David Letterman’s retirement from late night has been a big deal thanks to the longevity of the man’s career and the impact he had on the late night landscape over the years. With that in mind, it’s no real shock that The Late Show with David Letterman nabbed plenty of eyeballs last night. However, I’m not sure anyone expected the finale to average 13.76 million total viewers--a huge number, in case you aren't familiar with what Letterman's show normally averages in the ratings.
Honestly, 13.76 million viewers is a huge number for any TV series, but especially for late night television. In fact, The Wrap says that the last time CBS’ The Late Show saw ratings that were quite this high was way back on February 25, 1994, when the late night series aired an episode right after CBS’ scheduling of the Winter Olympics. Letterman's finale also did well in the 18-49 demographic, nabbing a 3.1 rating.
There’s no doubt Letterman’s last episode was special. It was peppered with old and recent footage of the late night host and featured a whole slew of the show’s favorites coming back for one last bit or gag. The Top 10 was phenomenal; of course, the moment we’ll all be talking about during the weeks to come is the final montage from the episode, which featured longtime Late Show favorite The Foo Fighters performing the band’s classic hit “Everlong” while footage from the show rolled. It was a memorable finale to a memorable career, and no doubt after Live+ ratings roll in, we’ll learn that even more eyeballs tuned in.
Although the ratings should have been a nice moment for Letterman, it’s interesting that the final episode brought in 13.76 million, which is just a little less than the 14.6 million total viewers who tuned in for Jay Leno’s final episode of The Tonight Show just over a year ago. Interestingly, however, Leno’s last bow benefitted from airing right after the Winter Olympics on NBC, which likely helped to raise the profile of his last show considerably. Still, there’s something poetic about Letterman’s final episode landing just a teensy bit behind Leno’s in terms of overall viewership, considering that Letterman was a critical favorite but often fell behind Leno in the ratings. It’s fitting that his end followed suit.
It was already weird to live in a world where Leno and Letterman weren’t competing for eyeballs, but now, after more than 6,000 shows on the air, it’s going to be even odder without Letterman around at all. Luckily, CBS is already moving forward with plans for a new late night host. If you somehow missed the memo, Stephen Colbert is set to take the timeslot when The Late Show returns to the schedule next fall. Colbert’s new show is expected to premiere on Tuesday, September 8, 2015. In the meantime, here’s what CBS has going on this summer.
