“The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, & the Network Battle for the Night is a 1994 non-fiction book written by The New York Times media reporter Bill Carter. It chronicles the early 1990s conflict surrounding the American late-night talk show The Tonight Show. The book was later made into a film of the same name by HBO.” -from Wikipedia
The book is a quick read that conveys an interesting and thorough tale of late night TV.
A few excerpts:
- p 152 – CBS Head Howard Stringer was trying to win Letterman for his network and thought the deal wouldn’t turn just on money, but “it had to be about fulfillment and opportunity and a well-earned moment in the spotlight.”
- p 264 – “All (Conan O’Brien) had was his winning personality and the underdog factor.”
- p 278 – David Letterman, once at 11:30 on CBS up against The Tonight Show, “…was a late-night phenomenon. He was bringing in younger viewers in the time period that hadn’t been seen since Carson’s greatest days. More than that, he was attracting the hardest viewers for advertisers to reach: Light television viewers, those who watched little or noting regularly, were changing their habits to catch Dave.”