Tuesday, March 12, 2002

David Letterman announced last night that he's staying at CBS. It would have been a stupid move, anyway -- Letterman was never the savior CBS was looking for, and he'd just be jumping to network that has the same problem CBS had when he left NBC. One would think this would be the end of the story that's been brewing about a month, but ABC still hasn't announced what it plans to do with Nightline. And this is what TV critics and columnists will continue to complain about: how can ABC do away with this fine journalistic institution, blah blah blah... But I think most of the controversy has very little do with the sanctity of Nightline. The real issue is that finally, after 40 years of being catered to and pampered by the media, the Baby Boomers are becoming irrelevant. Nightline and The Late Show pull in about the same number of viewers, but Letterman gets more of the coveted 18-to-34 demographic. And the idea that networks would pander to this demographic -- instead of the Boomers, again, drives them crazy.

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