Nothing in my lifetime has resonated as deeply as this show during the first 6 years that it was on and that I watched it (82-88). I've never enjoyed any tv show as much. For my generation it was the thing to watch, the place to be every night; you felt at the time that this was where the party was and every other place paled by comparison. The combo of Letterman's extraordinarily facile wit and warm leadership with Steve ODonnell's genius writing, Calvert DeForest and Chris Elliott's unique talents, Paul Shaffer's amazing musical abilities and Hal Gurney's creative stewardship as director, made this show magical. For years I tried to get on the writing staff to no avail. I lived 4 avenues away at 50th and 2nd Ave during this time and would BS a kindly woman named Kathy Vasipoli who worked there that I was a famous publicist and she'd unfailingly reserve me last minute tickets to shows (she later married Paul). For some reason I just stopped watching one day, then eventually moved to Los Angeles and that ended that. And the times I tuned into the subsequent CBS show it was apparent that the bloom was off the rose; no more O'Donnell or Calvert or Elliott or Bill Wendell; everything about it slick and shiny and over produced, from the segment graphics to the musical jingles to the announcer to the forced character stage hands, to, sadly Letterman's evolution into a somewhat cynical and neurotic guy who you sensed longed to get out of there, but had no other life plan of what to do. But all fires burn themselves out, and for a short glorious stretch Late Night w David Letterman was the apogee of all that mattered.
