Is there anywhere for CBS to go with late night now?
Yes, the network signaled last summer that it was stepping away completely from the time period with its cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. But as we edge closer to the show’s May finale, CBS has yet to announce its plans for the time slot after Colbert leaves.
We know what Stephen Colbert himself will be doing after his May 21 finale. Freed from the nightly grind, he is set to work on a script for director Peter Jackson, advancing the Lord of the Rings saga—long a personal passion—for the big screen.
That is unlikely to be his only move. It is difficult to imagine a performer of Colbert’s range and profile staying off stage for long.
But what he leaves behind is a far more immediate issue for CBS: five hours of weekly programming, and a still valuable piece of real estate in broadcast television.
The door has been open for producers and studios to pitch new ideas for the 11:35 p.m. hour. That may be putting CBS in a more fluid position than it originally appeared—even as it faces a looming deadline. Its presentation to advertisers of its programming plans for next season is set for April 15.
At the moment, three primary paths appear to be in play.
The first is the most dramatic: CBS could simply walk away from the hour altogether, returning it to its owned stations and affiliates. Most dramatic in this case translates to least likely—for the moment, anyway.
A second option would follow a model CBS is already using at 12:35 a.m. When After Midnight ended its run last June after host Taylor Tomlinson opted to return to stand-up full time, the network effectively sold that hour of time to independent producer and comic Byron Allen. His long-running syndicated series Comics Unleashed now fills the slot (his company sells the ads during that hour and keeps the proceeds).
Allen has publicly expressed high interest in expanding that arrangement, but he would not necessarily be alone. There could be other financial offers for the more valuable 11:35 hour if CBS put it up for auction.
Will that happen? In a late-night landscape where profit margins have eroded or disappeared completely, that kind of deal could be seductive—even if it means relinquishing control of a signature parcel of the network landscape.
Which leads to the third option: building something new.
Any new ideas being suggested are almost certainly not for traditional late-night shows, with glossy sets and staffs that can run into the hundreds. That model has become prohibitively expensive.
But late night has taken other forms before.
Bob Costas once hosted a no-frills interview program built around one-on-one conversations. That format reached iconic late-night status with Tom Snyder, whose audience-free talk shows—NBC’s Tomorrow Show and the first iteration of CBS’s The Late Late Show—relied almost entirely on the host’s ability to sustain compelling exchanges with mostly solo guests.
There are now hundreds of podcasts that follow the same model.
A lower-cost interview show—built around a strong personality, a small production team, and minimal overhead—would align with the economic realities CBS now faces.
If that is the direction the network chooses, time is short. Even modest productions take months to assemble, though CBS has moved quickly before—most recently with the launch of James Corden’s version of The Late Late Show.
A compelling stopgap from within the corporate family once suggested on this site—repurposing The Daily Show from Comedy Central—now appears unlikely. Rights issues, for one, would make that a complicated proposition.
One advantage CBS does have is the background of its CEO, George Cheeks, who earlier in his career oversaw late-night programming at NBC. He has seen the ground shift under the format before.
Just not quite like this.
For the moment, the network is standing at the edge of the diving board, still trying to decide where it wants to land.
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Back before CBS had a successful late-night franchise, I always wondered why they, or some other network, didn’t try plugging in reruns of daytime dramas. I’ve never been a fan of them, but I think that a late-night repeat of the same episode aired earlier in the day might actually draw a new audience. Heck, they could even plug a repeat of TPIR into that slot.
Or an episode of “Let’s Make a Deal”. I can definitely see a game show taking over at least temporarily given that “Celebrity Family Feud” was chosen by ABC to take over Jimmy Kimmel’s time slot during his suspension. Perhaps Byron’s game show ”Funny You Should Ask” would be moved from the 1:35 AM slot.
it will be Gutfeldian or Corolla-like…comedy giants
Since Joe Rogan is being wooed by CBS News, maybe they’ll just place an hour long version of his podcast on the network.
…god help us
The ratings drop like a lead balloon, and so too will the shows of those hacks, should CBS be dumb enough to have them replace Colbert!
Talk about falling off of a steep cliff!
Such a “comedy giant” you don’t even know how to spell *carolla’s* name! And the generally accepted definition of comedian is a person that is funny. That would eliminate both of those schubs.
Why is there not a Kimmel/Disneyesque groundswell to urge Paramount to uncancel him? I for one will do my damndest never to put another penny in Paramount’s coffers.
I think it’s because Colbert himself didn’t ask his viewers to do that when he made the announcement, and he seems to be ready to move on. He’d probably say thanks but no thanks if viewers tried to intercede for him now.
Nobody watches or owns tv under 70. This problem is solving itself every day when you boomers climb the stairway to heaven.
This sad, oathetic loser wants boomers to die, because they upset his late night viewing habits! Isn’t that thing the biggest of losers?
could they give Bari the slot?
As CBS gets dumber and dumber, that’s a great idea. Just finish it off already and long live Stephen Colbert’s brilliant career
CBS made a big mistake caving in to the orange haired freaks wishes, letting Stephen Colbert go, it’s bad enough the so called dictator is a pedophile protector, but now we know, CBS is a pedophile protector of a pedophile protector,
Who cares?
