Advertisement

Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
Friday, July 18, 2025

In a shocking move, CBS is ending "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" next year, potentially exiting the late-night television business altogether.

More

Alternate links: Google News | Twitter

The move to cancel one of television's last remaining crown jewels of broadcast programming came just days after Colbert publicly criticized CBS's corporate owner, Paramount, for agreeing to pay President Donald Trump $16 million to settle an outrageous $20 billion lawsuit against the company.

[image or embed]

-- Mother Jones (@motherjones.com) Jul 18, 2025 at 5:21 PM

Comments

Admin's note: Participants in this discussion must follow the site's moderation policy. Profanity will be filtered. Abusive conduct is not allowed.

You're a fat stupid ----.

#1 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-07-17 09:03 PM | Reply

Boycott CBS, naturally.

What thin-skinned myopic shitstains.

#2 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2025-07-18 09:27 PM | Reply

... The move to cancel one of television's last remaining crown jewels of broadcast programming came just days after Colbert publicly criticized CBS's corporate owner, Paramount, for agreeing to pay President Donald Trump $16 million to settle an outrageous $20 billion lawsuit against the company. ...

How dare Mr Colbert criticize CBS/Paramount!


Dissent will not be tolerated.
-- MAGA


#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-18 09:46 PM | Reply

From another thread in this topic ( drudge.com ) ...

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
en.wikipedia.org

... The Late Show has remained the highest-rated American late-night talk show for nine consecutive seasons as of 2025, marking the longest winning streak in franchise history over its competitors; since 2019, it exceeded The Tonight Show in key demographic viewership. ...

The show was a recipient for the Peabody Award and earned Primetime Emmy Award nominations including six times for Outstanding Variety Talk Series, as of the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards.[121][122][123] ...


#4 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-18 09:51 PM | Reply

Paramount (PARA) Suitor Skydance Meets With FCC, Seeking OK for Deal

www.bloomberg.com

... Skydance Media Chief Executive Officer David Ellison met with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr on Tuesday appealing to the regulatory chief to approve his film studio's pending merger with Paramount Global.

The transaction has "significant public interest benefits," according to a letter to the FCC signed by Skydance attorney Matthew Brill recapping the meeting. Ellison, the son of Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison, his family and RedBird Capital Partners, "represent fresh leadership with the vision and experience" needed to drive the new company's long-term growth "in a changing media landscape," accordin ...


#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-18 10:07 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

@#5 ... The transaction has "significant public interest benefits," according to a letter to the FCC signed by Skydance attorney Matthew Brill recapping the meeting ...

Could that ~significant public interest benefit~ presented by the attorney be the cancellation of a highly-rated TV show that may not have been one of Pres Trump's most ardent admirers?

#6 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-18 10:09 PM | Reply

Colbert is 61 and rich, so he can likely just retire. I suspect he won't. He could go back to The Daily Show, but they probably would not hire him.

#7 | Posted by REDIAL at 2025-07-18 10:15 PM | Reply

Colbert can obviously just take his show to whichever streaming service offers him the best deal.

#8 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-07-18 10:23 PM | Reply

@#7

Yeah, I agree. We may not have seen the last of Mr Colbert.

The Daily Show? I doubt it. Comedy Central is owned by Paramount. Need I say more?

Likely, podcasts.

imo, of course.

#9 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-18 10:24 PM | Reply

@#8

I did not see your comment before I posted.

But yeah.

I agree.

Of course, all this seems to beg the question ...

If CBS seems to be abandoning the late-night format of so many decades, what will they put in its place?

Another lame show like "After Midnight?"

How might CBS attract the same level of audience participation and engagement?



#10 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-18 10:31 PM | Reply

Comedy Central is owned by Paramount.

That was my thinking. Jon Stewart's contract ends in December so that will probably be financially unviable as well.

#11 | Posted by REDIAL at 2025-07-18 10:34 PM | Reply

A test pattern or snow would be preferable as a replacement.

#12 | Posted by visitor_ at 2025-07-18 11:18 PM | Reply

@#12 ... A test pattern or snow would be preferable as a replacement. ...

Perhaps for your current alias' point of view, that may be correct.

But, thank-you for revealing the source of your current alias' information.

Much appreciated.


