David Letterman: Wife was "horribly hurt" by revelations

After a weekend of media frenzy, the New York Times is reporting that David Letterman will address the extortion scandal once again on tonight's broadcast.

Letterman says his wife, Regina Lasko, was "horribly hurt," adding: “When something happens like that, if you hurt a person and it’s your responsibility, you try to fix it. And at that point, there’s only two things that can happen: either you’re going to make some progress and get it fixed, or you’re going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed.” He also thanked his staff for “putting up with something stupid I’ve gotten myself involved in.”

The Los Angeles Times web site has a brief monologue clip, featuring a thunderous ovation from the studio audience and Dave asking, "Did your weekend just fly by?"

Meanwhile, Keith Olbermann had some choice things to say about alleged extortionist Joe Halberman. The men worked together at CNN. "There was no weeping when he left, I think, for CBS," Olbermann said. "I used to say he reminded me of John Belushi, only without the weight or the humor."

Jay Leno jokes about Dave; "no comment" from Conan

TV MoJoe reports that Jay Leno had a few monologue jokes about his ex-buddy David Letterman, including the following: "What is going on? First Conan hits his head, and then somebody tries to extort money from Letterman… I’m so glad I’m out of late night." And: "I was once a victim of an extortion plot. How do you think NBC got me to do a ten o’clock show? That’s why I’m here."

Conan O'Brien, however, was having none of it. The Associated Press writes that "Tonight" guest Drew Carey made reference to the scandal, and O'Brien responded with a "No comment." Jimmy Fallon made a lame Top 10 List joke. Both "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and Dave's own "Late Show" were taped before the scandal broke.

Anyone curious about Dave's alleged blackmailer, veteran CBS producer Joe Halderman, should check out this Daily Beast profile, which features a brilliant statement from the always quotable Dan Rather: “This is obviously a tragedy,” Rather said. “Frankly, I couldn’t be more astonished that this guy was involved in something like this than if you came riding through my apartment on a hippopotamus.”

David Letterman: Why I Don't Care About His Affair

Judging from the media coverage, it looks like David Letterman had an affair with Stephanie Birkitt, a young woman who is well known to anyone who's seen the show in the past several years. She started out as an intern at "Late Show," then moved on to become an associate producer at "48 Hours," where alleged extortionist Robert Joe Halderman still worked until his suspension by CBS yesterday. Birkitt returned to "Late Show" and became a popular on-air personality, known for her phone calls with Dave, appearances during viewer participation segments, and remotes from the Winter Olympic Games.

Some viewers are angry that Dave might have cheated on Regina Lasko, his partner of 20+ years. But here's why I'm not feeling the outrage -- we don't know what went on in Letterman and Lasko's relationship. Both of them are extremely private people. They may have chosen to not be exclusive or monogamous. Plus, it's not like Dave was extolling "family values," like John Edwards or Gov. Mark Sanford. Sure, he made jokes about those men, but he never held himself up as a paragon of moral virtue. Quite the contrary. This is someone who called himself "the last of the real gunslingers" for managing to avoid marrying Lasko for so long, and has admitted that he "behaved badly" during his first marriage to Michelle Cook.

The only thing that would raise my ire would be if Letterman had somehow used his position as Birkitt's boss to threaten her into having a sexual relationship with him. Granted, some people may feel that any workplace relationship between a boss and an underling is inappropriate, as the balance of power is skewed. Some companies have rules in place to forbid such relationships. We can probably assume that no such stricture existed at Worldwide Pants. I'm willing to give Letterman the benefit of the doubt that the relationship was consensual.

Dave is a man who inspires fierce loyalty among his staffers -- look at the amazing number of people who have been with him since virtually the beginning of his TV talk show career, from Biff Henderson to Jude Brennan and Barbara Gaines. Letterman is obviously a complex, difficult, prickly person, but all evidence indicates that he's also a straight-up guy. It's interesting to note that the person threatening Dave with extortion was not Birkitt, but her ex-boyfriend. Stephanie herself is still working at "Late Show" -- and, according to RadarOnline.com, is "mortified" that Halderman would try to use her affair with Letterman as blackmail fodder.

David Letterman Extortion Case Round-Up: Blackmailer is a CBS Employee

More news on the David Letterman case: gossip site TMZ.com has identified the extortionist as 51-year-old Norwalk, Connecticut resident Robert Joe Halderman. CBS News ID's him as a CBS employee, while Radar Online has the scoop that Halderman works on the newsmagazine "48 Hours" and "lived with the woman who David was involved with." The Radar report elaborates that the affair happened before the birth of Letterman's 6-year-old son Harry, but he was living with now-wife Regina Lasko at the time.

