May 24, 2015 4 min read

David Letterman’s long goodbye is over. Just as millions of TV viewers were belatedly saying “Hello.”

CBS, which over the decades was never able to catapult their late night star into “The Tonight Show” ratings stratosphere, finally whipped up enough curiosity about Lettermen’s impending retirement to give him a going away present – a No. 1 rating.

Like many others, I knew of Letterman more than I actually knew him. I had seen stupid pet tricks, the top 10 and Bud Melman. But “Late Night” was always a less desirable option to “The Tonight Show” – when Jay Leno or Jimmy Fallon were on break, I’d reluctantly catch a few minutes of Letterman. The exception was during the brief “Tonight Show” reign of Conan O’Brien, when Letterman seemed to be the least objectionable choice, although “Seinfeld” reruns eventually won out.

While it’s well known that Letterman took a rather dim view of show business in general, he should have heeded its first commandment. “If you want to keep an audience, you’ve got to get its attention first.” In this instance, that would be the opening monologue.

Johnny Carson was the master; he took full advantage of camera close-ups to make even failed jokes funny. His replacement, Leno, parlayed the O.J. Simpson odyssey into a now standard “nasty lite” take on news events, and Fallon successfully transitioned his Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” character into Mr. Everyman. ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, with a slightly more jagged edge, has corralled a dedicated audience as well.

For those opening 10 minutes of the late-night wars, Letterman’s unfocused take on the day’s events couldn’t compete. And so, sadly, few late-night viewers ever appreciated Letterman’s forte – the interviews that followed.

For all his stand-up comedy talents, Leno failed miserably when he sat behind the desk, embarrassingly fawning over each and every guest. Fallon’s post-monologue show is a daycare run amok (even if it works for the intended target audience).

While Letterman always employed a little of that nonsense, he backed away from the more outrageous shenanigans in recent years. As an older, wiser entertainer, Letterman focused on his specialty of slightly skewering the Hollywood elite, sometimes without the guest even knowing it. Without ever placing tongue in cheek, he’d signal the audience about his real thoughts on an upcoming movie or a movie star’s concocted story. And, inevitably, he could become a press agent’s nightmare and a viewer’s blessing by never giving guests the opportunity to plug a movie, TV show or themselves.

Perhaps because I never experienced enough of those interviews, I’d still tend to place Letterman just behind Jack Paar on the interview skill set. That, of course, is still elite status. (To be fair, Paar’s sometimes humorless but intelligent probing of politicians, authors and newsmakers would never fly with today’s TV audience.)

I’ve come to know and better appreciate David Letterman over the past few weeks. If the opportunity existed, I’d no doubt enjoy a summer of “Late Night” reruns. Alas, CBS won’t offer that opportunity. In lieu of catering to that audience they relentlessly lobbied to watch Letterman the past few weeks, CBS is opting for late-night reruns of its hit dramas until Stephen Colbert comes along in September.

Because, you know, we just can’t get enough of “CSI,” “NCIS” or “Criminal Minds.”

David Letterman, I’ll miss you.

I just didn’t know it until now.