CBS Canceling ‘Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ After Next Season
nytimes.com
I'll note that Colbert has the highest viewership (and therefore ad revenue) in his time slot. This is almost surely about the Ellison family, which now controls CBS, wanting to silence him.
a purely financial decision
🤨 ... riiiiiiiiight ...
Remember: even in the most repressive autocracies, the leaders realised that jesters serve a purpose. Because if people can't joke about how shitty things are at the present, they might see that as a sign that things are pretty bad, actually.
If the comedy is mucked with, that's a sure sign that the politicians are getting a tad bit touchy.
They should just go crazy with Trump jokes now. If networks cancels the show earlier it will prove it was not for financial reasons. If it doesn't they will have a great last season.
To be fair, I don't know how much crazier they can go with Trump jokes than they were already..
I don't get why you all are upset. The folks who are pointing out that the format is dying are correct, no matter how many down votes they get. I haven't watched it in years, except for the occasional clip on the Internet, because I am an old man and can't stay up that late.
But I think this might be mutual (or at least not as bad to Colbert as you all think.) They did Colbert a favor by simply letting his contract run out vs. finding a way to fire him:
Colbert will continue to be outraged on camera, because that's what his viewers want. And maybe he is pissed about being forced out. But I think he sees an opportunity here, and will take it.
It's not about Colbert getting paid. That part is about the 200 people working for him.
And yeah, one should be outraged. He's fired for political speech. That's pretty damning for our country. Nobody is allowed to criticize dear leader.
Carson would like a word.
The point is, it is a fact that those late night shows are an anachronism. It is plausible that they would still be doing this even if Trump didn't win, and wasn't in a position to extort them. Heck, I think it would be more likely, because Colbert would have had less political material if our politics weren't so bonkers.
It seems a plausible concern with Colbert, but doesn't explain Conan or Corden.
So I think there's some ambiguity here and some potential to look silly declaring this with absolute certainty and then Colbert ends up explaining he wanted to retire or move on to other projects while handing the show off to some other host, but the network decided not to bother with that show after the current host goes.
Meanwhile more unambiguously Trump has been restricting access to news media he doesn't like and we can keep talking about that and other unambiguous things and even saying there's a solid chance that appeasing Trump is to some extent causing this event, but certainty needs more information from authotive sources.
Colbert is rich, he'll be alright. He'll continue his comedy shtick in another format; there are enough media startups looking for content.
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That doesn't solve the demonetization problem that is facing almost all commercial left-of-center speech in the US. Unless people can make a living at it, there won't be much of it.
As I said elsewhere, this isn't a surprise and nor is this related to Trump. Television is dying in general, late night and talk shows being hit fairly hard during all of it. The studios put so much money into these shows but they're constantly losing money because people are watching more on YouTube than anywhere else and they can't get the same money there.
Don't believe me? Believe Jimmy Kimmel who said a couple of years ago that he has no hope for Late Night as a format to be able to continue in the future. Kimmel will probably be the next to go. Large amount of money goes into that show and Kimmel doesn't have all the shows Fallon has which means he won't have the same pull in protecting himself.
People are gonna keep shouting this is about Trump and the merger but these conversations about Late Night and whether it's worth it have been going on since Craig Ferguson left. Then you've got the fact that Conan, Samantha Bee, and Corden all had their late shows cancelled and no other late shows replaced them. If the studios didn't replace them with another talk show it's because they couldn't see the money in filling that timeslot with a talk show anymore. Not to mention the fact that Colbert had about 3.4 million viewers in 2019 and was #1 Viewed Late Night Host. He currently has 2.5 million viewers and is #1 Viewed Late Night Host. Where do you guys think that those people went, exactly? Because no other Late Night show got a big bump of 900k viewers. Or where do you think Conans viewers went? Again, no big bump to Kimmel or Fallon. People just aren't watching Late Night anymore.
This isn't a conspiracy. It's a trend. A blatantly obvious one that Late Night hosts have been joking about for years.
Edit: Keep the downvotes coming. If it helps your desperate little fragile brain sleep better at night, then by all means. You pressing a down arrow isn't gonna make me sleep any less but if helps you sleep like itty baby? Go for it.
