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AGE 55
WHY HIM He proved his marketplace value this year when ABC took an unsuccessful shot at signing him, prompting a very public tug-of-war with CBS. With his patented cranky ad-libs as barbed as ever, his notoriously impatient guest interviews more kindly, he's looking more and more like the true heir to Carson, Paar, and Allen. Leno still whups him in the ratings 'most every night, but Dave may get a boost from CBS' new 10–11 p.m. strength (''CSI: Miami'' and ''Without a Trace'' are the first real contenders for NBC's ''ER''). Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants, has a spotty record (sure, ''Everybody Loves Raymond,'' but ''Ed'''s audience dwindled last season, and Craig Kilborn's smarty-pants act isn't playing as well as Conan's smarty-brains one).
