Paul McCartney sits down with David Letterman next week

On Wednesday, July 15, Sir Paul McCartney will return to the stage of the Ed Sullivan Theater 45 years after he first played there with the Beatles. He will chat with Dave and perform a song to promote his upcoming U.S. tour.

It's McCartney's first-ever appearance on "Late Show." He's not a regular presence on talk shows, so this will be a rare treat. He did appear in a segment titled "Better Know a Beatle" on "The Colbert Report" back in January, and was a guest on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2005. As far as Talk Show News can determine, his last real late night talk show appearance was on "The Tonight Show" a few years ago -- along with then-fiancee Heather Mills. You can watch part of it on YouTube. Betcha he won't bring Mills along this time out.

High Def Craig: Ferguson spills the beans at a taping

Talk Show News has been following the saga of "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and why the heck it isn't broadcast in high definition, like its time slot competitors ("Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live"). There has been no official announcement, but thanks to a tipster who sent a link to this thread on AV Science Forum, it looks like Craig told his studio audience that the show will finally make the transition to HD in a few weeks:

I was in the studio audience last night (taping 7/8 for 7/9) and Craig informally announced that the LLS was taping ahead for August so that the studio (probably studio infrastructure) could be changed over to HD and not miss shows.

The show has been using Sony HD cameras for some time now, according to another AVS poster, who adds: "In fact, all stages in that facility use Sony HD cameras. What needs to be updated is the rest of the video infrastructure. It was their earliest digital SD studio using composite 4fsc & D2 tape, and it's the only one to use that format."

Of course, if and when CBS makes an official announcement, it will be posted here. C'mon CBS, we want to see stuff like this in all its high def glory:

Late Night Ratings: Michael Jackson beats Conan

Yes, that headline is a bit misleading, but let's be honest -- there's no way "Nightline" would be scoring such massive ratings if it weren't for its relentless coverage of Michael Jackson's death. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

The New York Times' Bill Carter reports that the Tuesday coverage of Jackson's memorial service brought "Nightline" a jaw-dropping 4.8 million viewers -- almost 2 million more than watched a new "Tonight Show" episode. What's more, "Late Show with David Letterman," with a well-publicized interview with "Bruno" star Sacha Baron Cohen, scored 3.9 million viewers.

Last night, according to the preliminary overnight ratings, "Nightline" won a 3.1 share, despite dropping the wall-to-wall Jackson coverage (it did feature one segment about the late singer). Letterman had a 3.0 share, and O'Brien came in third with a 2.4, despite a solid lead-in from NBC's summer smash "America's Got Talent." (Viewer numbers will be available later this afternoon.) Conan did beat Dave by 38 per cent in the 18-49 age group, 1.1 to 0.8. "But that rating was well below what Mr. O’Brien has been averaging in his 'Tonight' tenure so far," notes Carter.

Carter also speculates that Conan's week off after a mere four weeks on the air might have hurt his momentum: "His last week before the break he had averaged 3.7 million viewers to 3.5 million for Mr. Letterman. Last week, with both shows in repeats, Mr. Letterman had 3.6 million viewers to just 2.4 million for Mr. O’Brien." Of course, the Wimbledon highlights that delayed the start of "Tonight" were probably responsible for Conan's lower ratings.

While Tuesday's "Late Show" featured Cohen in a rare appearance as himself, as opposed to in character, the actor will bring Bruno to the Ed Sullivan Theater tonight: he'll be presenting a Top Ten List in his guise as the gay Austrian.

Here are the average viewer numbers for the week of June 29-July 3, from ABC.

ABC "Nightline": 4,020,000
CBS "Late Show" repeats: 3,580,000
NBC "Tonight" repeats (delayed due to Wimbledon highlights): 2,420,000

Jay Leno: Here come the cars

When his primetime show debuts in September, Jay Leno plans on making a grand entrance into his new, enormous studio: by driving one of his many automobiles right onto the stage.