#13 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-18 11:30 PM | Reply

A test pattern or snow would be preferable as a replacement.
#12 | Posted by visitor_ at 2025-07-18 11:18 PM

Beatmasters - Burn It Up (Yellow Sunset Mix)

#14 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2025-07-19 12:41 AM | Reply

Ratings for all network late night shows have been falling for some time now. Colbert probably would do better as a podcast, as Lamplighter suggested. So the timing of the cancellation IS suspect, but it may have happened eventually anyway.
---------
fortune.com
October 25, 2024 at 7:31 AM EDT
But the format is stagnating: the most popular among them, Colbert's "Late Show" on CBS, has seen its audience slashed by 32 percent over the last five years.

And ad revenue is vanishing. In the first eight months of 2024, it fell 10 percent, according to media analytics firm Guideline, after an even bigger drop last year..."Profits the shows provide have shrunk toward non-existent."

Those were once both hallmarks of late night, but now, "even the guest segments are very carefully prepared" on network shows, according to Semel.

A podcast without time constraints that can evolve in real time "brings more enjoyment for the guests and for the hosts, and probably by translation, for the listeners and viewers as well," Semel said.

"We all like it when we see people who are talking genuinely having fun, not manufactured fun."
-------------
www.msn.com

The Writers Guild of America also raised questions, saying the cancellation appeared to be a case of "sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration."

One factor contradicting the theory is that Colbert, who has another year on his contract, will remain on the air through May. His commentaries have never been restrained by network executives over his 10-year run and that situation is not expected to change in his final season.

The poor optics may be a matter of contractual timing.

Paramount Global had to complete the deals with writer-producer teams in July for the upcoming "Late Show" season, according to a person familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to comment.

Those deals typically run for a full year, but with the company's intention to cancel the program " decided several months ago " the contracts being offered only ran through May, which tipped off the network's plans.

"Late Show" is said to be losing somewhere in the tens of millions of dollars a year as younger viewers have fled. Since 2022, the program has lost 20% of its audience in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49 age group, according to Nielsen data.

#15 | Posted by Idependant97 at 2025-07-19 01:27 AM | Reply


@#15 .. Late Show" is said to be losing somewhere in the tens of millions of dollars a year as younger viewers have fled. Since 2022, the program has lost 20% of its audience in the advertiser-coveted 18-to-49 age group, according to Nielsen data. ...

Got a link?

thx.

But, my current view still remains along these lines ...

Critic's Notebook: The Awful Optics of CBS Canceling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert'
www.hollywoodreporter.com

... In a shocking move that reflected just about every deeply felt insecurity in the TV industry, the entertainment industry and perhaps American media at large, CBS announced on Thursday, July 17, that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will wrap its run in May 2026, following the 2025-26 broadcast season.

Eager to emphasize that this wasn't a Colbert-specific thing, CBS, in its statement, said that the entire Late Show franchise is coming to an end. This isn't quite the same, in historical terms, as the legacy shift that would occur if NBC announced the end of The Tonight Show -- The Late Show was David Letterman and then it was Stephen Colbert, not an endless and storied parade of hosts--" but it's a degree of finality that few could have expected. ...


#16 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-19 01:44 AM | Reply

@#16 the two links are in my #15 post. :-)

#17 | Posted by Idependant97 at 2025-07-19 01:49 AM | Reply

One of my main reasons to think this might actually be a Colbert-specific thing is...

No one, no rumors or anything else, saw this coming.

Were the ratings for the show too low? No, the ratings were the best for it's time slot.

Might have CBS had a beef with the host of the show? Well, yeah. And, imo, that seems to be the cause behind this move.

So I will ask once again, what is CBS planning to put into that time slot that may draw higher viewer ratings?

An "After Midnight" clone?

I mean, really.

#18 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-19 01:50 AM | Reply

The first link...the Forbes one....was from last year. The second one, the MSN one, was just recently. Basically between the two links there's two sides...one is it is VERY suspect on the timing of the cancellation announcement, the other side is it was going to happen anyway, but the timing is very bad.

#19 | Posted by Idependant97 at 2025-07-19 01:51 AM | Reply

@18 Yeah I hear ya. Yes they are number one, but ALL late night network shows have been dropping in ratings. According to the articles, Jimmy Fallon cut his new shows from 5 days a week to four back last year, which follows CBS and ABC doing the same thing. So basically, yes...#1 for sure....but perhaps #1 in a field that is shrinking in ratings across the board? And has been shrinking for some time.

