David Letterman Drama Makes For Ratings Gold

David Letterman's self-confessed bad behavior has reinforced the credo, controversy creates cash: Nielsen reported a 4.2 rating for Monday's edition of The Late Show, a rating so high it beat out anything NBC broadcast in prime time.

Last Thursday's episode was a huge ratings winner, as Nielsen reported more than 5.8 million viewers tuned in to see Letterman tell his audience he was the target of a $2 million extortion plot and that he had “sex with women who work for me.”