Letterman

What more could David Letterman want? For years Letterman has berated CBS program executives for the network's lackluster lineup of 10 p.m. shows, complaining - both on the air and off - that the ratings-impaired lead-ins left him at a disadvantage to Jay Leno's Tonight show on NBC. But this year, CBS is challenging NBC's long-time dominance in the 10 p.m. time slot with its strongest slate of shows in years. The showdown of the two networks begins tonight. CBS is aiming at what it considers the soft underbelly of the NBC 10 p.m. lineup - a second-year drama called Crossing Jordan - with CSI: Miami, a spinoff of TV's biggest hit of recent seasons, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Joe Flacco must have been a strong enough draw Monday night to leave David Letterman wanting more Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl mojo. The "Late Show with David Letterman" Wednesday announced that Ravens coach John Harbaugh will be on Thursday night. Here's the release from CBS: John Harbaugh, head coach of the Super Bowl XLVII champion Baltimore Ravens, will visit the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN Thursday, Feb. 7 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.  John Harbaugh and his younger brother Jim Harbaugh, head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, became the first pair of brothers to serve as head coaches in the NFL back in 2011 and made more headlines this year when they became the first brothers in NFL history to face each other in a Super Bowl, one which quickly became dubbed the “Harbaugh Bowl.”  The Ravens went on to defeat the 49ers Sunday in Super Bowl XLVII by a score of 34-31, giving the Ravens their second championship title in franchise history.

Should Garry Shandling step into NBC's late-night slot made vacant by David Letterman this summer, the comedian will have to hope the celebrity fans of his fictional show will like the real him.Mr. Shandling, the host of HBO's satirical "The Larry Sanders Show," has become a cult hit among Hollywood performers who like the way the show spoofs the industry."It's funny," said actor Alec Baldwin during a recent taping of the season's premiere show. "It's different. I enjoy the show within the show.

It's going to be dueling Ravens in late night Thursday with Jacoby Jones on Jimmy Kimmel and John Harbaugh on David Letterman . Both shows air at 11:35 p.m. -- Kimmel on ABC and Letterman on CBS. Talk about TV suddenly paying national attention to the Ravens in the wake of their Super Bowl victory Sunday. For years, no one had them on the national shows. Now they are being counterprogrammed against each other. Monday night, Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco , did an impressive turn on Letterman , who came calling for more with the Harbaugh booking.

In theory, anyone can be a writer for David Letterman.True, about half of the people who have churned through his show over the years have worked at the Harvard Lampoon and most are in their 20s and 30s.But whatever a person's background, long-time Letterman writer Gerard Mulligan says the essence of the job -- aside from being funny, of course -- is "the ability to write in Dave's voice. You have to write stuff that Dave will say."And Dave won't say just anything. "There are certain parameters," Mr. Mulligan says, because any television character has to be consistent.

Forget Jay Leno. Should NBC's David Letterman jump ship to CBS, his toughest late-night showdown may come with Arsenio Hall.Of the 205 stations that carry the syndicated "Arsenio Hall Show," 35 are CBS affiliates. And some of them are in such heavyweight markets as Chicago, Washington, Atlanta and Cleveland.If Mr. Letterman accepts CBS' reported two-year, $32 million deal, "Late Night" would be guaranteed the 11:30 p.m. time slot he covets. Which means some affiliates would have to bump Mr. Hall to a later, less desirable time or risk CBS's wrath by delaying Mr. Letterman.

If anyone tuned into The Late Show with David Letterman last night looking for laughs and the familiar wise-guy Letterman persona, they came to the wrong channel. But, if Letterman is the barometer of late-night humor as many believe he is, viewers got a sense of just how changed our nation has been by terrorist attacks last week as both he and his first guest, CBS anchorman Dan Rather, choked back tears in talking about the death and destruction in New York, where the show is taped. Rather became most emotional when talking about the rescue efforts of New York's firefighters.

Putting off for now the decision on whether to use guest hosts, CBS will get by another Letterman-less week with a little help from Dave's friends. Beginning Monday, "The Late Show with David Letterman" will feature a week of interviews with some of Letterman's favorite guests, sprinkled among snippets of their past visits to the show. The new interviews, which could account for as much as one-third of the hourlong shows, will be conducted by Paul Shaffer, Charles Grodin or Regis Philbin.

If things are as good at CBS Sports as new president David Kenin proclaims, then someone should tell David Letterman.America's favorite late-night funnyman has been making rather ferocious sport of his own network's sports division of late.For instance, toward the end of the U.S. Open fortnight, Letterman ran a video quiz, asking if the man pictured holding a camcorder was (A) a devoted tennis fan, (B) a parent of one of the players or (C) all that's left of CBS Sports.When Kenin was relayed that story recently during the Presidents Cup golf tournament in Lake Manassas, Va., he chuckled and said, "Hey, that's David.