I don't think there are ANY network tv shows in ANY time slot that get anything more that a fraction of the ratings they once did. For example, in the 1980's network primetime hit shows garnered 30-40 million viewers. Today a hit show gets about 1-5 million. Huge drop www.sparetimetv.com

#20 | Posted by Idependant97 at 2025-07-19 02:00 AM | Reply

I think we do need some more information on this.

From:

time.com

One thing is for sure: the disappearance of the Late Show under the Trump Administration could not be simply swept under the rug. Bill Carter, who wrote several books on late-night television, posted on X: "The financial side of that business has definitely been under pressure, as CBS release asserts, but if CBS believes it can escape without some serious questions about capitulating to Trump, they are seriously deluded."

#21 | Posted by Idependant97 at 2025-07-19 02:14 AM | Reply

@#19 ... Basically between the two links there's two sides...one is it is VERY suspect on the timing of the cancellation announcement, the other side is it was going to happen anyway, but the timing is very bad. ...

Given the apparent CBS bribe to the Trump administration to resolve the lawsuit so that the merger could progress, I remain suspicious.

So, until I see some hard data to the contrary, I will stay with my current opinion that CBS kissed Pres Trump's most ample derriere to get approval for the merger.

And Mr Colbert was the sacrifice on the altar of Trump.

#22 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-07-19 03:06 AM | Reply

Colbert gutted and wore the corpse of Late Show until the smell forced its burial.

#23 | Posted by visitor_ at 2025-07-19 04:06 AM | Reply

Colbert gutted and wore the corpse of Late Show until the smell forced its burial.

#23 | POSTED BY VISITOR_ AT 2025-07-19 04:06 AM | FLAG:

I guess the problem is that Colbert just wasn't "conservative" enough, huh? Those darn comedians, never "conservative" enough for ol' Vizzy.

Maybe Trump should choose the replacement, like he's trying to do at the Kennedy Center. He could bring in a "conservative" like Gutfeld. You probably think Gutfeld's funny.

#24 | Posted by cbob at 2025-07-19 07:38 AM | Reply

If anyone wonders how democracies fade away, it's when one side of the political spectrum gets riled up by honest satire and discovers ways to persecute the satirists. Mugabe, Orban, Putin are relatively recent examples of autocrats who have quashed their opposing satirists.

And Fox fans, don't think Fox's style is satire. An analysis of Fox's "Five" shows it has non of the class or nuance or principle that Colbert has. It masquerades as a newsy talk show but is basically just a parade of bullies who resort to a chain gang of boorish insulters of anyone and everyone they want to demonize. And Greg Guttfeld's blanket accusation that every target of his "a Communist" orb"a terrorist" isn't funny or satirical. It's slanderous. And like how the honest world responded to Joseph McCarthy who made wild snd inflammatory accusations like that, there's no satire or truth in such accusations. Just mean spirited evil. (Like Himmler or Mussolini eere when they made such accusations.)

#25 | Posted by Augustine at 2025-07-19 07:59 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Who's the top right-wing comic? Tony Hinchcliffe? Gotta say, that's just sad.

#26 | Posted by YAV at 2025-07-19 08:02 AM | Reply

#25 - that's a solid summation. That's Hinchcliffe's "comedy" in a nutshell.

#27 | Posted by YAV at 2025-07-19 08:06 AM | Reply

His appeal has always been selective.

#28 | Posted by visitor_ at 2025-07-19 10:14 AM | Reply

Buttfield

#29 | Posted by hamburglar at 2025-07-19 10:34 AM | Reply

Good comedy punches up. Conservative comedy is "Eww, poor people! Women, amirite? Foreigners, argh!"

#30 | Posted by hamburglar at 2025-07-19 10:36 AM | Reply

The following HTML tags are allowed in comments: a href, b, i, p, br, ul, ol, li and blockquote. Others will be stripped out. Participants in this discussion must follow the site's moderation policy. Profanity will be filtered. Abusive conduct is not allowed.

Anyone can join this site and make comments. To post this comment, you must sign it with your Drudge Retort username. If you can't remember your username or password, use the lost password form to request it.
Username:
Password:

Home | Breaking News | Comments | User Blogs | Stats | Back Page | RSS Feed | RSS Spec | DMCA Compliance | Privacy

Drudge Retort