The TV Column: Letterman ‘grateful’ for Kennedy Center Honors

David Letterman’s CBS show was dark the day that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced the chosen ones for this year’s Kennedy Center Honors. But the host of the late-night show released a statement Wednesday saying: “This is something wonderful for my family, my co-workers and myself. I believe recognition at this prestigious level confirms my belief that there has been a mix-up. I am still grateful to be included.”

Letterman’s Worldwide Pants confirms that the notoriously reclusive figure plans to show up for the fete, at which he will not have to be onstage or speak. But in keeping with the three-decades-old franchise’s odd-ish format, he will sit in the mezzanine with the president of the United States and the first lady, draped in the traditional looks-good-on-no-outfit, rainbow-ribboned medal, while others pay him tribute from the stage — including, presumably, Craig Ferguson, host of the other CBS late-night show produced by Worldwide Pants.

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Pulitzer Prize winner, Peabody recipient, Medal of Freedom honoree -- Lisa de Moraes is none of these, but she is an authority on the bad direction, over-acting, and muddled plot lines being played out in the TV industry's executive suites.

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The Kennedy Center Honors 2011: Red carpet: Stars gather for the annual celebration of America’s most accomplished performers.

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The Kennedy Center Honors ceremony 2011: Kennedy Center honorees are awarded their medals in a star-studded ceremony.

A few months ago, Letterman was a no-show at the TV Critics Association Awards. But then, so was practically everyone, except the cast of “Homeland” and emcee Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad.” The TCA bestowed on Letterman its Career Achievement Award.

“I wish I could be with you tonight in Los Angeles, and I would be, but those of you who are friends . . . know tonight is the night I eat glass,” Letterman said in a taped acceptance speech. He instead sent a guy to the TCA Awards who looked like him to pick up his trophy.

Letterman was picked to be feted by the Kennedy Center because he — like his fellow honorees, actor Dustin Hoffman, members of the band Led Zeppelin, blues great Buddy Guy and ballerina Natalia Makarova — has “contributed significantly to the cultural life of our nation and the world,” said Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein.

“David Letterman is one of the most influential personalities in the history of television, entertaining an entire generation of late-night viewers with his unconventional wit and charm,” Rubenstein added.

NBC’s big night

The second night of the first fall season of NBC’s ‘The Voice” did just fine. Matthew Perry’s “Go On” did fine, too. About 7 million people are interested in the controversial “The New Normal.” That’s all good news for the struggling network.

On Tuesday, “The Voice’s” audience — 11.3 million viewers — was down about 1 million from the previous night’s fall kickoff, but it was still an audience that every broadcast network would like.

That said, the show clearly is not taking the next step to “phenom” status. It might, in fact, have taken a small step back among young viewers — NBC’s currency in ad sales — for the sake of becoming a player on the fall prime-time slate. Previously, “The Voice” has aired on NBC in the spring and over the summer.

Are we the only ones fighting hard to shake that nagging feeling that “The Voice,” “The X Factor” and “American Idol” are all becoming the same show?

Following “The Voice,” “Go On” averaged nearly 10 million viewers, retaining 85 percent of its lead-in; anything more than 80 percent is considered good. It’s also a very respectable return on the 16 million who’d watched the comedy’s pilot episode at about 11 one night, after NBC’s broadcast of the London Summer Games.