You have to admit late-night TV has become a lot more interesting in the past two weeks, since Jay Leno, who consistently dominated the competition, left for prime time.
Two weeks ago all eyes were on Conan O'Brien, who struggled in his much-hyped opening nights to find the right voice - especially when it came to the monologue, his great and glaring weakness.
Last week, David Letterman was all the buzz with crude jokes about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughters - and Palin's angry response that stopped just short of labeling him a sexual "pervert" - her word, not mine.
And the beat goes on this week with the birth of a firedavidletterman.com Web site and a protest planned for today outside the Manhattan theater where the 62-year-old comedian's show is taped.
Along with other bloggers last week, I zeroed in on the newfound ratings race that suddenly had Letterman neck and neck with O'Brien, whose audience dropped by half since his debut in Leno's old job. Last Tuesday, Letterman beat O'Brien by about 400,000 TV households. It was the night after his Palin jokes, and you couldn't help thinking that in crass show business terms, maybe the nasty, partisan attack was smart.
The calculus isn't hard to fathom. Letterman, who is as driven a TV personality as you will find, sees an opening to get back on top of the late-night heap with the monologue-challenged O'Brien taking over The Tonight Show. So, Letterman turns up the heat on his monologues and makes them edgier.
Sound desperate? Letterman might be a desperate man.
While everyone has focused on the CBS comedian's new ability to compete with NBC's Tonight Show, the story that has been largely overlooked is how hard he has been battling to keep ABC's Nightline from overtaking him. The news program that some left for dead after longtime host Ted Koppel's retirement, has, in fact, often beat Letterman in the ratings this year.
As of last week, season to date, the Late Show with David Letterman and Nightline were tied with 3.8 million viewers each a night. Thanks to the hefty lead Leno handed O'Brien, The Tonight Show was still averaging 5.2 million - and O'Brien was beating Letterman more decisively than even Leno had done in the key sales demographic of viewers 18 to 49 years of age.
