NEW YORK -- With David Letterman recuperating from heart surgery, CBS' "Late Show" has figured out a way to liven up the show's format without committing to a steady guest host.
As part of what the Eye has termed the "Late Show Backstage," Regis Philbin, Paul Shaffer and Charles Grodin will take turns each night this week interviewing fave "Late Show" guests. The interviews -- with Julia Roberts, Jerry Seinfeld, Bruce Willis, Danny DeVito, Bill Cosby, Steve Martin and Sarah Jessica Parker, among others -- will be supplemented by classic clips from the celebs' most memorable appearances on the show.
While the trio won't be guest hosting, they will be helping to generate buzz for the show during the crucial sweeps period. "Late Show" has been airing reruns since Letterman's quadruple bypass surgery three weeks ago.
Remaining true to Letterman's sarcastic spirit, the show will avoid mawkish sentimentalism. "The most important thing for us is that it doesn't turn into some sort of lovefest or homage to Dave," "Late Show" exec producer Rob Burnett said.
The "Backstage" shows will have no live audience and no band. "It's a backstage sort of feeling -- very simple, very basic, very minimalist. A couple of director's chairs and roll the camera," said Burnett, who estimated that up to one-third of the shows could consist of new material.
Amid rumors that Letterman would be returning to the show as soon as Feb. 14, Burnett said that nothing has been decided yet. "We're not ruling out the 14th, but it's been overstated," he explained. Burnett anticipates that a decision could be made about Dave's return early this week.
At the moment, Burnett is leaving his options open -- including the possibility of having guest hosts. "Dave is absolutely not opposed to guest hosts," Burnett said. "If Dave is out for any real length of time, we will probably go to a guest host." But Burnett declined to hypothesize about who the guest host could be.
Another possibility is that Dave could return to the job part-time. "It's possible that he'll come back fully or that he'll do a couple of shows one week and work his way up," said Burnett. March could be a good time for Letterman to ease himself back into the job since CBS will be covering the NCAA tournament, which often pre-empts "Late Show."
According to Burnett, Letterman is recovering quickly. "If he does come back on the 14th, it would be a superhuman recovery," he said.
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