LATE NIGHT LAMENTATIONS: We've all heard the tale of how Betamax, a technically superior product, was beaten by the lowly yet populist VHS. But writing in the Guardian, Jack Schofield suggests this is an urban myth. Considering Beta as a "whole product," he says, reveals that it was actually inferior to VHS and, as a result, was a deserving loser. It's an interesting read.

I was thinking of the Beta/VHS debate earlier this morning when I read this article about how Letterman's team continues to fail in its efforts to unseat Leno in late-night popularity. That Leno, who I find likeable yet highly unfunny, continues to beat the Worldwide Pants off Letterman is one of the great mysteries of my universe. My wife and I continually taste-test the two programs, flipping from one to the next at the commercials, and we usually find ourselves just dumbstruck by how wooden the Leno show comes off. On the other hand, nary a night passes when we're not taken by pleasant surprise by something on the Letterman show.

Dave actually seems a better and more indulgent interviewer today than at any previous point in his career. Sure, he's known to stoop to easy gags -- double-takes when the hot female guest walks out, stammering in response to innuendo, etc. -- but he's also likely to take a genuine swing or two, to ask the tough question and then sit in awkard silence on the pull-back to commercial (unlike Leno, who is forever arm-punching his playmates in innocuous repartee). Of course we also sense that Letterman finds his job -- and the rest of life -- somewhat silly and maybe even sad. He is, after all, the same guy rumored to have scrawled "I hate my job" over and over on a legal pad on his desk. (Disclaimer: I tried to Google the source of this tidbit, and I can't seem to find it. Anybody have a cite?)

On the rare instance that I've actually met someone who prefers Jay to Dave, they usually cite Letterman's "personality" as the reason this dislike his show. "He's so sarcastic, I don't like him," is an adequate summary of the anti-Letterman line. Is it a stretch to infer that these folks are noticing and responding positively to Jay's "there's nowhere in the world I'd rather be, no job in the world I'd rather have" attitude, contrasted with Letterman's "the joke is that this is all a bunch of crap -- luckily you're in on the joke?"

Am I missing something that makes Jay's "whole product" more compelling than Dave's, or is Jay's dominance one of the great entertainment injustices of all time (right up there with the unfair pillorying of ISHTAR)?