LET'S NOT feel too sorry for Paris Hilton in the matter of David Letterman's disrespectful interview on Friday - oh, wait, nobody does feel sorry for her! In any case, she might have chosen Ellen DeGeneres or The View or even Oprah to promote her new fragrance. But she picked Letterman, and got what he is famous for. And she got more publicity out of her hurt feelings than she has had for some time. So, it's win-win! Book tour Bill Clinton, in the Book People store down in Austin, Texas, was pushing his new bestseller, Giving.

Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco will be on David Letterman's show tonight talking about the Ravens victory Sunday over the San Francisco 49ers. Flacco will be in New York City for the early evening taping tonight. The show airs at 11:35 p.m. on WJZ-Channel 13, the CBS-owned station in Baltimore. We should have video of Flacco's appearance on The Sun website by 7:30 or 8 p.m. So, please stop back. Here's part of the release from CBS: Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, MVP of Super Bowl XLVII, talks about his team thrilling victory Sunday night over the San Francisco 49ers when he visits the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Monday, Feb. 4 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT)

Here's a look at Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco's appearance on the "Late Show with David Letterman" Monday, courtesy of CBS: Flacco, who walked out to a standing ovation from the audience as Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra played “We Are the Champions,” talked about his contract negotiations with the Ravens: Letterman:  “I read something today about you, and this is a contract negotiation year, and before the game, what did your...

Baltimore Orioles centerfielder Adam Jones got some Top Ten, David Letterman, TV action Monday night from Kansas City, the site of the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Here's Jones along with some of baseball's best trying their hands at comedy. What do you think? Be honest.

Talk-show host David Letterman said Thursday that he was the victim of a $2 million extortion attempt related to his sexual relationships with staff members on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman." During a taping for Thursday night's broadcast, Letterman told viewers that three weeks ago, he was approached by a person who claimed to have information about the host's affairs with female staff members. This person, Letterman said, threatened to expose the relationships unless payment of $2 million was received.

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.

Phoenix on Letterman keeps entertaining It became an overnight sensation: Joaquin Phoenix's appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman on Wednesday night during which the actor appeared to forget the name of his Two Lovers co-star, Gwyneth Paltrow, stuck gum under the edge of Letterman's desk and apparently cursed at bandleader Paul Shaffer for laughing at him. There were also intervals of silence. Hours afterward, video of the visit had become an Internet sensation: By Thursday evening, a posting of the interview had been seen more than 180,000 times on YouTube.

THE TRAGICALLY unhip among us still think that the topic of conversation is hit records or college football teams whenever Top 10 is discussed.But insomniacs or the intellectually enlightened know better.Here are the Top 10 things you need to know about the real Top 10 list:10. They appear nightly, save for reruns, on "Late Night With David Letterman," (broadcast on Channel 2 at 1 a.m.), thanks to the show's head writer, Steve O'Donnell.9. The only hard and fast rule that O'Donnell lives by when creating the Top 10 list is "We do nothing horribly, horribly offensive to God and man. Otherwise, almost anything goes."

"The Late Shift" is not awful, which must be regarded as something of a triumph for HBO.Of course, it's not very good, either, so at best what we have is a small victory. The casting is bad, the acting mediocre, the writing fine, the story incomplete, the compelling reason to watch this thing hard to grasp.But for a movie reputed to be the biggest disaster since the Hindenburg, this chronicle of the late-night wars between David Letterman and Jay Leno that dominated the entertainment press a few years back is almost watchable.

The pseudo-improvised reality series The Hills, as it plays out beyond MTV on tabloid covers, is back stronger than ever after a three-month hiatus. Last Monday's return averaged 4.8 million total viewers, a new high for the show. The Hills, set among young aspirants of the Hollywood Hills music and fashion industries, continues to track the emotional warfare between former best friends Lauren Conrad and Heidi Montag while delving more deeply into the twistedness, gaslighting and superficiality of the boyfriends who ensure that the tortured rivals treat each other like Crips and Bloods.

It didn't take long for late-night TV and politics to re-establish their symbiotic relationship. On Wednesday, the first night back since the Hollywood writers' strike started Nov. 5, The Late Show With David Letterman opened with Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton, while Jay Leno's Tonight Show featured Republican candidate Mike Huckabee. Great face time for the candidates on the eve of the Iowa caucuses. But not such great viewing for fans, especially those of The Tonight Show.