There are a couple of other reasons CBS won’t can him. First of all, with Conan O’Brien and The Tonight Show struggling, Letterman is winning the late night ratings wars for the first time in more than a decade. What’s the difference between #2 and #1? Millions of dollars a year.
Secondly, CBS abandoned any pretense at corporate scruples a long time ago. If not for Buckhead and the gang at Powerline, Dan Rather’s journalistic fraud would never have been exposed.
Besides, CBS is run by a guy named Les Moonves, who dumped his wife (and kids) a few years ago to shack up with Julie Chen, the newsreader on The Early Show and the host of “Big Brother.” I don’t recall Mr. Moonves or Ms. Chen being disciplined for their conduct. It’s a fair bet that Moonves won’t call Letterman on the carpet for his indiscretions.
Still, Letterman will pay dearly for his actions. The would-be extortionists (who deserve to go to jail) will subpoena all of Dave’s consorts, and the tabloids will have a field day. No wonder Letterman could never catch Leno in the ratings. He was too busy running a casting couch above the Ed Sullivan Theater.
The one person I truly feel sorry for is Letterman’s six-year-old son. He’s just at the age where he realizes that Dad is famous and his life is far different than that of his peers. Letterman’s son is about to discover that his dad is a philanderer, lout and a lot more. If he’s lucky, his mom will file for divorce, grab a nice chunk of Dave’s change and get him the hell away from Letterman.
One more thought: Letterman has always been something of a cad in his treatment of women. He persuaded his first wife to go with him to Hollywood and she supported him while he tried to launch a career as a stand-up comic.
When his career took off, Letterman dumped his wife for Merrill Markoe, a successful TV writer. Markoe helped Letterman land a slot as a performer on Mary Tyler Moore’s ill-fated CBS variety show. That, in turn, got Letterman gigs on the Tonight Show, his own daytime program, and eventually, “Late Night.” Markoe was the head writer—and the primary creative force—behind Letterman’s early shows.
By the mid-80s, Letterman had tired of Markoe. With his clout as star and producer of Late Night, he pushed her off the program, and began a new romance with Regine Lasko, the girlfriend who eventually bore his son. For her troubles, Ms. Lasko got a luxurious lifestyle, her child, and (apparently) Dave’s serial philandering.
What’s left of Letterman’s reputation will be thoroughly trashed in the upcoming trial. That’s why he confessed to the affairs on air last night, trying to depict himself as the victim in all of this. No one should feel any sympathy for Dave; it’s a mess of his own making.
very interesting background, especially about the 1st wife he discarded. I wonder if she’s still around.
I have to think there were quite a few of these young interns that Dave took advantage. It should be interesting when the truth comes out, as it undoubtedly will.
I suspect Dave probably paid all these women very handsomely to stay quiet, and there is already a report about how he paid for one of them to go to law school. So he’s pretty much a John here and paying for sex.
It was a pretty nice scheme he had cooked up. Sleep with me and I’ll set you up nicely, take care of anything you want, and help you out in your career.
Dave is very fortunate that this broke this week instead of last week when he had Obama and Clinton on. If it had broke before that, I doubt either of them go on, although it would have been worth it to see him and Clinton discuss it.
What a disgusting pig of a man.
Letterman's relationship fault's make for an interesting juxtaposition with Leno - who has been married to the same woman I believe for more than 35 years. And, I've never heard even a hint of Leno wandering off the farm.