--- title: 'The Late Show with David Letterman' Finishes With 10-Year Rating High description: 'The Late Show with David Letterman' outperformed all primetime telecasts for the night canonical: https://time.com/3892337/television-david-letterman-high-rating/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-21T15:03:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T07:31:57.095Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: David Letterman Signs Off With 10-Year Ratings High og:description: 'The Late Show with David Letterman' outperformed all primetime telecasts for the night og:url: https://time.com/3892337/television-david-letterman-high-rating/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93a51f6f6e45de9a/69885125e20a8755bba8b74b/474150116-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: David Letterman hosts his final broadcast of 'The Late Show with David Letterman' in New York City on May 20, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: David Letterman Signs Off With 10-Year Ratings High twitter:description: 'The Late Show with David Letterman' outperformed all primetime telecasts for the night twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93a51f6f6e45de9a/69885125e20a8755bba8b74b/474150116-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # David Letterman Signs Off With 10-Year Ratings High by [Michael O'Connell / The Hollywood Reporter](https://time.com/author/the-hollywood-reporter/) ## Michael O'Connell / The Hollywood Reporter May 21, 2015 3:03 PM UTC  David Letterman hosts his final broadcast of 'The Late Show with David Letterman' in New York City on May 20, 2015. David Letterman hosts his final broadcast of 'The Late Show with David Letterman' in New York City on May 20, 2015.CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images by [Michael O'Connell / The Hollywood Reporter](https://time.com/author/the-hollywood-reporter/) ## Michael O'Connell / The Hollywood Reporter May 21, 2015 3:03 PM UTC David Letterman signed off on Wednesday night, putting the finishing touch on a 33-year career in late-night — the last 22 of which he’s spent at CBS. Capping off several weeks of ratings spikes and two nights of five-year highs, the telecast was obviously up. The star-filled goodbye averaged a 9.3 local rating, hitting its highest score since December 2005\. (That telecast brought a visit from friend Oprah Winfrey, who hadn’t visited Letterman since 1989.) Full ratings for the telecast will be available later on Thursday, but as it stands, the 11:30 p.m. _Late Show_ outrated all primetime telecasts for the night. One fellow benefiting a great deal from all of this is James Corden. The new _Late Late Show_ host has been hitting series highs for his brief tenure, rising last night to a 2.5 overnight rating. _This_ [_article_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-david-letterman-bows-797321) _originally appeared on_ [_The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com)_._ _More from The Hollywood Reporter:_ * [_Cannes: Colin Farrell on His Dad Bod, Gaining 40 Pounds by Drinking Melted Ice Cream_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-colin-farrell-his-dad-797316) * [Cannes: Four-Legged Favorites for Palm Dog Award Emerge](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-2015-palm-dog-favorites-797346) * [Cannes: THR’s Photo Portfolio With Matthew McConaughey, Cate Blanchett, Salma Hayek and More](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/cannes-thrs-photo-portfolio-matthew-797049) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3892337/television-david-letterman-high-rating/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3892337/television-david-letterman-high-rating/"},"headline":"David Letterman Signs Off With 10-Year Ratings High","datePublished":"2015-05-21T15:03:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:31:57.095Z","description":"The Late Show with David Letterman outperformed all primetime telecasts for the night","url":"https://time.com/3892337/television-david-letterman-high-rating/","keywords":["Television","David Letterman"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93a51f6f6e45de9a/69885125e20a8755bba8b74b/474150116-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michael O'Connell / The Hollywood Reporter"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93a51f6f6e45de9a/69885125e20a8755bba8b74b/474150116-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"David Letterman hosts his final broadcast of 'The Late Show with David Letterman' in New York City on May 20, 2015.","caption":"David Letterman hosts his final broadcast of 'The Late Show with David Letterman' in New York City on May 20, 2015.","creditText":"CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3892337/television-david-letterman-high-rating/","name":"David Letterman Signs Off With 10-Year Ratings High"}}]}] ```