Latest news with #TheLateLateShow
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Colbert's axing signals TV's plummeting popularity
Late-night television had been fighting for its survival even before The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was cancelled this week, reported Reuters. The announced end of one of the most popular broadcast late-night shows, days after host Colbert accused the network owner of bribing President Donald Trump to approve a merger, drew cries of political foul play from liberal politicians, artists and entertainers. "Stephen Colbert, an extraordinary talent and the most popular late-night host, slams the deal. Days later, he's fired. Do I think this is a coincidence? NO," Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent, wrote on X. CBS executives said in a statement that dropping the show was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount." Whether or not politics were at play, the late-night format has been struggling for years, as viewers increasingly cut the cable TV cord and migrate to streaming. Younger viewers, in particular, are more apt to find amusement on YouTube or TikTok, leaving smaller, ageing TV audiences and declining ad revenues. Advertising revenue for Colbert's show has dropped 40 per cent since 2018 - the financial reality that CBS said prompted the decision to end The Late Show in May 2026. One former TV network executive said the program was a casualty of the fading economics of broadcast television. Fifteen years ago, a popular late-night show like The Tonight Show could earn $100 million a year, the executive said. Recently, though, The Late Show has been losing $40 million a year, said a person briefed on the matter. The show's ad revenue plummeted to $70.2 million last year from $121.1 million in 2018, according to ad tracking firm Guideline. Ratings for Colbert's show peaked at 3.1 million viewers on average during the 2017-18 season, according to Nielsen data. For the season that ended in May, the show's audience averaged 1.9 million. Comedians like Colbert followed their younger audiences online, with the network releasing clips to YouTube or TikTok. But digital advertising did not make up for the lost TV ad revenue, the source with knowledge of the matter said. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is just the latest casualty of the collapse of one of television's most durable formats. When The Late Late Show host James Corden left in 2023, CBS opted not to hire a replacement.
Irish Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Imelda May backed to be next President of Ireland but has no plans to run
Singer Imelda May has revealed the widow of The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan has backed her to be the next President of Ireland. The Liberties singer is a self-confessed proud Irish woman, and regularly promotes the country through her poetry and songs. But when asked about whether or not she would consider running for the Presidency, she said her pal Victoria Mary Clarke endorsed her in her house last week. She told Anna Geary, who is filling in for Ray D'Arcy on RTE Radio 1, that Victoria Mary Clarke suggested she should throw her name in the hat for the Irish Presidency. Imelda said: "I had my friend Victoria Mary Clarke, she was up at my house saying 'you have to run for president'. "I'm not going to do it. I'm madly in love with this place and the people." Shane McGowan and Victoria Mary Clarke pictured on The Late Late Show (Image: Andres Poveda) Pressed again about running for the Presidency by Geary, Imelda said jokingly: "Oh will you stop?" It comes after Imelda revealed she was hospitalised earlier this month for an unknown illness. Briefly updating fans at the beginning of her radio interview, she told Anna she was "fine" and was given the "all clear". Earlier this week, she posted pictures on her Instagram from hospital bed, praising the staff at St Vincent's Hospital for taking such good care of her. She wrote at the time: "So I ended up in St Vincent's University Hospital last week for a few days. "I'm fine now and healing well but I must say a huge thanks you to all the amazing people that took the best care of me. Absolute legends. Pictures are a few of those legends. Forever grateful. Imelda X." It is the second time Imelda has found herself in hospital in recent years. In 2022, Imelda was forced to postpone a gig after her doctor ordered her to take a break after she suffered from exhaustion. In a snap, she said at the time: "I'm getting a flood of well wishes. Thank you so much. I'm not seriously ill. "It's what I call 'road rot' lots of bits going wrong. "Too often have tests and treatments while going full pace. "Physically exhausted. Just following Drs advice and taking time to heal. I won't be long. Imelda." Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
