Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that CBS had crews dismantling the set of the Late Show with David Letterman the morning after Letterman had his final show at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City. After all, the network has to renovate the venue in preparation for Stephen Colbert’s debut with the new Late Show in September. Sets need to be built, rehearsals need to be conducted, etc.
But the immediacy of the overhaul was jarring. The body isn’t even cold, so to speak. Maybe crews wanted or needed to get a head start before the holiday weekend. Just imagine if you were still in the office, trying to pack up your things and get ready for the next move in your professional career, like Late Show executive producer Rob Burnett.
Burnett and staff surely knew that the plan was to get work on breaking things down for the renovation project immediately. Still, knowing of those plans and seeing them implemented, watching a place you’ve worked for 22 years be taken apart, has to be dismaying. (Burnett and the Worldwide Pants team will not be part of Colbert’s show.)
Yet with several people likely to be lingering around the Ed Sullivan Theater, trying to get a glimpse of the aftermath of Letterman’s final bow, CBS had to know that there would be onlookers. Seeing that beautiful bridge from the Letterman set tossed into a dumpster is just heartbreaking. Of course, where would you put such a thing? It’s not like anyone’s house or apartment could accommodate such a piece. Maybe a museum? (Some pieces, such as Letterman’s desk and the replica of the George Washington Bridge will indeed go to the Smithsonian.)
