Letterman Apology A Ratings Hit

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.

More Letterman coverage
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Letterman Apologizes to Wife
Names Surface of Other Women Linked to Letterman
Expert: Letterman Future Far From CertainWill "Other Shoes" Drop for Letterman?
Viewers Split on Letterman Revelations
Experts: Letterman Was Right To Come Clean
Will Letterman Lose Women Viewers?
Halderman's Lawyer: Don't Rush To Judgment
Halderman Pleads Not Guilty to Blackmail

[pickaguitar1]

Folks...he's not a politician or minister...he's a late night talk show host!

Go Letterman!

[Ichabod09]

Spin

one born every minute

Shuck and Jive

I'm the victim here...

I'm sorry for the incident.



If you see a stranger take him in

[SamTCat]

On second thought, like I pointed out yesterday most people aren't going to pick up on the fact that Letterman's original betrayal to his wife was that he injected other people into what was supposed to be a private relationship such that to continue to drag people into his private relationship by making his apology to his wife public (as well as private most likely) was clearly an act geared more towards keeping his audience rather than strengthening the bond between him and his wife, and was therefore motivated by concern for himself and was not a display of humility at all.

But given that most people won't pick up on that, then probably is that easy to manipulate people with charm. So probably the fake script'll dupe enough dumbos for him to keep on chugging stronger than ever.

Easier to fake it than to really change I suppose.

[SamTCat]

On second thought, like I pointed out yesterday most people aren't going to pick up on the fact that Letterman's original betrayal to his wife was that he injected other people into what was supposed to be a private relationship such that to continue to drag people into his private relationship by making his apology to his wife was clearly an act geared more towards keeping his audience rather than strengthening the bond between him and his wife, and was therefore selfish and not a display of humility.

But given that most people won't pick up on that, then probably is that easy to manipulate people with charm. So probably the fake script'll dupe enough dumbos for him to keep on chugging stronger than ever.

Easier to fake it than to really change I suppose.

[SamTCat]

I just caught the video of the apology part I missed after I turned the channel - it's so fake and so calculated.

I've heard some people lump celebrity extortions into one pool, but some of them the celebrities didn't do anything to deserve - like John Travolta, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Dave with the attempting kidnapping scheme that he was the victim of a couple of years back.

This one is different because he did play something of a part in making himself vulnerable to being taken advantage of by taking up with questionable people in questionable, secretive relationships. And he told jokes that poked fun of other peoples' foibles when he was acting the exact same way.

He also probably didn't hire the best lawyer if they only know the settled law that's on the books and weren't capable of extrapolating into the realm of novel legal issues to know that threatening to turn in an attempted extortioner to get them to settle and shut up for substantially less money than requested wouldn't be considered a crime.

Letterman made a lot of choices to get where he's at. I didn't hear him acknowledge any of that while he was whining about how he was such a poor little victim last night. Without addressing the actions one took that they could have done differently that resulted in them getting where they are, it's not an honest act of taking responsibility.

Who is scripting Letterman's comeback - I'll bet they've got a personal life just like him, a sense of entitlement, probably manipulative and feel like money and charm will open a lot of doors, etc.

[SHEETPAN]

Our national sickness; Rewarding bad behavior.

[henry_bowman]

So David Letterman admits to using his position to obtain sexual favors from the women who worked for him and CBS isn't going to terminate his contract?

With that attitude, I'm glad that I'm not a female employee working for CBS.

I've always thought Letterman was a cretin and his tasteless remarks over time have proven me right.

Now his behavior provides one more reason not to watch his show