Late Show with David Letterman on CBS

Some recent ratings highlights:

• America's Got Talent on Tuesday tallied an audience of 11.3 million total viewers — a drop of 12 percent from its previous premiere, but still the night's most watched program. Its second outing dipped 8 percent, to 10.39 mil.

• ABC's The Superstars opened to a not-entirely-super 4.34 mil on Tuesday. In turn, the (thankfully) already-renewed Better Off Ted only managed 1.87 mil.

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• On Wednesday, ABC's Wipeout scored 7.7 mil, topping So You Think You Can Dance in the 8 o'clock hour. All told, Fox's Dance averaged ... read more 7 Comments

After a semi-apology last week for a joke about one of Sarah Palin's daughters, David Letterman offered an unequivocal sorry during Monday's Late Show monologue "to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke."

Letterman joked last week that Palin's daughter was "knocked up" by Alex Rodriguez during a Yankees game. Though he didn't specify which daughter, he said he meant 18-year-old Bristol Palin. The family, however, said the joke targeted 14-year-old Willow, who attended the game with her mother.

Letterman made the full apology Monday after... read more 194 Comments

David Letterman said he regrets telling jokes about Sarah Palin's daughter after the Alaska governor called them "sexually perverted" and her husband, Todd, called them "despicable."

On Wednesday's Late Show, Letterman repeated the jokes in question. He denied that they referred to the Palins' 14-year-old daughter — as the Palins' his-and-hers statements seemed to indicate (see below) — but rather their 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, who, as Letterman pointed out, "was knocked up."

On their seventh day of head-to-head competition, David Letterman's Late Show squeaked past Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show, though by a slim margin — one half of a rating point. 

Still, Letterman's latest performance represents a 13 percent week-to-week gain, while Conan has dropped 42 percent since his Tonight Show debut.

The Tonight Show's numbers, in fact, have declined every night since O'Brien ... read more 16 Comments

Howard Stern must be thrilled that CBS is looking to re-up Late Show host David Letterman's contract through 2012.

The Sirius Radio shock jock stopped by The Late Show Monday, and during his time in the chair, he praised Letterman while taking shots at Dave's new late-night rival and the prime time-bound Jay Leno.

"We've got to beat this Conan," Stern said. "How are you feeling that Jay left late-night television, and now we've got a new guy to compete with?"

Stern, who gave credit to Letterman for putting the radio host on the map, continued to rail on Leno, even to the point that Letterman became visibly uncomfortable. In particular, Stern called out Leno's ... read more 41 Comments