David Letterman Had No Say in Late Show Replacement
CBS never consulted David Letterman about his Late Show successor, but that didn't stop him from having plenty of opinions on the matter. Letterman, whose final episode of the Late Show airs May 20, told the New York Times that while he has long believed that incoming host Stephen Colbert would make a great successor, he also thought it "would have made sense" to break network TV's mold of white, male late-night hosts, Letterman admits he was initially bothered by his lack of input but that he's since gotten over it. Elsewhere in the interview, he also discussed what to expect from his final show. "I can remember when Johnny Carson signed off that night, it just left you with a nagging sense of loss," he said. "This doesn't apply here. I want it to be a little more cheery. And I want it to be upbeat, and I want it to be funny, and I want people to be happy that they spent the time to watch it.", NYT