Irish Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Ryan Tubridy breaks silence on why he really quit RTE Late Late Show
TV and radio host Ryan Tubridy has said he wanted to leave The Late Late Show before he had enough of the job. The ex-RTE star announced in March 2023, that he would be stepping down as the presenter of The Late Late Show after 14 years in May. But just months later, the father-of-two was dropped from working with RTE amid a high-profile scandal over undisclosed payments. In June 2023, investigations revealed RTÉ had paid him €345,000 more than publicly declared between 2017 and 2022, using a "barter account" and side arrangements. But speaking to PJ Coogan on the Opinion Line on Cork's Red FM, Ryan said he doesn't miss hosting the Late Late Show saying he 'had his fill' – but loved his time in RTE. He said: 'Do I miss it? Is your question. No, I don't. I tell you..I don't miss presenting the shows that I did, the presenting the Late Late Show. I loved it, loved presenting it. Loved the people I worked with. I actually loved my time in RTE. 'I had a great time there, but I left the Late Late Show because I'd had my fill, and it was joyful.' Ryan Tubridy with PJ Coogan on Cork's Red FM Ryan – who recently got engaged to Dr Clare Kambamettu - said he was afraid that if he continued as host of the coveted Friday night chat show he would eventually not feel any more joy for the high profiled job. 'And my feeling was, if I kept going, the joy would stop, and that would be a mistake. I was at my peak. I had such a lovely time.' But the 52-year-old said he got a 'beautiful send-off', and declined to reference in the final few months at the national broadcaster. 'I got a beautiful send off. Even somebody arranged for Paul McCartney to send a video message to that last show. And so it was, it was a thing of great joy. So no, it was great. It was just a curve. 'Move on to the next thing and, and it's just a different class of joy,' referencing his move to Virgin Radio and Q102. But he said he still gets called the 'Toy Man' from his time presenting the Late Late Toy Show. 'I mean, you know, when I moved to London, I was going where, like, I didn't know London at all. But I never lived abroad until I was 50. So talk about late starter. 'It's great fun. Oh, I love London's buzz,' he added. Ryan is in Cork this weekend ahead of the West Cork Literary Festival in Bantry where he will be interviewed by fellow chat show king Graham Norton. 'He's such a prolific writer now that he goes to all the writing festivals. So I sent me a lovely message last night saying, we'll have a great chat, and then we'll have a glass of ale afterwards to discuss it all. So it's always great. It's great to be back in Cork,' he added. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
Atlantic
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
What the End of The Late Show Really Means
When CBS embarked on the project of replacing David Letterman as the host of The Late Show, in 2014, the network spared no expense. It hired Stephen Colbert, who had collected Emmys and acclaim while hosting his Comedy Central talk show, The Colbert Report; gave him total creative control; and fully revamped Manhattan's Ed Sullivan Theater so Colbert could make the show's longtime venue his own. After a shaky first year, Colbert found his footing in the lead-up to the 2016 election by focusing his opening monologues more pointedly on politics. The Late Show soon became the highest-rated talk show in America— a crown it has not relinquished since. Ten years on, CBS has snatched the crown off its head. The network appears to have grown so dismayed with the state of late-night television that it has unceremoniously canceled one of the genre's most successful stalwarts: In a statement Thursday night, CBS announced that not only will this season of The Late Show —set to air through May 2026—be the program's last, but the franchise will also be retired entirely. ('We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable,' the statement offers as explanation.) The decision quickly prompted plenty of speculation among industry observers, given Colbert's recent, unvarnished scorn for CBS's parent company, Paramount, after it settled a lawsuit with Donald Trump; the president had accused 60 Minutes, the network's venerated TV news magazine, of deceptively editing an election-season interview with Kamala Harris. (CBS News, which produces 60 Minutes, denied the claim.) But whether or not there was some political motivation behind the