In an update, TMZ reports that Halderman has been suspended pending results of the investigation.

Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke has this statement from CBS:

CBS was made aware of an ongoing police investigation involving David Letterman and an employee at 48 Hours, who was subsequently arrested earlier today on charges of attempted grand larceny in the first degree. CBS is cooperating fully with the authorities and the employee has been suspended pending the results of the investigation. Mr. Letterman addressed the issue during the show’s broadcast this evening, and we believe his comments speak for themselves.

The show's airing is still a couple hours away here on the West Coast, but HitFix blogger Daniel Fienberg Twitters that "Letterman just spun the extortionist as a Puritanical nerd and got cheers for sleeping with staffers."

Update: The New York Daily News is now reporting that according to "public records," 31-year-old Stephanie Birkitt once lived with Joe Halderman.

David Letterman: "Yes, I have" had affairs with female staffers

According to the New York Daily News, during the taping of tonight's "Late Show," David Letterman told "his stunned audience" about the grand jury testimony he made today: he had affairs with "several female staffers," and a blackmailer threatened to go public with evidence unless Dave paid $2 million in hush money.

"The 'Late Show' host received a package from an individual who claimed to have information on his dalliances and said he would be outed unless he came up with $2 million," according to the Daily News account.

Pity Dave's mom Dorothy -- the Daily News called her up for a quote. Dorothy said Dave's wife, Regina Lasko, had told her about the blackmail, but that she didn't know any details: "I'm looking forward to seeing the show tonight to see what he has to say."

Lasko and Letterman dated for over 20 years before finally tying the knot back in March.

At CNN.com, Dave is quoted as saying: "My response to that is, yes I have" slept with staffers. "Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would. I feel like I need to protect these people -- I need to certainly protect my family."

The extortionist was caught with the help of the Special Prosecution Bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney's office. No word yet on the identity of the culprit.

Jay Leno: ABC, CBS talent boycotting his show

The Los Angeles Times reports today that ABC and CBS are telling their stars to stay off "The Jay Leno Show." "They are determined not to let Leno's 10 p.m. program undercut viewership of their costly dramas when they are trying to build audiences at the start of the TV season," writes Meg James.

Leno was able to book plenty of guests from other networks when he was on at 11:30. But "'In prime time, the stakes are higher and you have to protect your flank,' said one network executive who asked not to be identified to avoid inflaming hostilities among the broadcast networks."

Julia Louis-Dreyfus (CBS' "The New Adventures of Old Christine") defied the ban when she appeared on Leno's show a couple days ago.

Despite the boycott, Leno doesn't seem to be facing a guest shortage. FOX, which only programs from 8-10 PM, is happy to allow stars like Hugh Laurie to come on "Leno." HBO is also encouraging its talent to sit down with Jay, including Bill Maher and "Curb Your Enthusiasm"'s Larry David. And, of course, NBC has some prime time stars of its own -- "The Office"'s Jenna Fischer and Steve Carell are both on with Leno this week.

Movie stars have also been eager to visit "The Jay Leno Show." The Times' James names Drew Barrymore, Vince Vaughn, Robin Williams, Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson and Cameron Diaz as a few of the cinematic A-listers who have appeared on "Leno" during its first few weeks.

Late Night Ratings: "Late Show" finally triumphs among 18-49s

It seemed pointless to continue these Late Night Ratings posts, as the weekly releases had fallen into a predictable pattern -- CBS crowing, "David Letterman has way more viewers than Conan!" and NBC countering, "But Dave's audience is OLD! The coveted™ 18-49 demographic belongs to O'Brien!" However, CBS announced today that "Late Show" "topped 'The Tonight Show' in viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 for the first time since 2005 and tied in adults 18-34."

"Late Show" "beat 'The Tonight Show' on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and tied for first on Tuesday among adults 18-49," says CBS.

NBC's spin: it was "an atypical week," thanks to Dave's sit-downs with President Obama and former President Clinton, as well as Conan's head injury, which brought on an unscheduled rerun on Friday. Plus, "The median age of Conan's audience last week was 46.9, more than eight years younger than 'Nightline's' 55.8 and more than nine years younger than Letterman's 56.6."

Still, Dave's weekly average viewership was 5 million, compared with Conan's 2.4 million. ("Nightline" also did well, with 4.2 million viewers.) No one at NBC can be too happy about that.

The New York Times' Bill Carter adds a bit of analysis: "Mr. O’Brien posted the lowest-rated week for 'Tonight' since Mr. Letterman joined CBS in 1993." He also notes that "Mr. Leno had 4.73 million viewers last year." Jay even did better in the younger demos: "Tonight" "lost 23 per cent in the 18-49 group and 31 per cent in the 25-54 group from last year." Ouch.