Jay Leno and David Letterman are in the twilight of their days as late-night TV kings, and it’s not clear that any late-night comic will wield that kind of broad influence again.

Late-night ratings sank over the past three months, despite the attention and extraordinary television created over the winter by the drama of Leno taking back “The Tonight Show” from Conan O’Brien.

“Late-night talk shows have been around since the 1950s, and you wonder if they are getting passe with the viewing public,” said Brad Adgate, an analyst with Horizon Media.

Read the full story

Today Tiger Woods publicly apologized to his family and fans in front of millions and while most of us get to apologize privately celebrities hold press conferences and elaborate interviews.

Here is a glimpse at some other celebrities that have had to endure the sometimes painful and embarrassing spotlight. Read the full story

E! Online is reporting that Nicole Richie and Joel Madden are engaged!

The two have been dating since 2007. The couple reportedly planned on getting married prior to the birth of their daughter but parenthood put those plans on hold.

Nicole, 28 and Joel, 30 had their first child daughter Harlow in 2007 and recently welcomed baby boy Sparrow this past September. Read the full story

NEW YORK (AP) — Super Bowl viewers were rubbing their eyes at the sight of a TV spot pairing CBS late-night host David Letterman with longtime NBC archrival Jay Leno, plus media magnate Oprah Winfrey.

Appearing early in the CBS-aired game Sunday, the ad depicted Letterman and Leno glumly sharing a couch watching the Super Bowl, with Winfrey seated between them trying to make peace. Read the full story

On Monday, Jay Leno decided to tell his side of the NBC late night debacle involving him and Conan O’Brien.

Key among Leno’s words were: “Don’t blame Conan.”

Well, David Letterman, who has yet to hold back during this entire “brouhaha”, decided that once more, he had a point to make about things.

Here, then, is Letterman’s rebuttal to Leno’s State of the Network speech:

(Thanks to Warming Glow for the link!)

Related articles by Zemanta

• As the Late Night Drama Turns: Jokes Get Personal [Late Night] (gawker.com)
• The Late Night Wars Continue: The Video Clips You Missed Last Night [Late] (gawker.com)

Conan O'Brien is insisting on severance deals for his 'Tonight Show' staff.

The sticking point in Conan O’Brien’s complex exit negotiations with NBC involves his TV staff, not Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, a person familiar with the talks said Tuesday.

Although discussions also focused on whether NBC would keep the rights to familiar O’Brien comedy bits including Triumph, O’Brien’s focus was ensuring severance deals for his “Tonight” staff and crew, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were intended to be private.
O’Brien is “dug in on that,” the person said.

NBC fired back in a statement, saying “it was Conan’s decision to leave NBC that resulted in nearly 200 of his staffers being out of work.”

“We have already agreed to pay millions of dollars to compensate every one of them. This latest posturing is nothing more than a PR ploy,” the network said.

A spokesman for O’Brien declined to comment.
Read the full story

Jay Leno may be back soon at 11:35; Conan O'Brien probably won't be back 'til 2011. (AP)

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that NBC will pay Conan O’Brien nearly $40 million to walk away from The Tonight Show.

O’Brien’s exit agreement could be set as soon as today.

According to the Journal, O’Brien wouldn’t be permitted to bad-mouth his former bosses, nor can he work on another TV show until the year is out.
Read the full story

NEW YORK (AP) — David Letterman, after a week off, dived right into material about Tiger Woods on the “Late Show,” joking that he wishes the golfer would stop calling him to ask for advice.

Even though the CBS late-night host is only weeks removed from his own scandal, he kicked off his monologue with the subject of Woods, who has been hounded by claims from several women that they had affairs with him.

“Boy, it looks like that Tiger Woods is having some trouble, huh?” began Letterman, puffing his cheeks out. Read the full story

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former writer for David Letterman said she quit his NBC talk show in part because of alleged sexual favoritism and a hostile work environment.

Nell Scovell, writing for Vanity Fair online Tuesday, said she had no intention of filing a lawsuit and wasn’t seeking revenge.

“I wanted to shine a light on gender inequality in that particular workplace,” Scovell, who went on to a successful Hollywood career, said in a telephone interview.
Read the full story

Martin Short and Steve Martin try to bring levity back to CBS' 'Late Show with David Letterman'. (AP)

David Letterman’s apology to his wife and staff members means another big night in the Nielsen ratings for the late-night talk-show host.

The Nielsen Co.’s overnight measurement of the nation’s 56 biggest markets netted Letterman’s Late Show on CBS a 4.2 rating – higher than anything rival NBC had in prime-time.

Nielsen didn’t immediately have an estimate of the size of Letterman’s audience. The overnight rating was slightly less than last Thursday’s show, when 5.8 million people watched Letterman say he had been the victim of a $2 million blackmail threat that led him to reveal he had sex with staff members.
Read the full story