cancellation (the network called the reason purely financial), the underlying point is clear: The Late Show is no longer valuable enough for CBS to bother protecting it. As the business of television changes, late-night talk shows have found themselves in a particularly awkward spot. For one, people have stopped flocking to linear television as their evenings wind down. If they do turn the TV on, it's often to check out what's new to stream rather than to put up with a somewhat staid format interrupted by many commercial breaks. The customary celebrity chats and musical performances typically appear online not long after they air, and said celebrities now have many other outlets for plugging their projects: video podcasts, YouTube shows. The cost of producing one of those alternatives is also far smaller than the budget for a glitzy affair like The Late Show. These arguments always get trotted out as nightly programs drop off the map—like when The Late Show 's lead-out, The Late Late Show, didn't survive its host James Corden's departure; and when its follow-up, the Taylor Tomlinson–hosted variety show At Midnight, lasted just over a year before the comedian decided to return to performing stand-up full time. Questions about the genre's relevance are also why Late Night With Seth Meyers had to get rid of its house band to survive, and why Comedy Central chose not to replace The Daily Show 's former host Trevor Noah. Instead, the cable channel was satisfied with bringing back Noah's predecessor Jon Stewart for one night a week, rotating the other episodes amongst the current cast. And yet: Even though Puck reported that Colbert's program was losing more than $40 million a year for CBS, there's something quite shocking about a network simply giving up a foothold as established as The Late Show. Brand names are hard to come by in television, and The Late Show was a big one: Letterman built it up over the course of the 1990s, after NBC passed him over as Johnny Carson's successor to The Tonight Show. Colbert then inherited a program defined by its past host's curmudgeonly brand of snark and fundamentally remade it into a much more thoughtful and authentic show. He's proved capable of deep, empathetic interviews with guests and spiky, aggressive political joke-making (by broadcast TV's rigid standards). Still, Colbert would never be able to achieve the ubiquity that Carson and Letterman enjoyed before the advent of streaming. The occasional clip might go viral, and entertainment sites will write up the best parts of the monologue; the talk-show desk, however, no longer comes with a seat of cultural power. Colbert was once the most irreverent member of his late-night brethren (people forget what a bomb-thrower his satirical The Colbert Report character could be), but he has since become more of a fatherly figure—one I value as part of the TV firmament but who doesn't exactly scream 'cutting edge.' Then again, 'cutting edge' is not something CBS has sought in a long time. It's hard to know what could possibly take over for The Late Show when it vanishes in mid-2026. Sitcom reruns? Movies you could just as easily catch on Netflix? The point of network television is to offer something that has a live jolt to it—sports, stand-up, the occasional drama or comedy shows that become appointment viewing. As the medium dissolves from relevance, its owners instead seem content not to create anything of cultural importance. The Late Show is not the juggernaut it once was, sure. But what's most tragic is to think of it being replaced by nothing at all.
Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
End of an era: As CBS pushes Colbert out, a look back at the network's late-night history
Where CBS goes from here with its late night offerings we don't know yet. But here's a look at the network's timeline in that time slot, from the early years of Faye Emerson and Merv Griffin to the golden eras of Letterman and Colbert. Advertisement The early years: Before 'The Late Show' CBS's history with late-night TV shows goes back to 1949, when it first aired 'The Faye Emerson Show,' a groundbreaking, 15-minute program hosted by the eponymous star. The short-lived program was one of the first late-night talk shows, according to Advertisement In August 1969, the network revived 'The Merv Griffin Show,' which had initially aired on NBC from 1962 to 1963, and in syndication from 1965 to 1969. The series would air on CBS weeknights at 11:30 p.m. through 1972, before returning to first-run syndication until its cancelation in 1986 (its set, of course, would live on in infamy thanks to Kramer in a 1997 episode of 'Seinfeld'). Making barely a blip, 'Wheel of Fortune' host Pat Sajak had a The arrival