David Letterman beats Conan O'Brien in ratings race
David Letterman needed only seven days to beat Conan O'Brien in the ratings war. O'Brien started out strong last Monday when he premiered as host of the "Tonight Show" earning a socko 7.1 rating. But by the end of the week he was down to 3.5. And this week, Letterman's "Late Show" brought on big name stars to lure away one-time Leno viewers disheartened by the changing of the guard at NBC.
Howard Stern stirred up controversy on Monday's Letterman with his dismissal of Jay Leno as robotic. "I've never seen anybody who behaves like a robot like this guy. I
watched his final show, saying goodbye to the 'Tonight Show,' reading
it off a teleprompter for crying out loud. Where's the emotion? Where's
the humanity?" He punctuated his tirade by pointing to Letterman saying, "Here's the host that we want to watch." And people did tune in with Letterman earning a rating of 3.0 for the night, just one-tenth of a point behind O'Brien.
Last night Julia Roberts guested on "Late Show" and charmed Letterman with her declaration, "You are so much funnier than other people who talk at this time of the evening." And the viewing audience agreed as Letterman rated 3.4 for the night while O'Brien had free-fallen to 2.9 even with the last-minute addition of Eddie Murphy to the "Tonight Show" guest lineup.
Neither Stern nor Roberts appeared on the "Late Show" to promote an upcoming project. Rather, each made it clear that they were there in support of Letterman. Like his long-time hero Johnny Carson, Letterman seldom lets his guard down on TV. However, the veteran talk show host has mellowed in recent years, often talking about the trials of raising his now 5-year-old son Harry and even discussing with Julia Roberts the details of his surprise wedding in March.
Tonight, Letterman hosts an edition of the always popular Stupid Human Tricks as well as the outspoken Kathy Griffin and musicians Sonic Youth while O'Brien welcomes Dane Cook. Though Griffin is unabashed in her desire to win another Emmy, Letterman lies low with his own ambitions about awards.
While Jay Leno usually beat him in the ratings, it was Letterman who ruled the Emmys roost. Over Leno's first 16 years of hosting the "Tonight Show," he won just one Emmy for best variety comedy music series. That single victory was way back in 1995. And the last of his nine nods came in 2003.
David Letterman won the Emmy Award for best variety comedy or music series for the inaugural season of the "Late Show" in 1994 and piled up another five consecutive wins beginning in 1998. And the show has been a perennial nominee ever since.
It took Conan O'Brien a full decade of hosting "Late Night" before the show got its first Emmy nomination in the variety comedy music series category in 2003. He, Letterman and Leno lost that year to "The Daily Show" hosted by Jon Stewart. "Late Night" landed a nod in each of the next four years, but Stewart's irreverent take on the news of the day would always win the Emmy. Last year, "Late Night" was not even nominated as the resurgent "Saturday Night Live" reclaimed a slot in the final five.
Conan O'Brien and his writing staff finally won an Emmy in 2007 after being also-rans every year from 1996 to 2004 and then again in 2006. That win brought an end to a four-year winning streak for "The Daily Show" scribes. Last year, the "Late Night" crew lost to the team behind "The Colbert Report."
Letterman won four consecutive Emmys as part of the writing team on the original "Late Night" beginning in 1984 and has been a perennial writing nominee for "Late Show," including last year. Leno and his team of gag writers have been snubbed by the Emmys for 16 years in a row.
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Late night is not the same since Jay left. Neither Dave nor Conan are capable of carrying Jay's boots. Once Jay goes to ten--next day reruns at 11:35 will no doubt own the slot--even with day old programming.
Posted by: Jack | July 23, 2009 at 01:58 PM
In this viewer's humble opinion...it's ridiculous to even compare Conan with Dave. David Letterman is ten times the host that Conan is. Johnny was the King, Dave is the current master, Jay was decent, and Conan can be almost painful to watch. I'm a newspaper reporter, former actor, and have years of comedy training at Chicago's 2nd City (home of most SNL legends). I also used to do stand-up. I don't say this to impress (it's not that impressive), just to say that this discussion is close to home for me. Trust me...among people who do these types of things as a career, Dave is very well respected and Conan is considered by most to be nearing pathetic (apart from his former writing career). Watching Conan conduct an interview is almost painful. After 17 years of late night, Conan still seems nervous, is unable to control the flow of the interview, has been making the same jokes for over a decade (his hair, for example), and often makes his guests have to work to have a smooth conversation. In contrast, Dave can make anyone from a young athlete to a sexy actress (Julia Roberts gave him a huge smacker on the lips recently), to a politician feel at ease. Dave is likely a better late night talk show host than Conan and Jay combined. Jay has his merits (good writers), but also has many weak points. Conan's entire show is pretty darn weak...filled with mindless, childish skits and almost uncomfortable interviews. Watch Conan conduct an interview, then change the station and watch Dave conduct an interview. It's like night and day. Johnny would be ashamed, I think. Dave is clearly a more intelligent and engaging personality than either Jay or Conan. Long live The Late Show, starring David Letterman!!!
Posted by: 123 | June 19, 2009 at 07:37 PM
I'm a Letterman fan, my husband is a Leno fan. My husband flipped the channels back and forth to keep me happy. Now that Conan took over Leno's spot, I get to watch Letterman ALL the time! I'm glad Leno is gone and we equally dislike Conan.
Posted by: Susan | June 15, 2009 at 08:44 PM
Atta boy Dave!!
I've been watching Letterman for 14 years and there's no doubt that Letterman is a broadcasting genius.
