Latest news with #Paramount
Free Malaysia Today
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Free Malaysia Today
Stephen Colbert's late-night show on CBS to end in May
Kamala Harris joined Stephen Colbert in cracking open a beer can while taunting US president Donald Trump during 'The Late Show' last year. (CBS pic) LOS ANGELES : 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' on CBS will end in May 2026 after the upcoming broadcast season, the network said on Thursday. The show is ending and Colbert will not be replaced, CBS executives said. 'This is 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,' the executives said in a statement. CBS parent company Paramount is seeking approval from the US Federal Communications Commission for an US$8.4-billion merger with Skydance Media. This month, Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by president Donald Trump over an interview with former vice-president Kamala Harris, his Democratic challenger in the 2024 presidential race, that CBS's '60 Minutes' broadcast in October. Colbert, a frequent critic of Trump on his show, told his audience on Thursday that he was informed of the show's cancellation the night before. Senator Adam Schiff of California, a Democrat, was a guest during Thursday's show. 'If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better,' Schiff wrote on X.
The Advertiser
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
Colbert is latest casualty of late-night TV's fade-out
Late-night television had been fighting for its survival even before The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was cancelled last week. The announced end of one of the most popular broadcast late-night shows, days after host Stephen 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 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". The late-night format has been struggling for years as viewers increasingly migrate to streaming. Younger viewers, in particular, are more apt to find amusement on YouTube or TikTok, leaving smaller, aging TV audiences and declining ad revenues. Americans used to religiously turn on Johnny Carson or Jay Leno before bed, but nowadays many fans prefer to watch quick clips on social media. 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. Colbert's late-night show rivals Jimmy Fallon and Seth Myers both expressed shock over the cancellation. "I'm just as shocked as everyone," Fallon wrote on Instagram. "For as great a comedian and host he is, Stephen Colbert is an even better person," Meyers wrote on Instagram. Fifteen years ago, a popular late-night show like The Tonight Show could earn $US100 million ($A153 million) a year, the executive said. Recently, though, The Late Show has been losing $US40 million ($A61 million) a year, said a person briefed on the matter. The show's ad revenue plummeted to $US70 million ($A107 million) last year from $US121million ($A185 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. But the end came at a politically sensitive time. Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, is seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for an $US8.4 billion ($A12.8 billion) merger with Skydance Media. This month Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with his 2024 Democratic challenger, Kamala Harris. Colbert called the payment "a big fat bribe" two days before he was told his show was cancelled. Late-night television had been fighting for its survival even before The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was cancelled last week. The announced end of one of the most popular broadcast late-night shows, days after host Stephen 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 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". The late-night format has been struggling for years as viewers increasingly migrate to streaming. Younger viewers, in particular, are more apt to find amusement on YouTube or TikTok, leaving smaller, aging TV audiences and declining ad revenues. Americans used to religiously turn on Johnny Carson or Jay Leno before bed, but nowadays many fans prefer to watch quick clips on social media. 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. Colbert's late-night show rivals Jimmy Fallon and Seth Myers both expressed shock over the cancellation. "I'm just as shocked as everyone," Fallon wrote on Instagram. "For as great a comedian and host he is, Stephen Colbert is an even better person," Meyers wrote on Instagram. Fifteen years ago, a popular late-night show like The Tonight Show could earn $US100 million ($A153 million) a year, the executive said. Recently, though, The Late Show has been losing $US40 million ($A61 million) a year, said a person briefed on the matter. The show's ad revenue plummeted to $US70 million ($A107 million) last year from $US121million ($A185 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. But the end came at a politically sensitive time. Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, is seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for an $US8.4 billion ($A12.8 billion) merger with Skydance Media. This month Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with his 2024 Democratic challenger, Kamala Harris. Colbert called the payment "a big fat bribe" two days before he was told his show was cancelled. Late-night television had been fighting for its survival even before The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was cancelled last week. The announced end of one of the most popular broadcast late-night shows, days after host Stephen 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 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". The late-night format has been struggling for years as viewers increasingly migrate to streaming. Younger viewers, in particular, are more apt to find amusement on YouTube or TikTok, leaving smaller, aging TV audiences and declining ad revenues. Americans used to religiously turn on Johnny Carson or Jay Leno before bed, but nowadays many fans prefer to watch quick clips on social media. 