of David Letterman and 'The Late Show' After early attempts at late-night shows didn't live up to ratings expectations, CBS finally found its big after-hours hit with the arrival of Letterman and 'The Late Show' in 1993. When NBC crowned Jay Leno its 'Tonight Show' successor over him, Letterman jumped ship for his own show at CBS, going head-to-head with Leno for years, as the late-night juggernauts battled in the ratings (with During his more than two decade tenure, Letterman turned 'The Late Show' into a cornerstone of CBS's programming with his irreverent humor, memorable interviews, and creative bits like his recurring 'Top Ten' lists. CBS expands with the launch of 'The Late Late Show' Importing another former NBC talk show host, CBS expanded its late-night programming in 1995 with the launch of 'The Late Late Show,' airing in the time slot after Letterman's show. With longtime newscaster Tom Snyder at the helm from 1995 to 1999, the show delivered serious interviews with stars and luminaries like George Carlin, David Lynch, and even Letterman. Snyder's dry style long provided fodder for comedic gold, with Dan Aykroyd doing impressions of him on 'Saturday Night Live.' Advertisement 'The Late Late Show' format pivoted to comedy when former 'The Daily Show' host and 'SportsCenter' anchor Craig Kilborn took over in 1999. Kilborn turned in a memorable, though similarly short, run as host, deciding to leave the show 2004. He told The Craig Ferguson era of 'The Late Late Show' CBS hit its sweet spot of late-night success in the early 2000s as Letterman continued to draw an audience, despite often losing in the ratings to Leno. Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson took over the desk at 'The Late Late Show' in 2005. Wacky, unpredictable, and filled with puppets and robot sidekicks (we still miss you Geoff Peterson), the Ferguson era is up there with Conan O'Brien's early run on NBC (and later run on TBS) when it comes to pushing the envelope of late-night comedy. Ferguson left 'The Late Late Show' in 2014, with Letterman leaving 'The Late Show' the following year, marking the end of an era at CBS. James Corden reinvents 'The Late Late Show' Love it or hate it, James Corden became 'The Late Late Show' host in 2015, reinventing the series with the introduction of a house band led by comedian and musician Reggie Watts, plus with a communal guest interview set-up more akin to Andy Cohen's 'Watch What Happens Live' on Bravo. Corden also turned the show into a viral sensation with his 'Carpool Karaoke' segments, driving around town singing tunes with famous musicians. Colbert takes 'The Late Show' baton from Letterman To fill Letterman's shoes, CBS bet on Colbert, who kicked off his 'Late Show' run in the fall of 2015. Colbert had earned acclaim and a cult following for playing a fictionalized version of himself as host of the political satire talk show 'The Colbert Report,' which aired on Comedy Central from 2005 to 2014. The Emmy-winning series was a breakout role for Colbert, who had gotten noticed as a correspondent on Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show.' Advertisement Paying homage to Letterman's legacy while bringing his polished brand of thoughtful, topical humor to the desk, Colbert rode his wave of popularity to the top when he joined 'The Late Show,' which continues to be a critical and ratings hit. According to Corden and 'The Late Late Show' bid farewell CBS pulled the plug on 'The Late Late Show' in 2023, replacing it briefly with the comedy talk series 'Comics Unleashed' hosted by Byron Allen. 'Comics Unleashed' had aired for years in syndication starting way back in 2006. The life and death of 'After Midnight' Just last year, CBS launched 'After Midnight' hosted by comedian Taylor Tomlinson, its first female late night host since 1949, to air after Colbert's show on weeknights. The series featured Tomlinson in a bit of a game show host role, quizzing a trio of comedians and celebrities each episode with games centered around pop culture, memes, and other topics du jour. 'After Midnight' survived less than two years. CBS cancelled it in March, and Advertisement Curtains for Colbert and 'The Late Show' That brings us to Thursday's big shock. Colbert revealed to his studio audience that he'd just learned the news the night before about the show's cancelation; they responded by raining down boos and jeers. Amid the pending sale of parent company Paramount to Skydance Media, we don't know what the future holds for CBS's late night slot and Colbert after he exits next May. Since Paramount also owns Comedy Central, a reboot of 'The Colbert Report' seems unlikely. Speculation has only begun. Matt Juul can be reached at