Right, those things are true, but they still don't explain this decision. It was the #1 talk show for what, 8 years? No sane network would just cancel it. They would revamp, cut costs. Every business would extract the value from the brand before tossing its lifeless corpse off the boat.
The most plausible explanation for this show being canceled at this moment is to appease Trump.
Right, those things are true, but they still don't explain this decision.
"Right. It is true that Late Night is dying, that it is not making as much money as it used to, that the viewership is dropping. But I mean that doesn't explain why they would cancel it."
... what? That literally is the only reason to cancel a show unless there is some moral reasoning for it.
It was the #1 talk show for what, 8 years?
Which, like I said, doesn't matter when all of Late Night is dying. All of it. In 2015, the Emmys split the Outstanding Variety Series into two. One of them was the Outstanding Talk Shows. In 2017, you had Nominations for Last Week Tonight, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Show with Corden, Late Show with Colbert and Real Time with Bill Maher. If you go to last year? The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Colbert. This year? Daily Show, Kimmel, Colbert. The other shows are not getting nominations either because no one is watching it or because they're cancelled. The entire award category is dying off and simply won't exist 5 years from now.
No sane network would just cancel it. They would revamp, cut costs. Every business would extract the value from the brand before tossing its lifeless corpse off the boat.
They will if the entire format is dying which it is. Like... Colberts contract is due to renew next year. They're not cancelling it. They're just not renewing it.
The most plausible explanation for this show being canceled at this moment is to appease Trump.
No. It really isn't. The most plausible explanation for this is that the Colbert show is following the exact same theme that every other Late Night show has had in the past few years. It is kind of a ridiculous conspiracy to jump to "Oh this is clearly because of Trump" from a single questionable moment when every other Late Night show has been cancelled or ended in the past 5 years. You have to actively reject facts to come to the conclusion that the Trump reason is "the most plausible."
Paramount is in the midst of closing a multibillion-dollar merger with the movie studio Skydance, a deal that requires approval from the Trump administration.
hmmmm….
And it is insanely conspiratorial for all of you to go "LOOK! THERE IS A SINGLE PIECE OF EVIDENCE! IT IS CLEARLY TRUMP! THERE IS NO OTHER REASON!"
Meanwhile you've got Conan, Samantha Bee, James Corden, and Lily Singh all standing on the side like "Well I guess we never existed then." All of them cancelled. None of them being replaced by another Late Show.
The pattern existed before Trump. Colbert's contract was due to renew next year. This isn't a conspiracy. Late Night is just dying.
Edit: I goofed. Lily Singh had her show replaced by the Amber Ruffin show.
Well yeah, some people cannot handle their opinions being challenged, but you are also guilty of insisting on a hardline that seems unlikely to be the only explanation. If media companies are looking to axe people, it makes perfect sense they would pick someone who is not growing while also deplatforming someone who speaks against their ideals. So Colbert lost almost 1/4 of viewership over 5 years, but how does that compare to Kimmel or Fallon viewership? Without a baseline for comparison, your statistics are just arbitrary. The Times even said that ad revenue is about half for all Late Night shows compared to 2018, but if there are also half as many shows, then the profit/loss should be similar.
Overall, I don't believe anyone would cancel a show that still draws over 1mill viewers for "financial reasons". Redo the budget, sure, but not cut the entire program.
Edit: well written and reasoned though. The comment was a good conversation contribution. It's unfortunate downvotes always represent agree/disagree instead of productive/counterproductive.
So Colbert lost almost 1/4 of viewership over 5 years, but how does that compare to Kimmel or Fallon viewership?
Good point. I will grab that information. However, I will say that if Colbert loses a million viewers and neither one of the other ones manage to pick up those viewers? They're clearly not going back into late night.
This isn't the whole year but seasonal averages to a point for 2017-18. Variety says that the stats were
TheWrap says that for the 2018-2019 season, the stats looked as follows.
Deadline says the stats for 2019-2020 were as follows.
Deadline says for 2020-2021 the stats were as follows:
Couldn't easily find anything for anything after that. The current 2.4 million viewer number is from all the articles talking about Colbert being cancelled. But even just from those years you can see the obvious trend. People were leaving late night.
