Late night TV will soon be down to The Tonight Show for late TV…
CBS will cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in 2026, the network announced Thursday, insisting it’s a “financial decision” and has nothing to do with a looming ownership change.
“‘THE LATE SHOW with STEPHEN COLBERT’ will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season,” CBS said in a statement. “We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘THE LATE SHOW’ franchise at that time. We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.”
CBS said it was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” adding, “It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
Full article, HERE from Fox News.
Snort…if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge…
The Tonight show is 71 years old, having premiered in 1954 with Steve Allen. Jack Parr, then Johnny Carson, followed by Jay Leno for 60 years of ‘quality’ late night humor.
The Late show was a sop to Letterman when he didn’t get the Tonight Show when Carson retired in 1992, and his ‘move’ from NBC to CBS. Letterman did a poor copy of the Tonight Show (IMHO), and got stranger and stranger as the years went by.
When Colbert took over, it took an even bigger swing to the left, and became virulently anti-Trump in 2015.
Personally, I think Paramount is throwing the rats off the ship before CBS gets sold/merged/or???
But since I don’t watch any of the late night stuff, I don’t care anymore…
YMMV, IANAL, and I didn’t stay in a Holiday Inn, so there…