According to this report, Jay, who is almost as famous for his love of cars as he is for "Jaywalking" and "Headlines," could be sharing more than just some of his own rare and vintage autos with the TV audience. It could also be a clever way for car companies to buy advertising time on the show.

"It's a natural because Leno is such a car freak; it's one thing people know and like about him," Barbara Lippert, ad critic for Adweek Media, told the Hollywood Reporter. "Products incorporated into a show go back a long way, and Leno is an old-fashioned guy. If that strategy takes off again, he's the one to do it, and no one would consider him a sellout."

More on Conan's young audience

Bill Carter of the New York Times has written an article examining the plummeting median viewer age of the "Tonight Show" audience under Conan O'Brien. It's a must-read for numbers junkies. "In Mr. O’Brien’s first month as host, the median age of 'Tonight Show' viewers has fallen by a decade — to 45 from 55, a startling shift in such a short time," he writes. "This audience composition means advertisers can now address almost exclusively young viewers on 'Tonight,' and NBC is already contemplating a shift in how it sells the show."

The piece reports that "Late Show with David Letterman" is up 50% among viewers over 50. But who cares about those oldsters? Not ad buyers! As John Rash, senior vice president of the Campbell-Mithun agency, told the Times, “All audiences have value, but the 18-to-49 audience has more value. You will make higher profits if you win with that audience. You can still say you’re the No. 1 show if you are more profitable.”

CBS' David Poltrack says he believes Letterman will eventually win the 35-to-54-year-old age group, and also points to Conan's declining ratings among female viewers. Of course, the article ends on a wait-and-see note; no one knows what'll happen in the fall, when Jay Leno will be back in the mix.

Late Night Ratings: "Nightline" beats Dave, Conan

Thursday is Ratings Day, and this week's press release comes from ABC (via TVbythenumbers.com):

ABC News “Nightline” was #1 among Total Viewers for the week of June 22, 2009, outperforming NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” by 200,000 viewers and CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” by 430,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The last time “Nightline” bested both CBS and NBC among Total Viewers was election week, November 2008.

Alert readers will remember that the week of June 22 was a rather monumental week for news: Michael Jackson died on June 25, which allowed "Nightline" to devote two broadcasts last week to eulogizing him. Most Americans first became aware of co-anchor Martin Bashir through his infamous documentary about the superstar, "Living with Michael Jackson." The show also got a lot of publicity for its Wednesday broadcast about health care reform. "Nightline" was viewed by an average of 3 million people during the week of June 15, and 3.8 million during the week of the 22nd.

Meanwhile, in what is shaping up to be a weekly occurrence, NBC is crowing over Conan's demographic domination over its rivals. Talk Show News is getting really tired of reporting what is becoming a dog-bites-man story, but this headline from NBC is worthy of a chuckle: CONAN’S AUDIENCE IS MORE THAN 10 YEARS YOUNGER THAN ‘LATE SHOW’S,’ AND CONAN IS EVEN YOUNGER THAN HE WAS ON ‘LATE NIGHT’ FOR THE SAME WEEK LAST YEAR

Conan is even younger? Has he discovered the Fountain of Youth?

High Def Craig: The news is that there is no news

This question comes through our inbox every so often, and a browse through the Talk Show News keyword stats show that a fair number of folks are searching for information on it:

"Is there any kind of hint that CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson will be making the jump to high-def anytime soon? I really wish it would happen soon, as I'm a big fan of Ferguson's show and his comedy style."

We addressed the HD question back in December, when neither Craig nor Jimmy Kimmel were shown in high definition. Of course, Kimmel's show switched over to HD in April. As for Craig... well, he's referred to his low budget talker as "madness on a shoestring."

A CBS publicist told Talk Show News that "[we] haven't announced any news yet" about the LLS going HD. They haven't announced it... does that mean they are planning for it? We only found out about the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" enhancements two weeks before it happened. In any case, they have promised to let Talk Show News know if and when the big news breaks, so stay tuned, Ferguson fans.