Now that the dust has settled, it all seems so obvious. Of course David Letterman was the logical person to take over the Tonight Show when Johnny Carson retired. Of course NBC made a mistake in betting on Jay Leno and letting Dave slip away to CBS. Of course Letterman's hip, edgy 12:30 a.m. sensibility could be adapted for a more mainstream audience at 11:30 p.m.
& And, of course, hindsight is easy. As Bill Carter reveals in The Late Shift (Hyperion; $24.95), his richly reported book on the network battle over Letterman, NBC's blunder was, if not excusable, at least...
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