ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601160024
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JONATHAN STORM KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
The Top 10 things David Letterman must do to get his ``Late Show'' ratings back:
Change that wardrobe. There's something just a little smarmy about a guy in a double-breasted suit.
Talk to Paul Shaffer more. He's such a weird little fella, and his face adds a hint of ...
Oh, let's skip it. Doesn't the Top 10 thing, once a wonder of comedy innovation, now seem tired?
Therein lies part of Letterman's problem. The man whom former NBC late-night teammate Bob Costas calls ``a significant figure in the history of television,'' the man who reinvented the nighttime talk-show genre, is having a hard time reinventing himself.
``I think Dave is as good as they come,'' says Nick Bakay, a late-night TV writer and host of the Fox comedy anthology show, ``What's So Funny.'' ``I think his show's state of the art, but I don't see it breaking new ground.''
Saddled with CBS, which is a failing network, and smarting from the most public of failures at the last Oscars, Dave has been in a funk. His ratings have fallen 20 percent, while the ``Late Show With David Letterman'' has become bland and predictable.
For Letterman, the hype is gone. His switch in 1993 to CBS and 11:35 p.m. (airing on WDBJ-Channel 7), from a later timeslot on NBC, and his $14 million contract, are no longer the big story.
``What Dave has done is amazing,'' says Costas, ``but some of the heat inevitably wears off. That's no one's fault.''
But it seems to have made Letterman nervous.
Concerned that he was falling from his Olympian spot in the show-biz world as heir to Johnny Carson, Letterman stopped being himself: acerbic eviscerator of puffed-up celebrities.
It's hard to do the anti-talk show if you're trying to be Johnny Carson. Instead of laughing at the suffering of guests, some of the audience started fidgeting at the suffering of the host.
Recently, however, there's evidence that ``Late Show'' may be emerging from the dark forest. Rehires of old Letterman-show stalwarts - actor Chris Elliott, writer Joseph Toplyn - could make a difference.
Most important, Dave seems to be slowing down and loosening up periodically. Sometimes he seems to be having fun again.
Letterman's humor has always been edgy, often jarring. But Letterman himself was low-key. If you look at reruns of his old NBC show, seen weeknights at 10 on cable's E! channel, or even at reruns of the early shows on CBS from the fall of 1993, you can see his current shift from relaxation to hyperactivity.
His show has also gotten louder. Almost every gag has an orchestral coda. The kooky little low-budget show with the offbeat guests has become a puffed-up spectacle, bound by the constraints of big money and big importance.
Both Letterman and Jay Leno are doing better than their respective networks.
CBS' prime-time ratings have fallen like a steel safe, off more than 30 percent since 1993-94, Letterman's first season. Letterman's ratings have declined only about 20 percent.
But that ``only,'' from all reports, and from outward appearances, has been gnawing at him.
``It's still a very important program for advertisers who are trying to reach a young, strongly male audience,'' said Betsy Frank, executive vice president of Zenith Media Services, who advises advertisers where to put their money. ```The Tonight Show With Jay Leno' is still not as strong in terms of that young component, though it certainly is improving.''
It is also improving in overall audience. NBC is up about 9 percent in prime time since '93-'94, but ``The Tonight Show'' has increased its audience by more than twice that factor.
``Late-night TV is thriving like never before,'' said Bob Costas, ``but within that, there's ebb and flow in the ratings of individual shows.''
It took Leno more than 21/2 years to beat Letterman even once. It happened April 3, 1995, a couple of weeks after Letterman's Oscar-hosting debacle. This summer, Leno won a whole week for the first time. Since the end of August, he has won every week.
``What Jay accomplished, not many people could have accomplished,'' said Costas, who has returned to covering sports for NBC and does occasional pieces for ``Dateline.'' ``Some of the knocks he took early on would have shaken a guy's confidence to where he couldn't have found a groove. He could have lost a sense of himself.''
Leno didn't lose himself. He built a new show that, at many turns, looks strikingly like what Letterman was doing a couple of years ago.
Now Dave is taking the knocks. He must learn to do it gracefully, to ignore standard opinion, to ignore the cult of celebrity, even to ignore some of his past history.
He won't find success borrowing from Leno, or even consistently from himself. He needs to build from scratch, although there's maybe one place he can look for inspiration: an old corner at NBC that he inhabited for nearly 12 years.
``Conan O'Brien's doing more and better comedy than anyone on TV now,'' said Bakay, referring to Letterman's successor as host of NBC's 1:35 a.m. show. ``It's the freshest.''
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ``The Late Show With David Letterman'' airs weekdays atby CNB11:35 p.m. on WDBJ-Channel 7. color.