Shortly after news of the Letterman scandal broke (you may recall that it was broken by intrepid reporter David Letterman), Nikki Finke theorized that CBS wouldn’t investigate it because CBS boss Les Moonves and his boss, Sumner Redstone, had both had adulterous affairs, and so they wouldn’t be too keen on digging into Letterman.

But as the New York Observer‘s Felix Gilette reports, CBS will be looking into the sex-and-extortion saga the way they know best: with a crack investigative reporter.

Is the journalism industry so down at the mouth these days that David Letterman is the only thing standing between it an utter irrelevance? Probably not, but you’d be forgiven for drawing that conclusion based on how much ink the Late Show host’s love life continues to generate. How much more can we read before utter boredom with the ‘scandal’ sets in.

Last night, after a weekend of being battered by the press, David Letterman apologized on air to both his wife and his staff. The part that struck as a strange and insincere admission? That he didn’t see the tabloid frenzy coming. Did Dave just move to New York City?

David Letterman‘s seemingly schizophrenic first 15 minutes of tonight’s Late Show spanned the spectrum from funny to serious, all while sticking firmly to the subject of his extortion/sex with staffers revelation last week.

As Rachel Sklar asked earlier tonight, “Which Letterman should we believe?” Well here’s what they both had to say.

Tonight Dave Letterman goes back on the air after one hell of a weekend. And I’m already confused.

Thursday night — as I’m sure you know by now — he went on the air and told an extraordinary story, first about being blackmailed and then about what he’d been blackmailed for. “Creepy” things, that vague descriptor, was put into a little sharper focus like so: “I have had sex with women who work for me on this show.”

Well, it is what he does. For tonight’s monologue, taped earlier at the Ed Sullivan theater, Dave Letterman returned to his show with a monologue — a very topical one.

David Letterman returned to tape his show today — his first after his on-air mea culpa on Thursday night wherein he revealed that he had been the victim of a $2 million extortion attempt over multiple affairs he’d had with female staff members. Despite his initial statement that he did not plan to speak again on the topic, he used the opportunity to apologize, to his staff — and to his wife. Full text of the apology inside.

Over at The Huffington Post, they’ve been treating the news of David Letterman‘s shocking affairs with staffers — and the extortionist who tried to squeeze Letterman for $2 million dollars, suspected to be Robert “Joe” Halderman — with their trademark blanket coverage, leaving no stone unturned. The secret winner? Jay Leno. Ads for his show are popping up all around the news of his rival’s troubles.

On national television, before an audience of millions (and no doubt many millions more via YouTube in the days to come), CBS Late Show host David Letterman admitted that he had had affairs with female staffers on his show — and was being blackmailed by someone about it, to the tune of $2 million.