We're hearing that David Letterman's last Late Show will be on Friday, May 22, 2015. Why that date? Well, throughout his career in late night television, Mr. Letterman's response to many decisions he had to make was to ask, "What would Johnny have done?" Johnny Carson's last Tonight Show was Friday, May 22, 1992.
If indeed the rumor mill is correct about the date, CBS is probably pleased that it's finally been decided but a bit disappointed. As you may know, there are certain periods of the year which are called "sweeps" periods. Those are when the ratings matter a little more than they usually do in terms of determining who "wins" the season and how the advertising rates are set. Networks like to have their strongest programming appear during "sweeps."
Johnny's last show was Friday, May 22 because that year, the May sweeps ended on Friday, May 22. [Correction: No. it didn't.] In 2015 though, the May sweeps will end on Wednesday, May 20. So Letterman's last show, which looks to be a ratings monster, will occur outside the period. As Maxwell Smart would say, "Missed it by that much!"
Once the rumored date for Letterman's exit is firm — and it may well be — then will come the question of (a) when Stephen Colbert's first Late Show will happen and (b) what CBS will air in that time slot for the 10-12 weeks it will take to move Letterman's crew out of the Ed Sullivan Theater building, move Colbert's in, remodel and upgrade the studio, do test shows, etc. Last I heard, the folks who have to decide that were still puzzling. It might be something like Big Brother reruns.
In the meantime, Dave's probably trying to figure out what guests he wants to have on his last broadcast that has guests since Bette Midler was never a regular on his show and Robin Williams is dead. I'm guessing Bill Murray and Regis Philbin…and Murray will sing a "farewell" tune.
Craig Ferguson's show has announced its guest list through the end of its run, and a friend at CBS tells me that every last ticket for those tapings is gone and that they expect huge stand-by lines. His sole guest for the last show on Friday, December 19 will be Jay Leno, which seems like an odd choice but maybe not. The two of them can sit around and discuss Life After Late Night. The new host of that show, James Corden, starts March 9 and I'm hearing the eleven weeks between will be filled by guest hosts.
Mr. Leno guested last night with Jimmy Fallon and I thought the spot went well. So when will he show up in Letterman's guest chair? They haven't yet announced a start date for Jay's new CNBC show other than that it will be "sometime in 2015." Maybe, since he'll actually have something big to plug, Jay will want it to be then.