Letterman Stirs Up Controversy, Ratings Skyrocket

David Letterman consistently came in second to "The Tonight Show" when Jay Leno was the host. Conan O'Brien, who started out with high ratings, has seen the "The Tonight Show" lose ground nightly since his debut a few weeks ago. Last night Letterman passed up O'Brien in the ratings, and he can thank Sarah Palin. Letterman and his "Late Show" writers have had a field day with the Alaskan governor ever since she burst onto the national scene last August as John McCain's running mate. On the show Monday night, Letterman referred to Palin's trip to New York last week when he joked in his monologue that during the seventh inning of a Yankees game "her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez." Then, in his "Top 10" segment, he joked that she "bought makeup at Bloomingdale's to update her slutty flight attendant look." On a radio interview Tuesday, she said Letterman's comments were "pretty pathetic." But Letterman wasn't done. He joked in his opening monologue Tuesday night about Palin's visit to Yankee Stadium, when she sat next to Rudy Guiliani: "They had a wonderful time. The toughest part of her visit was keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter." The reference to the disgraced New York governor who was caught with a prostitute didn't go over well with the Palin family and many conservative pundits and radio and TV personalities. Palin released a statement: "I doubt he'd ever dare make such comments about anyone else's daughter." Letterman didn't say which daughter he was referring to, but since her 14-year-old daughter Willow was travelling with her, Palin's husband Todd referred to Willow, calling the jokes about his daughter "perverted" and "disgusting". As to the joke about Palin being "slutty," conservatives are saying it's demeaning to women in general and Sarah Palin in particular. Letterman has also gotten the attention of flight attendants, who are infuriated over the less-than-glamorous name. Letterman continues to let the media spin out of control without making any public comments about the subject, other than continuing his nightly monologues where evidently no joke is off limits. To be fair, Letterman will make offensive jokes about just about anyone, if given the chance. And Sarah Palin has given him a lot of material since her meteoric rise to celebrity status. This time though, Letterman may have crossed the line. But his ratings are way up, and that's the most important thing for Letterman and CBS, the network that carries his show. Look for more controversy from Letterman. After all, he's got the #1 show. Conan O'Brien's writers are now working overtime to counter Letterman's resurgence.

Reality Shows Sell More Products

Scripted TV shows bring in younger and higher income viewers than reality shows, according to a new survey by the marketing research firm Experian Simmons. Reality shows, however, are cheaper to produce, and according to the web site MediaPost.com, they do a better job of engaging the viewer. For example, reality shows such as "American Idol" and "Survivor" are more "inspirational" and "life-enhancing" than scripted shows, and viewers experience a better "personal connection." Because the viewer connects on a more personal level with reality shows - "Britain's Got Talent's" Susan Boyle is an example of a reality contestant who jumped continents to inspire viewers with her unusual life story - the Experian Simmons survey notes that "advertisers that buy time on broadcast reality programs have a better opportunity of getting their products noticed and ultimately purchased than if they advertised on broadcast dramas." This is not good news for those of us with a higher education and a higher income, who like to come home from a long day at work, pop open a cold Bud Light, and watch CBS's long-running "Without a Trace" or NBC's quirky new cop show "Life". The reality of reality shows is that they are cheaper to produce, and a report showing that they are more effective at selling products, if indeed true, will only mean less scripted shows and more moves like the NBC strategy of putting Jay Leno on 5 nights a week beginning in the fall at 10 p.m. If this type of programming is effective, look for more. Primetime will become a mixture of talk shows and "Celebrities Trying to Get Out of the Jungle" shows. Cable is the last frontier, but look for more shows to get the ax like TNT's "Trust Me," which lasted a season, as opposed to shows like AMC's "Breaking Bad," which is being given time for its audience to grow. But there will always be a need for scripted shows, because if the Experian Simmons survey is accurate, people with higher incomes favor scripted shows. And these people spend more on premium cable channels, so there will always be room for shows like Showtime's "Dexter" and HBO's "Entourage" and "In Treatment." These are on pay TV, so there's no need to worry about advertisers. And as scripted shows disappear on broadcast channels, the ratings are going up on premium cable. The previously mentioned "Without a Trace" (CBS) and "Life" (NBC) were both canceled. But luckily, "Dexter" will air this fall on Showtime. Until then, I'll be watching Major League Baseball on ESPN.