A Look Back at 'The David Letterman Show' 1980

Before he became a late night staple, David Letterman's first talk show aired in the mornings, live on NBC. Dave didn't last long in daytime as the show was cancelled after just 4 months (June 23 - October 24, 1980).

As you watch the clip below, it looks similar to what we have seen Dave do over the last 30 years, in late night. But, I do remember seeing him feature Daytime Fireworks show. Of course, you couldn't see anything on TV, but we are told it was a spectacular.

THE DAVID LETTERMAN SHOW replaced three classic game shows, HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, HIGH ROLLERS and CHAIN REACTION.

Most of the people producing and directing the show are the same people that produced the first decade plus of his late night shows (Hal Gurnee, Biff Henderson, Bill Wendell), but missing was Paul Shaffer. Frank Owens was the music director in Daytime.

You know... if Letterman had been successful with this daytime show, what would late night look like now???