Posted by: Loif | June 13, 2009 at 02:47 PM
My guess is that Conan won't be inviting Palin. After all, Palin's reaction to a stupid joke told about her 18 year old daughter has been a non-stop three day campaign to declare that Letterman is somehow a child molester. I saw her appearance on the Today show, and it was a pretty appalling performance on the part of Palin.
For a woman who aspires to be President, the chip on the shoulder vindictiveness she displays about anything and everything is extremely disquieting. If this is how she conducts herself as a public figure, how in the hell would she act if, god forbid, she was given the keys to the White House.
Letterman has apologized, and Palin has chosen not to be the bigger person in this case. I guess the more "Christian" a person is, the more of a whining infant they are in real life.
Posted by: Pete | June 12, 2009 at 06:57 AM
Can Palin worshipers just go the hell away? Only if the Obama worshipers can go the hell away also. Letterman messed himself up. Conan is weak, and Letterman may have lost a portion of his audience not necessarily due to them liking Palin, but they thought it was in poor taste. If Conan invited Palin on his show and she accepted, that show would Conan's biggest show in his career.
Posted by: Tyrone | June 11, 2009 at 07:14 PM
1. That's funny, Kim, but Fox News certainly made a lot of hay joking about Jamie Lynn Spears getting knocked up. Letterman tried to make a Bristol Palin joke, and Sarah Palin's handlers immediately screamed "RAPE JOKE ABOUT A 14 YEAR OLD". Palin's PR people did this because they knew little simpletons like yourself would grab the talking points and run, run, run with them. While SP and her sheep like followers think that short-term culture war points will serve them well, once again moderate and independent Americans' growing belief that Palin is a think-skinned moron with a vindictive streak a mile wide will be reinforced.
2. Tara, you do realize that Letterman is actually from Indianapolis, and has proudly talked about his Midwestern roots his entire public career. Midwesterners are quick to spot self-aggrandizing phonies like Sarah Palin for instance.
Perhaps Ms. Palin might have avoided all of this if she didn't drag her pregnant underage daughter all over the campaign trail pretending that a Levi marriage was in the offing. Additionally, if Bristol Palin really wanted to be left alone, she might have said "no" to all the magazine covers and network TV appearances.
Posted by: Pete | June 11, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Pete ... just b/c D. Letterman is an idiot in his old age for not knowing the difference between the 2 girls doesn't excuse him for the jokes.
OLD man = sexual jokes about a CHILD or an 18 y.o. girl is CREEPY. No matter what planet one is in. Men who thinks this is funny are slimy, women who thinks this is funny should laugh when their daughter is under-age daughter or even her 18 y.o. is made fun of.
Regardless of what/where/who one is... OLD man + SEXUAL jokes about a young girl is just odd. He shouldn't publicize his fantasy so loudly.
Posted by: Kim | June 11, 2009 at 09:43 AM
IMO, letterman represents all that is smug and snide about new yorkers. There's a difference between smart and smart-ass. he always tilts his head back and looks down on his guests. You could say he's provincial in that he has little or no appeal to the vast majority of viewers. I'm really disappointed in Conan. Watched show #2 and turned the channel after about 10 minutes. he will sink the tonight show if allowed to continue.
Posted by: Tara | June 11, 2009 at 09:30 AM
Could you Palin-worshippers just go the hell away? Everyone with half a brain knows that Dave was talking about 18 year old Bristol, but that didn't stop thin-skinned media craving Palin from trying to make a Federal Case out of it.
Seriously, Palin is so thin-skinned she makes Richard Nixon look like Deepak Chopra in comparison.
Posted by: Pete | June 11, 2009 at 07:40 AM
he is a funny guy...I can not understand why so many girls love him. It's said thousands of hotties contacted him on a celeb dating site called SearchingMillionaire(DOT)com. Is he a millionaire?
Posted by: kattie | June 11, 2009 at 01:54 AM
The only reason that Howard Stern went on Letterman is because he Hates Leno for taking John Melendez from his show!
Howard Stern is a selfish punk
Conan O'Brien Rules!
Posted by: Carlos Yanez | June 11, 2009 at 01:10 AM
Conan is the man! I like Letterman as well but ConeBone will be the my main choose any day of the week!
Posted by: Patrick | June 11, 2009 at 12:35 AM
Letterman has always been superior to leno in every way, and only a nincompoop with no sense of humor considers Dave unfunny - (and don't talk about ratings - after all, this is the same country that twice "elected" bush as its president)
Posted by: mitch | June 11, 2009 at 12:15 AM
David Letterman is awesome, Conan is pretty good. thankfully we live in the age of multi-tuner DVRs, so I don't have to choose. But if I did, it would be Letterman every time!
Posted by: Billy | June 10, 2009 at 11:59 PM
Letterman sucks!
Posted by: greg | June 10, 2009 at 08:50 PM
I would to see Letterman drink 10 cups of coffee and then run wind sprints for one hour, LOL.
Posted by: Markham | June 10, 2009 at 08:04 PM
I'm Sorry, but I've never found Dave funny in the least.
Conan on the other hand, while having some really bad bits at times is always funny.
Posted by: Scott | June 10, 2009 at 07:54 PM
Letterman isn't the least bit funny. HIs attack on Palin and her 14 year old daughter borders on criminal. Why doesn't he attack the first lady (non caps intentional) for her slutty outfits? He never attacks a liberal democrat.
Posted by: andy | June 10, 2009 at 07:47 PM
Conan is still winning in the all-important young demographics though.
But enough about the late-night wars. I love both of 'em! Go Dave! Go Conan! Keep me laughing, guys.
Posted by: marc604 | June 10, 2009 at 04:59 PM