Posted 7:43 AM by Blah blah

$150,000 an Hour Is O.K., but Hey, It's the Night Shift (NY Times):

"Actually, Mr. Letterman was the main reason for the worrying. It's hard to sleep while the mind races over the poor fellow's plight. How is he ever going to resolve the terrible dilemma that he faces?

Should he stay at CBS, where he is said to be making only $30 million a year, which translates into $150,000 per on-air hour, give or take? Or should he jump to ABC and make Ted Koppel the biggest martyr in television journalism since Fred W. Friendly? (Mr. Friendly walked out on CBS 36 years ago because it broadcast an I Love Lucy rerun instead of an important Senate hearing on the Vietnam War. You didn't think that television news reached its present state without some history, did you?)

In fairness, money does not seem to be the real issue here. As best as one can tell, Mr. Letterman feels unloved at CBS. Breathes the worker who doesn't know what that's like, even if most of us manage to feel unloved for a lot less than $150,000 an hour?

Here's how unhappy Mr. Letterman is. Last month, his boss at CBS, Leslie Moonves, called to congratulate him on his 20th anniversary as a late-night star. What did Mr. Letterman do? He refused to take the call."