Letterman Apology A Ratings Hit

David Letterman's apology to his wife and staff members means another big night in the Nielsen ratings for the late-night talk-show host.

The Nielsen Co.'s overnight measurement of the nation's 56 biggest markets netted Letterman's "Late Show" on CBS a 4.2 rating -- higher than anything rival NBC had in prime-time.

Nielsen didn't immediately have an estimate of the size of Letterman's audience. The overnight rating was slightly less than last Thursday's show, when 5.8 million people watched Letterman say he had been the victim of a $2 million blackmail threat that led him to reveal he had sex with staff members.

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