Late Show UK

Democratic US Presidential nominee Barack Obama will be a guest on the Late Show With David Letterman tonight (Wednesday 10th September) on CBS. He has appeared on the Late Show in the past and read out a very amusing Top Ten list on his past appearance. As the Late Show With David Letterman airs at 11.30pm US time, you can see the show at 7.30am UK time via the embedded streaming in our Watch Online section tomorrow morning - just click on the Late Show With David Letterman option at www.lateshowuk.com/watch-online - this show may also be on Diva TV at some stage soon.

The Associated Press - “Today on the presidential campaign trail”
Late Show UK - Guest Listings | Late Show UK - Watch Online

David Letterman has told Rolling Stone magazine that he will be honouring the rest of his CBS contract for the Late Show and may consider staying on even after 2010. Letterman tells Rolling Stone, “the way I feel now, I would like to go beyond 2010, not much beyond, but you know, enough to go beyond. You always like to be able to excuse yourself on your own terms”. Dave also says “if they wanna make a change in 2010, you know, I’m fine with that, too”.

In a very rare instance, Letterman also speaks about Jay Leno and his Tonight Show retirement next year, saying “I have to believe he was not happy about it”. Dave also gives a nod of approval to Conan O’Brien - taking over The Tonight Show from Leno next summer. He says he thinks Conan’s “a very funny guy” but says it would be “weird to see Conan at 11:30″.

David Letterman appears on the front cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine with with Chris Rock and Tina Fey.

The Associated Press - “Letterman wants to call sunset for late-night gig”
NYTimes.com - Front cover of Rolling Stone magazine featuring David Letterman
NYTimes.com - “Letterman Baffled by NBC’s Replacing of Leno”
Rolling Stone - “Dave at Peace: The Rolling Stone Interview”

Updated 9th August 2008

The new timeshift channel for Diva TV has launched on Sky Digital and Virgin Media. Diva TV +1 can be found on Sky Digital channel 290 and Virgin Media channel 193.

This means the Late Show With David Letterman can be seen on Diva TV at 11pm on Saturdays and Sundays, or on Diva TV +1 at midnight on those days.

Diva TV still isn’t airing the Late Show Monday-Friday.

Diva TV +1 will be launching on Sky on or around the 7th August 2008. This means from August, the Late Show With David Letterman can be seen on Diva TV at 11pm on Saturdays & Sundays, and at midnight on Saturdays & Sundays on Diva TV +1. Diva TV +1 is currently testing on Sky.

AGB Nielsen Media Research - Diva TV +1

Diva TV will move the Late Show With David Letterman from it’s current 10pm timeslot to 11pm from the start of next month. Diva TV has only been airing the Late Show at weekends for several weeks now, since they axed it from Monday-Friday in favour of other shows.

From the 2nd August the Late Show will air at 11pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and still remains absent from the Monday-Friday schedules.

Diva TV - Listings for week commencing 28th July 2008
Diva TV - Have Your Say - Late Show With David Letterman

The nominations for this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards are in, and some of your favourite talk shows & comedy shows are up for the “Variety, Music or Comedy Series” award - The Colbert Report (Comedy Central), The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (Comedy Central), the Late Show With David Letterman (CBS), Real Time With Bill Maher (HBO) and Saturday Night Live (NBC) are all nominated. This year will be the 60th edition of the Primetime Emmy Awards. The ceremony will take place on Sunday 21st September in Los Angeles.

The official website for the Primetime Emmy Awards
Digital Spy - “‘Mad Men’, ‘30 Rock’ dominate Emmy noms”

One of my favourite sites at the moment is ‘Behind The Late Show’. It’s mostly a video blog showing guests entering and leaving the Late Show and some other videos of David Letterman, etc out and about. It gives a real insight into the behind-the-scenes bits of the Late Show. It didn’t launch that long ago, but looks great already. Check it out.

Late Show UK - Our Favourite Websites

I’ve just had a response from NBC Univeral regarding Diva TV and the Late Show With David Letterman, and whether it was being axed from weekends from August onwards (as the schedules on the website suggest this at the moment). However I have been assured the Late Show “will be remaining on Diva TV on the weekends” and “has not been removed from the schedule all together” which is good news.

We’ve been keeping an eye on the Diva TV schedules over recent weeks, since the Late Show With David Letterman was cut down to a mere two episodes a week - one on Saturdays and one on Sundays. According to the latest schedules on their website, there is no sign of the Late Show With David Letterman on weekends from Saturday 2nd August onwards. This is also the case if you go to the single day page for the 2nd August. If these schedules are the final listings for these days, this is terrible news for Letterman fans in the UK. The Late Show has been on many different channels over the years and UK fans are getting increasingly frustrated not being able to watch their favourite show.

Diva TV’s decision to cut the number of episodes down to two a week came after they said they wanted to only show episodes with guests that British audiences would know. However, fans know we all watch the show for Dave and not the guests most of the time. Diva TV seems to air the Late Show just because it has celebrities on it, and not for Dave’s standup, comedy asides and humour. I have emailed Diva TV to ask for confirmation for the August schedules but am yet to hear back from them. As soon as I do, I will post further details on our website.

In the meantime, please register on the Diva TV message board (the Have Your Say area) to show there’s an audience who wants to see the Late Show on Diva TV. Click here for the Have Your Say message board for the Late Show. You can also contact them by phoning 020 7368 9100 and you can email them at feedbackuk@hallmarkchannel.tv.

Late Show With David Letterman programme page on the Diva TV website

It’s great to see British press reviewing the Late Show With David Letterman, and this review was a real treat. Letterman has been called a “legend” and “subversive genius” in a new glowing review at The Guardian. The blog entry also mentions Diva TV - who air the Late Show in the UK - which is quite a touchy subject at the moment with us Dave fans since Diva TV have reduced their Letterman output to a mere two episodes a week.

The Guardian hit the nail on the head with their thoughts about Diva TV. They say - “oddly - and solely, one presumes - because of its celebrity content, you will also find The Late Show with David Letterman”. Speaking of Letterman, they say he’s “on marvellous form”. They also say he’s “a master of the smart-guy-playing-it-dumb stratagem, and once again looks like a subversive genius”. To read the review in full, click on the link below to The Guardian’s website.

The Guardian - “Discover the legend that is Letterman … On Diva TV”

The Daily Show, the Late Show With David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and The Colbert Report have all made it into Entertainment Weekly’s “100 best shows from 1983 to 2008″ list. Check out their positions below.

14    The Daily Show, Comedy Central (1996-present)
30    Late Show With David Letterman, CBS (1993-present)
43    Late Night With Conan O’Brien, NBC (1993-present)
58    The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, NBC (1992-present)
69    The Colbert Report, Comedy Central (2005-present)

Entertainment Weekly (EW.com) - “The New Classics: TV” - The list in full

The brand new and exclusive official music video for ‘The Late Show Theme’ is now available at cbs.com/lateshow. This new version of the famous theme tune is more punchy and the video looks great. Paul Shaffer described this new version as “the full-length theme song with a jazzy sax solo, then a guitar babble at the end” in the recent Late Show newsletter. They used green screen for most of it and had New York scenes on it behind them. The video was produced exclusively for the web so you won’t see it on TV.

Watch the ‘Late Show Theme’ video here.
Watch the video on YouTube (uploaded by Neomilan89)