David Letterman was on The Ellen Show last week and my first observation in that The Ellen Show is an hour of commercials that get interrupted every now and then for a smidgen of program. Yes, I know the broadcast channels have commercials but there's a ratio of ads to entertainment that makes me not want to watch the entertainment. I haven't done the math on exactly what that ratio is but watch Ellen DeGeneres' talk show some day with a stopwatch and you can measure it. I like Ellen and I like the little snippets of show they sneak in once in a while but they are hard to find.
Now, about Dave: I used to think this guy was the brightest, funniest thing on television but my admiration for him began to leak at the seams when he began acting like a guy who didn't want to be there and was bored by 90% of the guests he had on. I think Jay Leno deserves a lot of credit for doing a show that rebounded from second place and went on to dominate that time slot way longer than anyone could have predicted. But some of that victory was a forfeit on Dave's part. I found him on some nights very self-obsessive and unpleasant to watch.
In this clip, he says he thinks he stayed on television ten years too long. I think so too. He's also doing that "I'm an old guy" bit which, as readers of this blog know, I can't stand. Dave, you're 71 years old. That beard everyone hates isn't fooling us into thinking you're way older. You're 71. At least wait until you hit 80 to start acting like your next booking will be the morgue. The last interview I heard with him was all about that.
His Netflix series has yet to interest me and I grow a bit frustrated with him because I'd like to think he's better than that; that he could use all that ability to connect with an audience and make things interesting to connect with the audience and make things interesting. I hope the rest of his career's not going to just be things like this…