Dave Says He Considered Move to ABC

By Stephen M. Silverman

07/09/2002 at 01:00 AM EDT

Make no mistake: David Letterman carefully weighed ABC's offer earlier this year to jump ship from CBS and assume the late-night timeslot long occupied by Ted Koppel and "Nightline." "It's like dating," Letterman told Koppel, of all people, in an interview that aired early Tuesday morning on ABC's new show "Up Close." (The program is a temporary substitute until comedian Jimmy Kimmel's show kicks in next winter.) Said Dave, 55: "You show up at the prom with a girl and look across the floor and think, 'Maybe I'll have more fun with that girl over there.' It's human nature." Letterman, who rarely gives interviews, maintained his usual cool demeanor as Koppel, 62, delivered his easygoing Q&A. Only once did Letterman break. When he discussed his first "Late Show" program after Sept. 11 (Letterman delivered a stirring monologue about New York that night), tears appeared to be welling in his eyes, and he admitted to Koppel that he didn't do his usual routine of watching a playback of the show afterward. "I didn't want to see it," he said. When Koppel asked him to explain why, Letterman replied, "I'm not sure." Koppel did not press him on the matter of unseating "Nightline," however. Still, Letterman did say: "It would have been an enormous challenge to go anywhere, not just ABC. I think at a certain point in a person's career . . . the comfort and ease and the comfort of surroundings and environment are far more important than undertaking a new challenge."