Dear God: You can have Billy Bush, but please don’t take Mary Hart!! First it was Oprah. Then Larry King. Now ET co-host Mary Hart has confirmed that she is that next longtime national broadcaster to retire.

The end of an era in entertainment journalism is upon us. On Thursday, Entertainment Tonight host Mary Hart — who we affectionately like to call “The Poor Man’s Barbara Walters” — announced that she is stepping down as host of the long-running sydicated newsmagazine. Hart says the show’s upcoming 30th season, which premieres Sept. 13, 2010, will be her last as the First Lady of Celebrity Dish.

Since taking over as host in 1982, Hart, 59, has fronted Entertainment Tonight as it covered everything from the death of Lucille Ball and the OJ Simpson Trial to the incarceration of Paris Hilton and the breakdown of Britney Spears.

Mary says she wouldn’t change a thing.

“I’ve had the privilege of spending 29 years doing something I love – how often does that happen?” Hart said in a statement this morning. “I only meant to be at ET for three years, suddenly it’s almost 30! I’ve reached a point when I clearly realize it’s time for a change. There are many things I want to do in my life and I’d better get on with them.”

She added: “It will certainly be with mixed sentiments that I say ‘goodbye’ at the end of the season, but it will definitely be with a sense of celebration … 30 years of Entertainment Tonight, are you kidding me? That’s an accomplishment and something I’m very proud of!”

Rumors first surfaced that Hart may be on her way out as the face of Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, when The New York Post published a scoop claiming the bubbly blonde would be replaced by The Insider’s Lara Spencer — long thought to be Hart’s eventual successor.

For now, ET producers are keeping their lips sealed on what professional celebrity snitch will serve as Mary’s replacement.

So are there any Entertainment Tonight fans in the house? Are you saddened to hear that Mary’s hanging up her microphone? Is such a change long overdue? Who would make a suitable successor?