Some weeks, I’m glad I wait until the last day possible to write my pop culture week in review (apologies and shout-out to the great PD editors who put up with my stubbornness). Because on weeks like this, there’s some late-breaking news and I sneak it in under the wire.

So without any further ado, let’s hit the pop culture week in review with a big shake-up in the world of television.

DAVID LETTERMAN IS RETIRING

 

Hot off the presses – David Letterman, who has been hosting The Late Show on CBS since leaving NBC in 1993, announced this week that in “a year or two,” he will hang up the towel and spend more time with his family. Letterman is 67 years old, and (if you include his run on Late Night), has been hosting a late night talk-show for about half of his life. It’s big news in the world of late night. Remember that Fallon took over The Tonight Show just a couple months ago, and The Late Show poses possibly the biggest threat to Fallon in the ratings (apologies to you, Jimmy Kimmel).

So inevitably, it’s time to start wildly conjecturing about who will replace Letterman when, eventually, someday soon-ish, he retires. Jon Stewart? Chelsea Handler? Craig Ferguson? Ryan “I Already Host Every Other Show On TV So Why Not?” Seacrest?

Who knows. But suffice it to say there will be a lot of pomp and circumstance about this decision. and people at the water cooler will be talking a lot about “middle America” and “target demographics” for awhile.

THE HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER FINALE HAPPENED

Tristan already did a greater job of recapping the final episode of How I Met Your Mother and paying tribute to its 9 seasons than I ever could.

But here’s the quick recap of his recap – and the essential crux of the debate over the HIMYM finale. We finally see the moment where Ted meets The Mother (her name is Tracy, by the way). But seemingly seconds later, we find out that she DIED. Guys, The Mother DIES.

But then Ted’s kids (…bear in mind the kids’ scenes were taped in 2005 so this was the plan all along) tell Ted that their mom died 6 years earlier, that they want Ted to be happy, and he should date “Aunt Robin” – friggin’ Robin, the person who Ted spends most of the series dating/trying to get over.

 

So as my brilliant sister put it – or maybe she stole this analysis from someone else – we spend 9 years hearing the story of Ted finding the love of his life, and after the finale we can’t really be sure who that is.

Now you know how he met their mother.

KEN JENNINGS IS BACK ON JEOPARDY, THANK GOODNESS

Jeopardy is doing the Battle of the Decades, and they’re on the 2000’s right now. Which means they’re bringing back the best contestants from 2000-2009. OBVIOUSLY that includes Ken Jennings, who won millions of dollars while dominating Jeopardy for months straight.

This week, Ken was on the show, and he qualified for the quarter-finals, which means he’ll be back next week. Enjoy the return of the conquering hero. He deserves it more than this other a-hole who tried to call Trebek out on his wardrobe.

SPEAKING OF JEOPARDY…

 

Check out this clip from this past week’s SNL, which was maybe the best sketch of the show’s season.

BRYAN CRANSTON IS WRITING A BOOK ABOUT HIS TIME ON BREAKING BAD

Yes, I continue to find ways to shoe-horn Breaking Bad into my pop culture week in review posts.

Bryan Cranston, aka Walter White, aka Heisenberg, is going to write a memoir recounting his time on the set of the acclaimed AMC drama. So now you finally get a behind-the-scenes peek from a genius man. AND you get to find out how often Aaron

OH! HOW DID I FORGET! MORNING TV IS ALSO A THING

Do you know who Josh Elliott is? He used to work on ESPN. Then he became part of the team at Good Morning America on ABC. And nowwwwww apparently things at GMA aren’t going so well, because Josh is taking a pay cut to move to NBC Sports.

Replacing Josh Elliott? Michael Strahan, who also works on Fox Sports and his live show with Kelly Rippa. That’s a lot of hosting for Mr. Strahan. I think we can officially take him out of the running for Letterman’s job, because of straight-up laws of physics and the limits of the human physique.

STEPHEN COLBERT IN A STUPID STUPID STUPID CONTROVERSY

 

The Twitter account for Stephen Colbert’s show, The Colbert Report, tweeted a joke mocking Washington Redskins’ owner faux-contrition over the offensiveness of the Redskins’ name. The joke made fun of Asian-Americans, and the Twitter-sphere lost their minds.

Thing was, Stephen didn’t write it. And the “#cancelcolbert” hashtag notwithstanding, he came on the air and addressed the controversy in classic Colbert fashion.

IRA GLASS GOT TROLLED (AND WON A PEABODY)

Ira Glass, host of “This American Life” on public radio, will be the host of the Peabody Awards next month. He appeared on CBS This Morning to discuss the honorees who had won the Peabody. (In case you were curious, winners include Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Key & Peele, and the Frontline special on the NFL and brain injuries, among others).

Must’ve been tough for Ira, since he’d recently learned that “This American Life” was NOT winning a Peabody, despite those amazing episodes from Harper High School in Chicago (side note, if you haven’t heard the episode yet, do so).

BUT then when the on-air talent was reading names and read out “This American Life,” Ira told her she was mistaken. Turns out…

HE WON!

The CBS team surprised Ira by announcing that he had, in fact, won. And his reaction was very Ira-y.