The Late Show with David Letterman

In 1993 Letterman departed NBC to host his own show opposite Tonight on CBS at eleven-thirty, The Late Show with David Letterman. Three years later, HBO produced a made-for-television movie called The Late Shift, based on a book by New York Times reporter Bill Carter, chronicling the battle between Letterman and Jay Leno for the coveted Tonight Show hosting spot. Letterman would mock the film for months afterwards, specifically on how the actor playing him, John Michael Higgins, did not resemble him in the least. ("They took a guy who looked nothing like me and with make-up and special camera angles, turned him into a guy who looked nothing like me, with red hair.") Carson later made a few cameo appearances as a guest on Dave's show. Carson's final television appearance came on a Late Show episode taped in Los Angeles, when he made a surprise appearance during a 'Top 10 list' segment. The audience went wild as Letterman stood up and proudly invited Carson to sit at his desk. The overwhelming applause was so protracted that Carson was unable to say anything, and he finally returned backstage as the applause continued. (It was later explained that Carson had laryngitis).

Popularity

The Late Show competes in the same time slot as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. For its first 18 months, The Late Show consistently gained higher ratings than Tonight. But in 1995, ratings dipped slightly and Leno's show has consistently beat Letterman's in the ratings ever since. At one point Leno's lead was as large as two million viewers, but narrowed, as of February 2005, to fewer than a million viewers (5.8 vs. 4.9 million).

Letterman has nonetheless ranked consistently higher than Leno in the annual Harris Poll of Nation's Favorite TV Personality; as of 2004 Letterman ranked second in that poll, behind Oprah Winfrey. Letterman's shows have garnered both critical and industry praise, receiving 67 Emmy Award nominations, winning twelve times in his first twenty years in late night television.

-Wikipedia