CHAPTER NINE:
DAVE'S FEELIN' GOOD - BABY!
By JUNE 1992, David
Letterman's life had been turned upside down. Just a few
weeks ago, David had been fighting NBC for the Tonight
Show. Now NBC was fighting for Dave.
Mike Ovitz had performed miracles. It was Dave's turn to
call the shots, and Dave was FEELIN' GOOD -BABY!
The time of the official meetings to compete for Dave was
here. First in line to compete would be CBS. Dave was so
admired by CBS, that the big guy himself, Howard
Stringer, the President of CBS, did all of the wining and
dining.
Mike Ovitz had skirted AROUND the NBC contract
negotiation problems - by telling the companies that they
could only speak with Dave about why their company was a
good place to work.
Howard Stringer came prepared with his list as follows:
¤ CBS HAD BETTER AFFILIATES
¤ CBS HAD BETTER PROGRAMMING
¤ CBS WAS MORE PRESTIGIOUS
¤ CBS WAS NOT SYNDICATED
¤ "NIGHTLINE" (ABC) IS TOUGH COMPETITION
¤ CBS would guarantee Dave and 11:30 spot
In short, they loved Dave, and were salivating at the
chance of having a huge late night talk show like Dave's
on their network.
Dave was impressed, but he wanted to see what the other
networks had to offer before he made any decisions. It
seems as though Arsenio Hall was not the only savvy
businessman in the Late Night Entertainment Business. It
LOOKS like Dave was an intelligent negotiator - as well.
And now Dave was still FEELIN' GOOD - with only one
official offer in.
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