Top 10 Reasons to Reject Disney and Stay at CBS

David Letterman used the opening comments of his show Monday to tell viewers of his decision to stay at CBS, but not before getting in a few jokes at the expense of his employer.

Toward Ted Koppel, however, whose “Nightline” would have been pushed aside had Letterman gone to ABC, the comedian was nothing but gracious.

Letterman called Koppel a great “Late Show” guest who “might be too funny for a newsman,” then noted that his “contributions to American culture speak for themselves.”

Because of his stature, Letterman continued to applause, the newsman “at the very least . . . deserves the right to determine his own professional future.”

With that, Letterman said he had decided to stay at CBS, although he said it was not an easy decision--and not without repercussions. “There goes the vacation to Disney World,” he quipped.

He opened the night’s “Late Show With David Letterman” by joking that “all of a sudden, they [CBS] can’t kiss up to me enough,” saying that he “finally got a get-well card from my bypass surgery” two years ago.

Later, he turned serious and called the contract talks “trivial, pointless and downright silly” in comparison to the terrorist attacks of six months ago.

But the jokes quickly picked up. When he came to CBS nine years ago, he said, the network was nothing. “We were able to build something,” he boasted, showing a clip reel that included a Stupid Pet Trick and a Richard Simmons appearance.

As to the negotiations with ABC, Letterman said the Disney-owned network had “all the . . . money in the world.”

The situation got “crazier and crazier and crazier,” he said, adding, “When I drop dead there won’t be this much press.”