Dave and Oprah, sitting in a tree...

Once again, Slate's Dana Stevens proves that she's one of the best voices to turn to for television criticism -- yes, serious (yet extremely amusing) television criticism. See here for her piece on the recent kiss-and-make-up (for grudges unknown) between two cultural giants, Dave and Oprah -- Letterman and Winfrey, that would be.

Best passage, one that's as good as it gets:

"It would have made for far better television if Dave and Oprah had discussed their obvious temperamental differences and how these affect their approach to their craft. Where she sees her show as a 'mission' (a word she used in last night's interview), mingling feel-good philanthropy with a near-pathological messiah complex, he is a deeply cynical, almost nihilistic figure, whose air of cold detachment only grows as he mires himself deeper and deeper in the world of show-business artifice. In fact, this abyss inside Letterman -- the fact that, as he said almost proudly last night, he 'isn't close to anyone' -- is the only thing that still makes him interesting to watch."

Brilliant stuff.