Patrick Harris won't happen, Stewart will always be ahead of Colbert; who might actually be dead in the water now outside of cable. Ellen's an interesting thought but daytime syndication money is insane and she gets the kind of lock on a certain demographic that leads to staggering media and merchandising diversification. She's literally staring a quarter- to half-billion dollars in the face over the next 10 - 15 years.
Seems like Conan failing as Tonight Show host is enough of a deterrent. They need something fresh. My bold call that I just thought of: Seth Macfarlane.
Two things. 1. Jay Leno never took "his gig". Leno convinced the network to hire him for the position. It wasn't Letterman's right to the position merely because Carson wanted him as the replacement. 2. Count me in with the "about damn time" crew. Letterman has been mailing it in for YEARS now but he gets a pass for sentimental reasons with so many of the 35+ crowd. I gotta figure CBS are slightly thrilled-even though Letterman has done well ratings wise(especially when Leno hasn't been in the picture), with the younger late show hosts, perhaps the CBS executives were hoping and planning for this day, or rather the day in 2015 when Letterman finally steps aside.
The people happy to see him go obviously didn't watch his show in the 80's or 90's. The NBC show especially. I thought he lost his edge after moving to CBS. And he started to get political after the 2000 election. But in his prime, there was NO ONE better besides Carson. His dead-pan delivery is currently being copied by just about every other host on TV right now. Here's one of my all-time favorite bits from the NBC show: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0ud3_uFM8iI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> And a medium diet coke. Medium relative to what? LOL...
CBS would probably be wise to get creative with that time slot instead of another standard late night talk show. That market just seems over saturated and the format is outdated. I could see something along the lines of The Soup or Tosh.0 format doing well. Internet videos, a few sketches, etc. Then put Ferguson on at 11:05 or whatever.
He is a legend, and most of the current hosts owe a lot to him. Once everyone started copying his style, and gimmicks his show wasn't as fresh. He's a sharp guy and was still good, though just not quite as fresh, and cutting edge as he once was. The show with Bill Murray the other night was classic. It was something right up his alley and the whole Lady GaGa thing worked great. It's the kind of thing that Letterman can pull off better than anyone. I'll be sad to see him go even though I don't regularly watch his show anymore. I'm fine with Conan taking the gig, or Ferguson. Those are teh probable candidates I have an opinion on right now. I'll hold back judgment until a decision has been reached.
