Letterman apologizes. Will it be enough to quiet the storm?

David Letterman apologized to his wife, Regina Lasko, and his staff at the taping of Monday's …David Letterman is getting quite good at the two-part, prolonged public apology. After stunning his viewers Thursday with a tale of extortion by a CBS news producer over the fact that he has had sex with Late Show staff members in the past, he returned Monday night to apologize to his wife, Regina Lasko, and his staff for the pain and wild public attention the scandal has leveled on all of them.

As he did with his apology to Sarah Palin over an off-color joke about one of her daughters, Letterman admitted he had hoped his first lengthy on-air explanation would put the story to rest. But he quickly realized that was not to be in a 24/7 blogosphere and a news cycle without end. "It seems like people want to talk about it," he said.

He apologized to his staff for the "pounding" they have been through by the press seeking more information about his behavior as a boss. ("Inadvertently, I just wasn't thinking ahead," he said, thanking his staff for "putting up with something stupid I've gotten myself involved in.") The jokes stopped altogether when his comments turned to his wife, Regina Lasko, who he said "has been horribly hurt by my behavior." He told his audience, "I've got my work cut out for me" to fix the damage he has caused in his marriage; Lasko and Letterman, who have a 5-year-old son, married in March after a 20-year relationship.

So while Dave may not have to go on Oprah next week and sob for the next "phase" of this story, as he joked in his opening monologue, even his deft way of handling public apologies is probably not going to be enough to put an end to the story. Here's why: At the heart of it is a criminal case, and the lawyer for the CBS news producer, Robert (Joe) Halderman, has already made the rounds with the press promising evidence of sexual harassment and quipping that he can't wait to cross examine Letterman. Just how that will get his client off on charges of bribery is a mystery.

What will all of this mean for Letterman's career? Hard to say. He's not an elected official, so viewers hold him to a different standard, for sure. But as media watcher Howard Kurtz said on Good Morning America today, as the words "intern," "Letterman" and "sex" mix in the news, the late night master runs the risk of looking like a dirty old man whose actions truly are "creepy."

If you haven't seen it yet, here's Letterman's apology. Do you think he handled it well? Will it calm the Letterman storm?