The Late Show replaced a legend of late night television, and Comedy Central ultimately also lost The Colbert Report when Stephen Colbert jumped to CBS to take Letterman’s place.
Considering the speed with which The Late Show announced that Stephen Colbert would be replacing David Letterman, Letterman might not have had much time to pitch alternate choices for host anyway.
David Letterman’s admission to Dateline that he believes The Late Show could have gone to a woman is a follow-up to his earlier statement that his departure presented CBS with a great opportunity to bring in a woman or a black person as the next host.
Late night television has seen some major changes in recent years, and David Letterman’s decision to leave The Late Show after years and years affected two shows in big ways.