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. Colbert's late-night show rivals Jimmy Fallon and Seth Myers both expressed shock over the cancellation. "I'm just as shocked as everyone," Fallon wrote on Instagram. "For as great a comedian and host he is, Stephen Colbert is an even better person," Meyers wrote on Instagram. Fifteen years ago, a popular late-night show like The Tonight Show could earn $US100 million ($A153 million) a year, the executive said. Recently, though, The Late Show has been losing $US40 million ($A61 million) a year, said a person briefed on the matter. The show's ad revenue plummeted to $US70 million ($A107 million) last year from $US121million ($A185 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. But the end came at a politically sensitive time. Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, is seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for an $US8.4 billion ($A12.8 billion) merger with Skydance Media. This month Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with his 2024 Democratic challenger, Kamala Harris. Colbert called the payment "a big fat bribe" two days before he was told his show was cancelled. Late-night television had been fighting for its survival even before The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was cancelled last week. The announced end of one of the most popular broadcast late-night shows, days after host Stephen 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 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". The late-night format has been struggling for years as viewers increasingly migrate to streaming. Younger viewers, in particular, are more apt to find amusement on YouTube or TikTok, leaving smaller, aging TV audiences and declining ad revenues. Americans used to religiously turn on Johnny Carson or Jay Leno before bed, but nowadays many fans prefer to watch quick clips on social media. 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. Colbert's late-night show rivals Jimmy Fallon and Seth Myers both expressed shock over the cancellation. "I'm just as shocked as everyone," Fallon wrote on Instagram. "For as great a comedian and host he is, Stephen Colbert is an even better person," Meyers wrote on Instagram. Fifteen years ago, a popular late-night show like The Tonight Show could earn $US100 million ($A153 million) a year, the executive said. Recently, though, The Late Show has been losing $US40 million ($A61 million) a year, said a person briefed on the matter. The show's ad revenue plummeted to $US70 million ($A107 million) last year from $US121million ($A185 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. But the end came at a politically sensitive time. Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, is seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for an $US8.4 billion ($A12.8 billion) merger with Skydance Media. This month Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with his 2024 Democratic challenger, Kamala Harris. Colbert called the payment "a big fat bribe" two days before he was told his show was cancelled.
The Hill
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Hill
Former NPR CEO: ‘This has not been a great week for free speech'
Former NPR CEO Vivian Schiller criticized CBS's canceling of Stephen Colbert's show in a Saturday interview amidst pushback of a decision that the network said was made due to financial constraints. 'This has not been a great week for free speech and speaking truth to power, without a doubt,' Schiller said on MSNBC. CBS has garnered criticism for the move, which many took in the context of its decision earlier this month to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump for $16 million. CBS's parent company, Paramount, is currently seeking federal approval for a merger deal with entertainment conglomerate Skydance. Colbert panned CBS's move afterwards, calling the settlement a 'big fat bribe' in his monologue and pointing out Paramount's merger effort. Paramount's lawyers had previously characterized the lawsuit, which took issue with CBS's editing of an interview with former Vice President Harris, as 'without basis in law or fact.' Schiller acknowledged Saturday that the evidence around the cancellation of 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' was 'circumstantial,' but still called the move 'curious.' The network has maintained that the decision was motivated by financial concerns. 'We have to also make note that Stephen Colbert is unafraid to, again, speak truth to power,' the former NPR executive said. 'He does it in a very bipartisan way over the years, and comedy and parody is an important part of a democratic ecosystem.' Schiller's comments come after a difficult week for NPR, the media organization she helmed for three years. Republicans voted to zero out funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a nonprofit that provides a small slice of money to NPR's national headquarters and a significant portion of revenue for the broadcaster's member stations. Schiller told NPR's media reporter this week that she thought the loss of federal funds was inevitable, and that the network should have better prepared itself ahead of the vote by Congress. 'Any evidence-based news organization that reports critically is going to be accused of left-wing bias,' she said. 'Journalism and government funding in the United States — those two things are incompatible.' Schiller exited NPR in 2011 over her own controversy surrounding federal funding. Republicans at the time were threatening to cut the broadcaster's funding when video surfaced of a prominent NPR fundraiser attacking Tea Party activists.
