Letterman calls it quits.

[gblews]

http://www.deadline.com/2014/04/david-letterman-retiring-2015-late-show-with-david-letterman/

I was going to post this in the recent late night talk show thread, but because he was such a pioneer, I thought Dave deserved his own thread.

The guy reinvented late night talk show form. He brought a skewed, bizarre kind of irreverence and wackiness that neither Johnny, Merv, Joey Bishop, or any of the other old time late nighters could bring to the table.

I mean, whoever would have thought that having people on the show and having their dogs do tricks would catch on? Stupid Pet Tricks, child bird callers, children introducing ridiculous, in bad taste, dangerous xmas gitfs, were the norm on his show. Dave even made walking the halls of NBC a staple. I'll never forget him interrupting a Bryant Gumbel interview outside 30 Rock by yelling with a bullhorn out the window that he wasn't wearing pants.

Even though the new NBC lineup, Kimmel, Colbert, all rushed him to retirement, Dave was a true original and no programmer or exec can ever take that away from him.

 

[Melakon]

I first became a Letterman fan due to a mid-morning talk show he had on NBC (I think), and it was just as bizarre. Either NBC didn't understand it, or the viewers didn't, or both, but he brought a lot of its elements to Late Night.

 

[urbandefault]

I predicted a while back that after Jay Leno was off the Tonight Show for good, Letterman would feel free to retire. When Johnny Carson retired, Dave stated that he hoped his career might be as long as Carson's. He passed Carson's 30 years on late night talk, and also managed to outlast Leno.

Now, will there be a public reconciliation with Leno? I think there might very well be.

 

[gblews]

I first became a Letterman fan due to a mid-morning talk show he had on NBC (I think), and it was just as bizarre. Either NBC didn't understand it, or the viewers didn't, or both, but he brought a lot of its elements to Late Night.

I remember that show. It was far to weird for the era and especially for it's timeslot, but was funny as hell.

 

[Amasov]

I knew this was coming. After Jimmy Kimmel was placed in at 11.35 and then later Fallon, I figured that would be about the time Letterman would call it.

 

[gblews]

The big question is, who will CBS get to replace him. One of the chief candidates, IMO, should be Vince Vaughn. He hosted Dave's show one night when Dave was off after his heart surgery. Vince killed. Some of the reviews said he reminded them of the first time Burt Reynolds subbed for Johnny. He was like early Letterman, needling the guests, Paul, and generally being a fly in the ointment. His monologue was great, which really surprised me.

If CBS is smart, they'll pull out all stops to get VV.

 

[Aldo]

That's too bad, he's been such a huge staple of late night television for me. He's been around for as long as I can remember. With Jay, at least I knew that Carson was on the Tonight show before him, and was even able to watch Carson's final show.

 

[Amaris]

Yep. The last of the network's old guard are stepping down. I'm curious as to who they'll bring in to fill that slot.

 

[shivkala]

While a part of me thinks it would be nice to see Craig Ferguson get it, I think part of the reason his show works so well is that it's on later. I could see a similar situation with what happened with Conan on The Tonight Show, where, ratings-wise, he doesn't do as well as his predecessor.

 

[mach7]

I was a HUGE Letterman fan for decades. Even went to the show.

I stopped watching about 6 years ago. It seemed he should
have retired a while ago. The last few times I tried to watch
it was just sad.

Here's an Idea. How about no one to replace him. There are so many
late night now none rarely draw more than 1-2 million viewers.

Just a thought.

 

[Timby]

While a part of me thinks it would be nice to see Craig Ferguson get it, I think part of the reason his show works so well is that it's on later. I could see a similar situation with what happened with Conan on The Tonight Show, where, ratings-wise, he doesn't do as well as his predecessor.

Ferguson has said time and again that he'll leave when Letterman leaves, and their contracts have always been timed to coincide with each other's. (Worldwide Pants also used to have full ownership of the show, but that changed with the 2012 contract extension.) Ferguson's brand of humor also wouldn't work at 11:30. I love The Late Late Show the way it is.

 

[Danny99]

CBS doesn't abandon the time slot; it'd be handing the time slot to NBC and ABC.