Oh I also found:
Overall, I don’t believe anyone would cancel a show that still draws over 1mill viewers for “financial reasons”. Redo the budget, sure, but not cut the entire program.
But they didn't cut off the series partway through a contract. They just decided not to renew Colberts or bother spending the money rebranding or bringing on someone else.
Colbert alone costs them $15 million per year and his contract was up for a renewal. They were either going to have to pay him the same or more. Maybe they could get away with less but most agents are not going to allow that. Either way a fight would have been had to pay him less. Then you've got the extremely prime location of the Ed Sullivan theater which could be used for a whole host of things. Then there's paying the guests, the acts and the various departments that keep the show running. You could make running a late show pretty cheap but they just... didn't. The Late Show with Colbert is a pricey thing to keep running.
I also want to say here that I'm not trying to defend CBS in cutting the show off. Frankly I couldn't care one way or another. I used to watch him a lot and loved him but now I'm just sorta meh and don't care. The thing that weirded me out was that this stuff has been being talked about for years with declining viewers and late night going away and seemingly everyones immediate reaction was SOLELY to point the finger at Trump. Like he may have been a factor but I seriously doubt he was the driving factor.
I do buy the financials line. They're trying to look profitable for a merger and the show doesn't drag in as much money as it could and signing another expensive contract with someone in a field that has a declining viewership? I don't see how that's just thrown out the window instantly just to say it's to silence Colbert. Considering no one will stop talking about it... didn't really work out that well, huh? Not to mention the fact that we had this shit over a decade ago with Conan. Colbert will be fine and will end up landing a job doing more or less the same thing while bringing over his staff. Dude cares about the people who work for him.
But my evidence more than anything? They're a fuckin business trying to merge with another one. Literally the only thing that matters to them is profits and they've said they don't want to get involved in pre-written long term contracts. The writing is on the wall here. It's one shitty company absorbing another shitty company and everyone just started pointing the finger at... Trump.
The comment was a good conversation contribution. It’s unfortunate downvotes always represent agree/disagree instead of productive/counterproductive.
I couldn't give less of a fuck what makes these people boo when I've seen what makes them cheer. If they wanna downvote me with imaginary internet points that mean nothing to wrap themselves up in a comfy blanket and keep pretending then by all means.
Bro watched Qatar gift Trump a $400m jet and host a $1.5m per plate dinner, then was like "corruption in order to appease Trump???? ReDdIt CoNsPiRaCy!!! I must reach for a much less plausible explanation!!!!" 🤡
We both know this is the Ellison family killing a show to appease Trump, a show that they also don't politically agree with, in order to complete the merger that Trump's administration must approve. In this poltical climate, you're just playing dumb.
Lol, talk shows are cheap to make. Even small countries with small viewership can afford to out them in with miniscule viewership numbers.
Dramas are expensive. Talk shows, reality tv, panel shows, talking head shows. They are all cheap.
Sure, the viewership is dropping but its still multimillion. And they can just use the boys online for views too. The main drawz the celebrity guests, are free content as they are there to promote their latest project.
Lol, talk shows are cheap to make. Even small countries with small viewership can afford to out them in with miniscule viewership numbers.
They can be cheap to make. American Talk Shows aren't. They're in a giant theater on broadway that they use for essentially nothing other than this one show. Then there's Colbert's price tag. His contract that he signed 3 years ago was for $15 million anually. That's $45 million for 2.4 million consistent viewers over the past 3 years and that's just him. That isn't including the cost to guests, acts, writing, upkeep, and the dozen departments needed to run that show and fund everyones paycheque. But sure. That's "Cheap".
Bro they're downvotes, who gives a fuck? Lol
That being said I'm personally of the opinion its a little of column A, and a little of column B.
explains the recent pump in my old BTC and ETH assets from 2021, lol.
Well, which is it?
There it is...
The millions in bribe, erh I mean in a weak ass settlement, weren't enough?
Got to kiss the ring, pay the king and shoot the jester too?
I can't wait for the Lèse-Majestée laws to come next. /s