Letterman will outlast Leno with new CBS contract
Sagging ratings for the "Late Show With David Letterman" apparently aren't hurting the host. Letterman and CBS reportedly have nearly completed an agreement that will keep the 59-year-old as host of the 11:35 p.m. show for four more years, through the 2009-10 season. Talks for the new deal, which have been going on for months, have been relatively civil, unlike in 2002, when Letterman, upset by what he perceived as CBSs poor treatment, flirted with moving to ABC. Under the new contract, Letterman's salary reportedly will remain the same at about $31.5 million a year. That means hell be sticking around longer than late-night counterpart and somewhat bitter rival Jay Leno, who famously beat Letterman out for NBC's "Tonight Show" gig, prompting Letterman's move to CBS more than a decade ago. Leno will retire in 2009 and be replaced by Conan OBrien. Letterman is still a big name in entertainment but of late his ratings have been fading. Season to date, Late Show has averaged a 1.4 rating and 6 share among adults 18-49, 26 percent behind NBC's competing " Tonight Show With Jay Leno" at 1.9/8. While ABC's "Nightline" trails "Late Show" year to date with a 1.1/5 rating, in recent weeks the ABC show has tied or beaten Letterman several times among adults 25-54 and total viewers, though Letterman was in reruns a few of those weeks.
Sluggish start for new MyNetworkTVs telenovelas
Launching a new network is hard. Doing it on the same night as Foxs red-hot drama House returns for its third season is downright difficult. The new MyNetworkTV thus got off to only a so-so start Tuesday night, seeing a bump for its second show but overall not generating nearly as much steam as the couples on its telenovelas. According to metered market ratings from Nielsen, Desire averaged a 1.1 household share at 8 p.m., airing opposite House. With House off the air at 9, and much-hyped stars Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild making their debut in Fashion House, ratings rose 22 percent to a still-small 1.3. Nielsen will issue full ratings for the network, which airs the two telenovelas as daily strips, next Thursday. MNT reportedly hopes for an initial average of 1.5, or about what a new syndicated show shoots for. MyNetworkTV was hurriedly patched together from Fox-owned UPN affiliates left out of the new CW, and since then many other local stations have signed on. Nielsen will measure MNT as a broadcast network, although many media buyers still think of the two novelas as syndicated properties.
Ratings roundup: Closer is basic cables biggest hit
The Closer, TNTs police drama starring Kyra Sedgwick, once again smashed basic cable records with its 9 p.m. finale Monday night. The show drew 7.6 million viewers, the most ever for a season-ender on basic cable, and capped off a season in which it became basic cables No. 1 series of all time in viewers (6.68 million) and households (5.03 million). It also is basic cables No. 1 series this season in adults 18-49, averaging 2.24 million, and 25-54s, averaging 2.83 million. It was up double-digit percentages in all of those demos over season one. Meanwhile, in other basic cable ratings, ESPNs Miami-Florida State game Monday night was the networks most-watched college football game ever, averaging 6.33 million households. It also finished with the No. 2 college football household rating in network history, a 6.9. It trails only the Miami-FSU game on Oct. 8, 1994, which averaged a 7.7.
Oops! Rupes new paper mixes up Diddy & Doherty.
For a newspaper styling itself hip, young and tapped in, News International's newly launched thelondonpaper really ought to know P Diddy from Pete Doherty. Yet the freesheet, which launched on Monday, has already flubbed that not-so-subtle distinction. Accompanying a story about former-Libertines, now-Babyshambles frontman Doherty--who is mentioned appearing in court on charges of possessing crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis--is the name and photograph of the artist formerly known as Sean Combs. "P Diddy is entirely unconnected with the allegations in the article which were intended to relate to an entirely different person and his name and picture were used entirely in error," read the correction that ran in thelondonpaper. The story recounted how judge Jane McIvor allowed Doherty (not Diddy) to walk free despite his guilty plea and complimented him on a recent song. Thelondonpaper is wrapped up in a free newspaper war with fellow newly launched afternoon competitor London Lite.
Rhino in a rage over KKK pamphlets in its papers
The Ku Klux Klan generally specializes in alienating people with its extreme views. Now its extreme advertising tactics have ticked off a newspaper. The Rhinoceros Times, a weekly conservative newspaper distributed in Greensboro and Charlotte, N.C., has sued the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for placing leaflets containing what the paper terms racist propaganda inside copies of the Rhino and tossing the papers on people's lawns, the Greensboro News-Record reports. The Rhino sued the KKK Knights, based in Arkansas, for unfair and deceptive trade practices, arguing that the Klan's actions lead people to believe the Rhino supports the KKK's philosophy. Thomas Robb, leader of the Knights, termed the lawsuit "laughable." An official of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project told the News-Record that he didn't know of any previous court rulings relating to this kind of activity.