Time Magazine
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time Magazine
Breaking Down the Twists and Reveals in the Ending of Netflix's 'Untamed'
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Untamed. The temptation is strong to classify Untamed, the new series from screenwriter Mark L. Smith and his daughter Elle Smith, as Netflix's answer to Paramount's Yellowstone. In fact, it's not wrong to at least assume as much; when one studio makes a cool $2 billion from their neo-Western surprise smash, a non-zero number of competing studios will inevitably scramble to fund their own. But if Untamed is a product of the ongoing content arms race between cable networks and streaming services, it is nonetheless a better genetic match to Top of the Lake, Jane Campion's 2013 New Zealand mystery drama, whose skeletal structure reads like the unintended template for television's modern crop of regional detective dramas. Untamed, like Yellowstone, concerns itself with one of America's best ideas: its national parks. But it's also a trim limited series rooted in the stuff of parenthood, like Top of the Lake—the sins of the father (and the mother, for good measure), self-doubt, overwhelming powerlessness, and lots of grief. No conflict is had between the old ways and the new, so to speak, not even in context with white settlers' theft of Indigenous land. Instead, the show excavates the souls of its co-leads, Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), an Investigative Services Branch (ISB) agent for the National Park Service in Yosemite; and Naya Vasque (Lily Santiago), an L.A. transplant and NPS newbie, assigned to assist Turner in following the threads of a potential murder case in the park. What they unravel from that skein cuts not only to their cores as parents, but the story's supporting characters' cores, too, from Paul Souter (Sam Neill), Turner's friend, mentor, father figure, and boss as Yosemite's chief ranger, to Jill (Rosemary DeWitt), Turner's ex-wife, who can't resist the gravitational pull of his PTSD. She has her own emotional and moral baggage, too, some that's conventional, and some that's harder to spot, like sunlight glinting off a hunting rifle's scope. Jill takes the hit… Likewise, the reveal of one Sean Sanderson's fate lands one episode too late in Untamed to make an impression on the narrative; it's a missed opportunity by the Smiths to lend Jill necessary character depth. Sanderson (Mark Rankin in a walk-on role) went missing in Yosemite about five years ago in the show's timeline, but his name is brought up frequently in its present. His family is filing a wrongful death suit against the park, and their lawyer, Esther Avalos (Nicola Correia-Damude), visits Turner and Jill alike, sniffing around for information about his disappearance. DeWitt is one of our most casually gifted actors, in that whatever role she plays in whichever medium she chooses, she constitutionally reads as at-ease in her characters; they're lived-in and breathe life through the screen. Jill is no exception. But the guarantee of a good DeWitt performance can't offset Jill's meager profile on the page. She is, like Turner, figuratively haunted by the death of their young son, Caleb (Ezra Wilson), revealed in the series opener, 'A Celestial Event,' to have tragically died prior to Untamed's events–about five years, in fact. Turner is literally haunted, per his recurring conversations with Caleb; it isn't made explicit whether he's an apparition or just a hallucination, but there is nonetheless a ghostly quality to their dialogue together. In keeping with popular male balms for spiritual suffering, Turner turns to alcohol and functions as a mollusk, socially and professionally; his stoicism is an act, one his peers pick up on, and which some openly deride. 'Christ, here comes Gary Cooper,' grouses Milch (William Smillie) when Turner strides on horseback into the scene of the crime that spurs Untamed's A-plot: the murder of Lucy Cook (Ezra Franky), met in 'A Celestial Event' when she leaps off of El Capitan and into the ropes of two climbers ascending the granite monolith—a plunge she doesn't survive. The no-nonsense lawman routine is tired, within the text as well as without—if Milch and the rest of the park staff are done with Turner's schtick, then maybe television writ large should be, too—but at least it's normal. Jill, by contrast, responds to Caleb's death another way altogether. It turns out that Sanderson—he of the missing persons case—is Caleb's killer, whose crime was caught after the fact on motion cameras set up by Shane Maguire (Wilson Bethel), Yosemite's Wildlife Management Officer and staff reprobate. Shane intended those cameras to document animal migration patterns; instead, they reflect Milch's words to Vasquez in the second episode, 'Jane Doe,' that when people trek into the wild, they assume no one's around to watch them, 