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Having said that, moments such as Lettermans return can still pull in viewers.

Monday nights episode posted 2.18M viewers, the shows largest live+same day delivery since the writers strike ended.

The Letterman numbers come asThe Late Showdelivered an average of 2.57M viewers with live+three day viewing, per Nielsen.

David Letterman returns to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

The other two shows, however, are continuing to fight it out in the 18-49 demo.

1 withThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, according to Live + Same Day Nielsen data.

However,The Tonight Shownarrowly beat Kimmel in the demo last week 0.167 vs. 0.165 and 0.12 for Colbert.

Red carpet photos of Jay Leno and David Letterman.