David Letterman and NBC haven’t exactly been on the best of terms in recent years. Tom Brokaw plays ‘peacemaker,’ at least for one night, as he interviews the comedy icon on Sunday’s edition of the NBC News program On Assignment. Sitting down for his first in-depth TV interview since he left late night television a year ago, Letterman explains to Brokaw why he decided to grow a beard, what he thinks of late night now, and returns with Brokaw to his old Indianapolis stomping grounds.
“I couldn’t care less about late night television,” Letterman tells Brokaw. “I’m happy for the guys – the men and the women, there should be more women,” Letterman said of late night TV. “And I don’t know why they didn’t give my show to a woman. That would have been fine.”
Later in the episode, Lester Holt follows a special community police unit in one of the roughest neighborhoods in the U.S. – Watts, South L.A. With the country still reeling from the violent clashes Ferguson and Baltimore, what Holt finds he hopes can be a way to resolve the distrust and hate between poor urban communities and the police forces who are sworn to serve and protect them.
On Assignment airs Sunday at 7 p.m. ET and PT / 6 p.m. CT.
Update: Due to coverage of the massacre in Orlando, this edition of On Assignment has been postponed. Brokaw’s sit-down with Letterman will now air Friday, June 17.