now, she’s hanging up her microphone.  And the baton has been passed to blondiful Nancy O’Dell who cut her teeth on Access Hollywood.  She quit that show earlier this year allegedly because Billy Bush is a douche bag.  (Well, duh.)

In an obviously prepared and sentiment-free statement Hart said, “Nancy is a talented and respected entertainment correspondent. We have spent many years working on opposite sides of the celebrity battlefield and I know the show will flourish with Nancy as co-anchor.”

Oh, Mary, you know you would have worked there for 400 more years if your $5 million annual salary hadn’t gotten slashed to an unacceptable $2 million and change.  I was an entertainment reporter for a year … and believe me, I would have paid YOU for the opportunity to do it.

I like O’Dell’s style.  First of all, she’s stunning.  Her hair is always slightly windswept, which as we all know is impossible to achieve.  Second, no one has ever complained of having an epileptic attack due to her voice.  (Remember when Hart came under fire for that?  No, seriously.)

I’m curious to see what Hart’s next move is.  She has so many connections it’s not even funny.  She’s hobbed and nobbed so much over the last 25 years; she’s practically entertainment royalty.   Plus, every other episode of ET features her winning some insipid award (or some such nonsense) for her philanthropic efforts.  Props for being charitable, Mary.

From what I can tell the only big difference between Hart’s style and O’Dell’s style is the way they stand.  O’Dell always strikes a pose.  She’ll walk to her mark and suddenly VOGUE.  I tried to stand like that once and fell over.  I’m not sure if she learned that in modeling class or what, but it’s fun to watch.  Mary Hart likes to be posture perfect and then flail her arms like one of those wacky, wavy, arm-flailing inflatable tube men.  I think she’s just excited to be out from behind that desk where she was trapped for 15 years.  (Little known fact:  For years, Hart was known for having the best gams on TV.  Producers installed a leg light poised just outside camera range so that a glowing beam of light from God would shine down upon her rockin’ calves.)

We’ll miss you, Mary.  I don’t like change.  But I can live with your replacement.  O’Dell starts as a special correspondent in January.  After that … it’s the blonde leading the blonde.