Letterman Attacks Leno With Writers, Howard Stern

David Letterman is the only big late night host with professional writers. But it hasn't mattered in the ratings much: NBC's Jay Leno, writers or no writers, is still No.1 by a long shot.

Can Howard Stern help? Letterman has booked Stern, one of his biggest ratings draws for Thursday night's show. Stern and Letterman have a long relationship, and Stern appeared on Letterman the night he left CBS Radio for his mega-deal with Sirius Satellite Radio. Thursday will be his 18th appearance on the "The Late Show."

Now he returns to help breathe some life in Letterman's show, which returned to season-high numbers last week, thanks to plenty of viewer curiosity, but still hasn't made ratings inroads against Leno. In his first five days back, Leno trounced Letterman — like he always did before the writers strike began.

According to preliminary numbers, Letterman won Monday night — when he shaved his strike beard and had Tom Hanks as a guest. But even Hanks suggested Letterman wasn't doing enough with his writers: "I thought shaving your strike beard is what you do when you don't have writers."

Comments

[PatA]

Who has the most Emmys? Letterman or Leno?
Who started paying their employees first?
Letterman or Leno? hmmmmm?

[sa]

letterman's the freaking man!

.

[Wrong2bRight]

What's the point of collective bargaining if they are going to broker individual deals?

[GeoNorth]

Letterman is Letterman. Stern is..so what. Leno is not funny and never has been. we need the writers. Have you seen Jon Stewart? He's angry, he's speaking his mind, but damn, he needs his writers.
We need the writers. I can't imagine Deal or No Deal every damn night.

Here is a point that needs to be made. For all the talent that the writers possess, why has it been so tough for them to put their cause into writing?

[Nutcase]

I watched Letterman a few times back when he was on NBC, following Carson. I was disappointed. It seemed that after most of his jokes he and his band leader were the only ones laughing. Last year I watched a few minutes. Some things never change.

[mikelartist]

My mother used to fall asleep "watching" Johnny Carson every night. I don't think she ever saw more than 3 minutes of any of his shows, ever. Does that count in the ratings? My grandparents only watched "channel 4" no matter what. In NY that was CBS, but in Florida that was some local NBC affiliate. When I tried to change the channel to CBS for them, explaining it wasn't the same station, my grandmother replied, "Dolly, don't touch the machine!". My guess is that a lot of Jay's audience is like that.

[timbrehse]

What's important to know here:
Dave is back on the air , with his writers, because his company signed a deal with the writers union agreeing to everything they asked for.

Jay, by contrast, is back on the air scabbing. He is writing for himself and paying other scab writers $25. a pop to fax in jokes (and he only pays for the ones he uses). This soulless, integrity challenged, closet hiding, ratings whore has thrown the union, a union he's belonged to for decades, under the bus in favor of his own pitiful self interest.

There are 1000's out of work because of this strike. Not just writers. He could have used his show as an immeasurably powerful forum in support of his union's cause. But in his lack of testicular fortitude, Jay chose Jay above all else.

While there is a ratings gap that divides these two men, it is dwarfed by the canyon that separates them in the measure of dignity and personal integrity.
I hope Howard flames Leno during his Late Show appearance. Because Dave, forever true to himself, never will.

[PaulRaymond]

Dave, unlike Leno, displays his contempt for the whole show-business thing any chance he gets. And a lot of folks just don't appreciate such sacrilegious behavior.

Jay's nice and cuddly and safe, and will bend over backwards before he steps on anyone's toes, whether they deserve it or not. It's been said before and I'll say it again. Dave is indeed, a Class Act.

[Ginzaman]

Leno beats Letterman in the ratings for 7 years straight. Now there's a writer's strike. Letterman pulls rank and gets a special deal with the WGA to get his writer's back. Leno goes on with no writers and still kicks his butt. Read between the lines.

[MrJoyboy]

Could it be Leno makes more people laugh than does Letterman?

[ChiGuy]

Leno beating Letterman in the ratings, like Hillary winning NH, proves that there are a LOT of seriously misguided individuals out there.

[LeoMarvin]

Dave is the Melinda Doolittle of late night TV. He should take it as a badge of honor that the American TV audience, which can't keep shows like "Get a Life," "Strangers With Candy," and "Arrested Development" on the air for more than two or three seasons, and others like "Action" and "The Tick" for more than even a few episodes, prefers Jay Leno. Jay's a nice guy who used to be a decent stand-up, but I defy anyone to point to a single funny thing he's done in the almost two decades he's had The Tonight Show.

[Wilsonfisk89]

Yeah... Huffpo, your sensationalist headlines are getting a little ridiculous, here, in politix, across the board. Who writes this stuff? This is fast becoming a different website than I fell in love with. Leno=Hack, Letterman=Class Act.

[YA]

Does anyone really care about this stuff? Is this the old white guy equivalent to a East-coast West-coast feud? Boy, good thing I don't watch TV...

[authorityends]

that is not "attacking" - what a dumb headline...