I'll throw Carson Daly out there. He's been passed over multiple times by NBC and though they have gifted him "The Voice", it'll depend on what he wants more.

Otherwise, I couldn't pick a name out of there if I tried.

 

[Timby]

CBS doesn't abandon the time slot; it'd be handing the time slot to NBC and ABC.

I'll throw Carson Daly out there. He's been passed over multiple times by NBC and though they have gifted him "The Voice", it'll depend on what he wants more.

Otherwise, I couldn't pick a name out of there if I tried.

I'd always said the job is Jon Stewart's if he wants it, but then the CBS / Viacom split happened and Stewart seems to be comfortable on The Daily Show. But honestly, I think it'll be Conan O'Brien -- his contract with TBS is conveniently timed to expire around the same time in 2015 as Letterman's.

 

[Aldo]

CBS doesn't abandon the time slot; it'd be handing the time slot to NBC and ABC.

I'll throw Carson Daly out there. He's been passed over multiple times by NBC and though they have gifted him "The Voice", it'll depend on what he wants more.

Otherwise, I couldn't pick a name out of there if I tried.

I'd always said the job is Jon Stewart's if he wants it, but then the CBS / Viacom split happened and Stewart seems to be comfortable on The Daily Show. But honestly, I think it'll be Conan O'Brien -- his contract with TBS is conveniently timed to expire around the same time in 2015 as Letterman's.

That would be an interesting turn of events indeed. I also bet CBS would offer Conan more freedom than NBC gave him for The Tonight Show.

 

[Melakon]

Since I've not seen real television at all in almost 10 years and don't know the current landscape, is it possible CBS will start trying to lure Conan now?

Nevemind, Timby answered it in the crosspost.

 

[Amaris]

I would like to see Conan get a network late night show again. His TBS show is fun, but it just doesn't have the same zing for some reason, though that may just be my perceptions alone.

 

[urbandefault]

I think --I hope -- that Conan is happy where he is. The setting and the time slot seem to work for him, and TBS would be foolish to let him get away.

How about Drew Carey?

 

[Timby]

I would like to see Conan get a network late night show again. His TBS show is fun, but it just doesn't have the same zing for some reason, though that may just be my perceptions alone.

The thing with Conan (the TBS show, that is) is that Conan (the person, that is) is absolutely beyond God-awful at interviewing people. He just sucks at it, and he's sucked at it even going back to when he was having C-level guests on Late Night. But TBS needs to fork out a not-insignificant amount of money to get people to appear on a basic cable late-night show instead of doing network, which means the time for sketches and comedy bits (and something falling flat on its face and they need to make the best of it to fill time, which is where Conan shines) has been minimized in favor of the guest interviews.

 

[Agent Richard07]

When he first started in 1993, I heard something about his contract running up to 2001 and that seemed like a good run and a long way off. Now we're up to 2014 and he's still here. Even more impressive is that Paul Shaffer stuck by him the whole time.

"We don’t have the timetable for this precisely down – I think it will be at least a year or so, but sometime in the not too distant future, 2015 for the love of God, in fact, Paul and I will be wrapping things up," he added, to a standing ovation from the audience in the Ed Sullivan Theater.

No, we're not that glad to see you go, but you've had a good run and we know that all good things come to an end. When the time comes, I know I'll be sure to stay up late.

 

[Amaris]

I would like to see Conan get a network late night show again. His TBS show is fun, but it just doesn't have the same zing for some reason, though that may just be my perceptions alone.

The thing with Conan (the TBS show, that is) is that Conan (the person, that is) is absolutely beyond God-awful at interviewing people. He just sucks at it, and he's sucked at it even going back to when he was having C-level guests on Late Night. But TBS needs to fork out a not-insignificant amount of money to get people to appear on a basic cable late-night show instead of doing network, which means the time for sketches and comedy bits (and something falling flat on its face and they need to make the best of it to fill time, which is where Conan shines) has been minimized in favor of the guest interviews.

So what you're saying is Conan just needs to cut the talk, and have more funny. If so, I agree. The interviews always feel the slowest, to me. Conan's far better when he's talking to himself, or to the audience. Having people respond to his brand of crazy doesn't quite fit.