Season 5

From the desk

How this season is filed

Filed by Vivian Cross · The Carpet Report

The birth certificate of modern ironic late night — before everyone copied the shrug. Stupid Pet Tricks, Viewer Mail, Top Ten lists, Paul Shaffer as foil: NBC's 12:30 laboratory that invented post-Carson cool. Essential if you care how talk shows learned to mock themselves. The CBS years are the empire; these NBC hours are the cult scripture.

TV Flash files Season 5 of Late Night with David Letterman (1982–1993) on NBC as a mid listed season (5; 2 of 9) — 64 listed hours, 1986-07-17–1986-05-29 from “860717” (S05E77) to “Show #0719” (S05E140). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.

Desk essentials in this season

1. S05E77 860717

   A mid-decade numbered hour (860717) as laboratory weather — Stupid Pet Tricks, Paul Shaffer as foil, the shrug as craft.