'so they do whatever bad sh-t pops in their head.' Shane brings this information to Turner and Jill, and offers them revenge in the form of taking out Sanderson. Turner refuses; but Jill accepts. We spend most of the show assuming Turner's change in temperament, following Caleb's death, is the catalyst for his and Jill's divorce. It's a welcome change to the formula that Jill's decision to engage Shane's services is in fact what broke their marriage. If only the Smiths worked that twist into Untamed before the finale. Dropping that grenade on the audience with so little time left to feel the impact does Jill little justice, but DeWitt does, in fairness, invest great pathos in her. As much as it comes as a shock that someone so mild-mannered would turn that dark, the matter-of-factness in DeWitt's delivery reads as confrontational: given the opportunity, would you, fellow parents, make the same choice as her? …but Souter takes a fall There is, of course, another twist to accompany Jill's disclosure to her second husband, Scott (Josh Randall), as we are still awaiting resolution in the matter of Lucy Cook's death. After Turner cleverly unlocks Lucy's iPhone by applying formaldehyde to her corpse's cheeks to dupe its facial recognition biometrics, he discovers that Lucy's heretofore anonymous lover, Terces—'secret' spelled backwards—is actually Shane, and based on videos showcasing him abusing her, not to mention his pro-murder worldview, he looks like the culprit responsible for her ultimate plunge off of El Capitan. But looks are deceiving. Sure, they're not deceiving enough that we feel any kind of pity for Shane when Vasquez gets the drop on him and guns him down, saving Turner's life; unsurprisingly, Turner figures out Shane's involvement in a drug trafficking scheme in Yosemite, moving product in and out of the park through bygone mining tunnels; Shane takes the discovery badly, and nearly kills Turner in a drawn-out hunt over hill and dale. But if Shane is a monster who is guilty in the matter of how Lucy lived, as both her abusive partner and a participant in the drug ring, he is nonetheless innocent in the matter of her death. The real guilty party here is Paul Souter, who also happens to be her biological father, a truth only he and Lucy are privy to. In an abstract perspective, this makes thematic sense. Untamed is about parenthood on a molecular level: the lengths we'll go to protect our children, and the depths we plumb if we're so unfortunate as to mourn them. Vasquez' character arc involves Michael (JD Pardo), her ex-partner on the force and in life, and their son, Gael (Omi Fitzpatrick-Gonzales), whom she took with her to Yosemite for his safety; in flashbacks, we see Lucy with her mother, Maggie (Sarah Dawn Pledge), in happier times, learning about her Miwok ancestry; Paul looks after his granddaughter, Sadie (Julianna Alarcon), while his other, acknowledged daughter, who isn't seen in the show, struggles with personal demons of her own. None of this makes the screenwriting decision to put the burden of Lucy's death on Paul any more welcome or tasteful, though. It's another knife in Turner's back when he's just gotten off of bedrest, post-recovery after his grueling fight with Shane; when he connects a few stray dots that lead him to Nevada, where he meets Faith Gibbs (Hilary Jardine), whose parents fostered a slew of kids, including Lucy. Faith recalls Lucy talking about how her father, a policeman, would come for her one day, and arrest the Gibbs, who severely mistreated their various wards. The gears in Turner's head grind along as she dredges up this memory, and he confronts Paul first thing upon returning to Yosemite. All Paul can do is argue that he only meant the best by whisking her away to the Gibbses, far from her violent stepfather. It's a weak case for the character to make, given the abuse the Gibbses subjected Lucy to, and that when she comes back to the park as an adult to extort Paul, he reacts by accidentally chasing her to her death off of El Capitan–a revelation that feels quite like letting all the air out of a balloon. …and Turner moves on. Consequently, that makes a weaker conclusion for the narrative, one the series can only wrap up by having Paul use his pistol on himself and take a tumble into rushing river waters. Worse, that unceremonious and unearned end robs oxygen from Turner's own catharsis, a black flag at Untamed's last lap. Turner is the lead. His growth as a human being is what we're here for. Paul's increasingly bad decisions throw up a smoke screen around that growth, minutes before the story closes the arc of Turner's self-destructive bereavement. The pivot to Paul's complicity is especially frustrating given the wonderful foundation for Turner's ultimate closure laid out by his friend, former colleague, and Miwok community leader, Jay (Raoul Max Trujillo), in a monologue in the fifth episode, 'Terces,' about the connection he feels to his forebears through his connection to Yosemite's land. 