Letterman Speaks Candidly about Donald Trump and Shares Memories of Johnny Carson in Interview Premiering Sunday June 12 On NBC’s “On Assignment” at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT
“On Assignment” Also Features Lester Holt Embedded with a Special Community Police Unit in Los Angeles and Kate Snow Investigating the Drug Industry
Click Here to Watch a Preview
NEW YORK – June 9, 2016 – David Letterman told Tom Brokaw that after his retirement, “I couldn’t care less about late night television,” in the former late night host’s first in-depth TV interview since leaving his show. “I’m happy for the guys – the men and the women, there should be more women,” Letterman said of late night TV. “And I don’t know why they didn’t give my show to a woman. That would have been fine.” To watch the preview, click here. The transcript of the preview is included below.
Letterman’s interview with Brokaw premieres during “On Assignment,” the limited series from “Dateline NBC,” on Sunday, June 12 at 7 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. CT. In the interview, which took place in Letterman’s hometown of Indianapolis, IN over Memorial Day weekend, Letterman spoke candidly about Donald Trump and shares memories of Johnny Carson.
Also on Sunday night’s “On Assignment,” Lester Holt embeds with a special community police unit in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the country – Watts, South Los Angeles. In a nation still reeling from Ferguson and Baltimore, what he finds may be a way to resolve the distrust and hate between poor urban communities and the forces sworn to serve and protect them.
Additionally, Kate Snow reports on a drug industry insider, Steven Francesco, whose son died suddenly from a rare side effect of taking antipsychotics. Francesco’s grief and remorse launched him on a journey to find out more about the system he thought he knew and why it had failed his son.
“On Assignment” is produced by the “Dateline NBC” team, with Senior Executive Producer David Corvo and Executive Producer Liz Cole.
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TOM BROKAW: Do you miss every night?
DAVID LETTERMAN: No. You know, I don’t. And — and it’s interesting. I thought for sure I would. And then, the first day of Stephen’s show when he went on the air — an energy left me and I felt like, ‘You know, that’s not my problem anymore.’ And I’ve kind of felt that way ever since. I devoted so much time to the damage of other aspects of my life. The concentrated, fixated, focusing on that — it’s good now to not have that. I couldn’t care less about late night television. I’m happy for the guys — men and women — there should be more women. And I don’t know why they didn’t give my show to a woman. That would have been fine. You know, I’m happy for their success. And they’re doing things I couldn’t do. So that’s great.
BROKAW: Did they ask you about who should replace you?
LETTERMAN: No. Oh, no. No, they didn’t ask me about anything. They were just — (LAUGH) they were just happy I was going. (LAUGH)
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For more information contact:
Jake Urbanski
NBC News
212-664-3211
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