If you want an example of how cold the broadcast business can be....check this out.

ust hours after David Letterman said farewell after 33 years on late-night TV, Ed Sullivan Theater crews hauled off blocks of blue stage and hacked up pieces of the iconic New York City bridges that made up the set of the “Late Sho.”

Fans and passers-by gathered around a police barricade cordoning off the Ed Sullivan to watch workers unceremoniously chuck red theater chairs into an overflowing Dumpster and ake reciprocating saws to his miniature Brooklyn Bridge.

“It’s an end of an era,” commented onlooker Alex Lafreniere, 24, a fan visiting from Oklahoma.

The complete breakdown of the set is expected to take about a week.

The eorge ashington Bridge appeared to be one of the few relics spared; it was carefully loaded into a van intact.

“I was literally sitting in one of those seats last night,” said Stephanie Strausz, of Manhattan, who score second-row icket t Wednesday’s star-studded finale.

“I can’t believe they’re just demolishing the whole thing. It’s shocking,” she said.

As stagehands stamped pieces of set into debris, the Letterman lover was able to snatch a bit of dilapidated bridge.

It belongs in the Smithsonian, not the dump, Strausz said.

Obviously CBS has never heard of Ebay....they could have made a small fortune. 

H/T NY Post