'When it's my time to die, I will die here,' Jay says. 'But if I chose to die somewhere else, I would still have my ancestors with me, because the spirits in this valley are within each one of us.' Turner tearfully echoes the sentiment in 'All Trails Lead Here,' during a final farewell with Caleb's visage. 'No matter where I am, or where I go, you'll always be with me,' Turner chokes. When the credits roll, he's on his way out of Yosemite, the site of his anguish, for good, newly at peace and secure with the memories he has of his beloved son. Untamed incidentally reminds viewers just how vast our country is, at a moment when the world feels smaller than ever–an illusion we perform on ourselves with slavish devotion to our personal devices and social media. Paul's confession and suicide therefore strikes a sour chord on the series' driving motif. Emphasizing the bonds we hold with our loved ones, whether they're with us or not, makes a more fitting ending, for Jill, for Vasquez, and especially for Turner.
Express Tribune
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
CBS axes Colbert's 'Late Show'
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a staple of late-night US television, will end in 2026, the CBS network said, days after the comedian blasted parent company Paramount's USD16 million settlement with President Donald Trump as "a big fat bribe." CBS said in a statement the cancellation was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night," and was "not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount." "Next year will be our last season," the host announced on Thursday's episode, to boos and shouts of disbelief. "The network will be ending the show in May." Paramount reached the settlement with Trump this month in a lawsuit the entertainment giant had described as meritless. Trump had sued Paramount for USD20 billion last year, alleging that CBS News' 60 Minutes news program deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favour. Paramount is meanwhile seeking to close its USD8 billion merger with the entertainment company Skydance, which needs federal government approval. Colbert said on Thursday the cancellation was not just the end of his show but the end of the decades-old Late Show franchise, which has been broadcast continuously on CBS since 1993 and was previously hosted by David Letterman. "I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away," Colbert said. 'America deserves to know' Trump celebrated the cancellation, writing on his Truth Social platform, "I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings." Trump's political opponents and other critics drew attention to the timing of the decision. "CBS cancelled Colbert's show just three days after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its USD16M settlement with Trump - a deal that looks like bribery," Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said on social media platform X. "America deserves to know if his show was cancelled for political reasons," Warren said. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who was a guest on Colbert's show on Thursday, said: "If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better." The Writers Guild of America called on the New York attorney general to investigate whether the move by CBS was intended to improperly curry favor with Trump. "Given Paramount's recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that The Late Show's cancellation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favour with the Trump Administration as the company looks for merger approval," it said in a statement. Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC's The Tonight Show and one of Colbert's rivals, posted on Instagram that "I'm just as shocked as everyone." "I really thought I'd ride this out with him for years to come," wrote Fallon, whom Trump had earlier referred to as "the moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show." Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, whose program airs on ABC, chimed in: "Love you Stephen." CBS said in its Thursday statement it was "proud that Stephen called CBS home." "He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television," its statement said. Colbert, once a regular on Comedy Central, made use of humour in his incisive political commentary and succeeded Letterman as the host of The Late Show in 2015. The late-night television landscape has long been dominated by satirical comedy shows that blend entertainment with political commentary. For decades, these programs have served as television touchstones, with hosts like Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, Letterman and - more recently - Colbert, Fallon and Kimmel shaping public discourse through humour and celebrity interviews.