Just as long it’s no longer a full-hour of propaganda for the Democrat party, it’s a win-win.
Except that the ratings prove that Gutfield already gets higher ratings on his current show than Colbert.
Yes, you seem to be getting more moronic by the day.
CBS should get rid of CBS News like they got rid of Colbert. Good idea.
Doesn’t change the fact that Gutfeld gets the highest ratings of any late night host.
Colbert and Gutfeld do not compete against each other in the TV listings time-wise, and in linear television that makes all the difference in the world.
Stephen is on at 11:35pm (or 10:35pm) across all time zones, time delayed to accommodate for network prime time schedules and local news broadcasts.
Greg is on simultaneously across the nation, which means at 10pm in NYC, 9pm in Chicago, 8pm in Denver, and 7pm in Los Angeles. Basically, Gutfeld hosts a prime time show (that’s categorized as a “late-night-style” show, like John Mulaney’s live Netflix show) being broadcast at a time when the Fox News viewing audience is awake to actually watch it as it airs.
Time slots may seem insignificant to people watching shows on streaming, but Fox News is taking all the advantage that their older, more traditional TV-viewing demographic is not only still watching cable television, but watching it without time delay methods like DVRs, YouTubeTV, or VCRs, something that the younger, more streaming-focused audience of network late night shows are more reticent to do. Also, Gutfeld’s show is on right after Sean Hannity’s show, which is a huge prime-time lead-in for its audience. Because of this, Fox News can tout (inaccurately) that it is the “highest rated late night talk show” despite the fact that it’s not on during late night broadcasting hours. It’s almost like saying Oprah’s talk show was the higher-rated “late night show” compared to Pat Sajak’s talk show— there are a lot of details that have been ignored.
If Gutfeld’s show really wanted to compete against the network late night talk shows on equal footing, it would be on at the same time as the actual late night network shows, long after the average Fox News viewer has gone to bed. If not, they’re really dealing with two different audiences, and simple viewership numbers comparisons cannot be determined.
I know that Mark will just call me a coping whiny liberal or whatever, but that is a main reason for Gutfeld’s higher numbers that Fox News and their supporters glaze over to make their talking points.
Gutfeld airs a full 95 minutes earlier than Colbert in the Eastern and Central time zones, and even earlier in the evening in the western time zones (7:00pm on the west coast, 4:00pm in Hawaii). Comparing his ratings to Colbert’s is like comparing Colbert’s to Grey’s Anatomy or Chicago PD. It’s a classic case of apples and oranges.
And the collective IQs of that audience wouldn’t crack the freezing mark, Mucky Boy!
You’d want that humor deficient knob Gutfool to be taking Colbert’s spot! Only one problem! Nobody will watch Republican licking knobs, like Gutfool, spin their version of events, because they’re all lying little shits without an ounce of talent or humor in them!
Give Conan the slot
Conan wouldn’t want it. As he mentioned in Bill Carter’s podcast interview here on LateNighter, he doesn’t miss hosting a daily late night show at all. If Conan doesn’t miss it, then he shouldn’t do it just to fulfill our nostalgia. When Seth Meyers is asked if he misses being on SNL, he says that he misses “being that age”. I think that’s true for a lot of us. The Peak Era of Conan on late night TV was, for a lot of us long-time fans, a simpler time… especially compared to today.
Conan enjoys hosting his podcast, travelogue show, and the Oscars. I’m glad that he (like Letterman before him) have become this sort of talk show host emeritus— always on his game, trying out new things, and leaving the audience wanting more. I’m glad that Conan continues to want to do funny, silly, clever, and stupid things, that he now has many avenues to show those things to his fans, and that his previous work can be seen by newer generations.
Would he even want it? He’s doing well and says he is so happy with his life.
Non-starter idea: they could do an ABC-style Nightline clone… Except they’d have to use CBS News staff. Hey kids, can you say “Self-Sabotage?”
Bring back Craig Ferguson. He was hilarious.
He put the talk in talk shows!😁👍
I love Craig, but it wouldn’t be the same. He, like Conan, doesn’t miss hosting a late night show. And while I’m sure he can still hold his own comedically, intellectually, and improvisationally, it won’t be like it was when he hosted it in his heyday. If CBS were to give someone a show (they won’t, but hypothetically) it would need to be someone who isn’t jaded by the daily grind of the late night talk show. I wouldn’t mind seeing Josh Johnson get a crack at it after his stellar work on “The Daily Show”, and he could definitely make the monologue his own.
From the days of Steve Allen until now, no one I can think of has been treated as harshly as Colbert.
Because of this, anyone who takes that timeslot will be treated just as harshly by Colbert’s fans.
Add to that the loathing of present-day CBS by the general public,
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/insight/cbs-ratings-collapse-under-bari-weiss/gm-GMDA6E70E3?gemSnapshotKey=GMDA6E70E3-snapshot-3&ocid=msedgdhp,
Any new programming will need to dig its way out of a very deep hole.
It doesn’t matter what they do. CBS is dead to me.
Wait a sec…the guy who gutted CBS late night is now somehow an advantage? LOL