Stephen Colbert went out of his way to be mostly gracious to his CBS bosses in the months and weeks leading up to The Late Show’s finale in May.
Sure, he repeatedly joked on-air about the network canceling his show “for financial reasons,” and pushed back forcefully when CBS disputed his account of who made the call to move his interview with James Talarico to YouTube. The underlying message was clear enough: Colbert had reason to feel aggrieved.
But both on and off the air, he also made clear he saw little point in turning his final months into an acrimonious public feud with the network.
Even after taping his final episode, when Colbert took the mic off-air to address his staff and the celebrity guests still gathered onstage after “Hello, Goodbye,” he thanked CBS—then joked that only about 50% of what he’d said about the network on-air was true.
Since then, there have been cracks.
The latest surfaced last weekend, when—as LateNighter first reported—the show’s now-former writers room made a last-minute Emmy appeal with a homemade “DIY FYC ad” for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. The video itself was playful, styled like the opening credits to an ’80s sitcom. But the context around it was not: the writers framed the spot as something they made because CBS was not running an Emmy campaign “for us.”
A source close to the network has since rejected the writers’ claim, noting that CBS had run an FYC campaign for The Late Show, asking voters to consider the show “in all categories.”
It’s a small dispute, but a revealing one: even after the finale, both sides are still policing the story of what CBS did—or didn’t do—for The Late Show on its way out.
Both things can be true. CBS can have mounted a formal campaign for The Late Show. And the writers’ public message can still point to a more specific concern: whether a broad campaign for the show is the same thing as a dedicated push for its writers.
Complicating the optics further: Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen, which has replaced Colbert in CBS’ 11:35 p.m. time slot, was also among the 18 shows competing in first-round voting for Outstanding Variety Series.
That has been the uneasy dynamic around The Late Show since CBS announced its end. Everyone involved has reason to celebrate the show. Everyone involved also has reason to define the show’s legacy on their own terms.
The finale gave The Late Show an ending. What it did not give anyone was the last word.
I will always assume that anything the Trumpster Ellison’s, or any of their “hired mouthpieces” say is a lie. Trumpsters lie all the time, so best to just assume that’s the case.
Okay KAREN.
You lick Drumpf’s unwiped ass, like the good MAGAt that you are!
The show may be over, but the drama and controversy lingers as long as CBS is owned under rich, fascist kissing sycophants.
No way in hell did i get the impression they made the Late Show’s FYC campaign and specifically highlight the writers.
And to be fair, Colbert got the last word for his finale, which is wut i cannot say for the rest of his staff, mainly the writers. I hope their DIY campaign succeeds and they end up winning their category~
The show was canceled. CBS owes them NOTHING. Nexxxt.
you really have an issue with people who loved Colbert and can recognize what cbs did wrong. maybe stop obsessing and trying to convince people with petty and ridiculous insults, which by the way never convince anyone that what you say is worth listening to.
Nora is focking right.
You can’t read the damn room, dude? You tell the same network who has been running an EMMY FYC CAMPAIGN and still trying to win, AND still getting the deserved pushback for cutting 100s of jobs working for Colbert. This is just a small group of staff members trying to get their flowers.
Now I REALLY hope the writers win their Emmy and get the last laugh, rubbing it against downplayers/toxic ‘late night fans’ like you~
Which “Jons” did you suck off in the bathroom to earn that nickname? You didn’t need to put 3 X’s in your spelling of next for us to know you’ve done a lot of gay porn.
But not enough watched him, including this website. Nobody here watches this garbage. They just use it as an another outlet to attack Trump. Yet not a single one of them will admit it.
….even if this website reports ratings, it doesn’t matter how many people watched it as much as it impacts the wider culture.
I watched Colbert’s final season til the very end, and I will continue to watch other late night shows, you killjoy contrarian. They still serve a purpose of providing relief from the hell that is the President and his cronies, but at the same time i don’t mind other topics and sketches if it serves a purpose depending on current events.
You only wish late night fans were shallow and narrow-minded, when in reality, this ‘garbage’ you think that is late night is still rich and necessary for navigating this rough period. If your life mission is to steal and downplay the late night genre, I hope that you knowing that I will continue watching late night will traumatize and haunt you to the point I will repeat and hammer this statement, over and over, the next time you try trolling w/ contrarian comments on this site. MARK MY WORDS~
You admit you didn’t watch Colbert until it was announced he was finished and only as another attack vector against Trump. That’s why the formula failed on top of an obsolete format. None of you watched him when it counted.
You can waste your time however you want. It means nothing to me. I am not a contrarian, as I am in the super duper majority of never-watchers. Even if I were a minority, wouldn’t you worship the ground I walk on and decriminalize every hate crime I commit against the master race? Wouldn’t you shower me with DEI and parasitical welfare, while never letting me live in your gated neighborhood or date your daughter? Lol
‘Killjoy’ hahaha
Let me remind you of how unfunny and mean-spirited you miserable people have been since at least 2014. You canceled so many white people who made a joke in a tweet on an airplane or accused white men of rape for not calling you back to not letting people bury their parents with your fake pandemic.
So yes, I do in fact truly enjoy trolling you people and I will do it until the end of time in any platform. It makes me happy. That’s why I voted for Trump a third time even though I am tired of him and the fake election was rigged for him this time and the hook-nosed media is now fully on his side because of Greater Israel.
But all of this is far above your pay grade. You just want the 2010s back where some ugly lesbian like Rachel Maddow can make a Republican joke in one breath and express her right to lick pussy in the next. That’s what matters to you people. It’s all you care about and why I don’t take you or this reply-guy stalker Boomer seriously. You’re unserious people who never have serious thoughts. You’re just low-IQ ping pong politickers. Stupid fake elections make you happy rather than forming an actual community and country where it’s safe to walk around and let your kids play in the woods. You people want to make every Aryan country into Latin America where a tiny elite has to hide behind razor wire and shards of glass on top of giant walls and controls 90% of the land.
You’re just a miserable, fucked up excuse of a being that blames others for your problems with your life, and are lashing out at everyone! No wonder you’re a loser with no friends!
Grow tf up, before the adults deal with you, child!
Because you, Mucky Boy, and the jons are all Drumpf licking losers with no sense of humor, and a combined IQ below room temperature! You’re all nothing but pathetic losers here, child!
All of you. Get a life!
You jump to conclusions, you killjoy contrarian
I should follow up saying I’ve watched Colbert even b4 his cancellation, HELL waaaay b4 he took over the Late Show; does that mean I watch him religiously every time he releases a new episode? No, but you don’t have the authority to dictate a fandom or community of tv niche genres whether or not they watch every single episode if you never watched it~
You don’t get to claim you’re right to make yourself feel better because you don’t know every person’s tv consumption, not to mention you are just an un-serious commenter trying to ruin the enjoyment~
As for that unnecessary tangent of ‘offenses’ you claim the people who oppose you committed, get some fockin therapy instead of spewing your grievances nobody asked for
AAAAAAND…. I hope that you knowing that I will continue watching late night will traumatize and haunt you to the point I will repeat and hammer this statement, over and over
I know you won’t watch that garbage no matter what you say. You all said you would watch nascar after that fake noise story surrounding that mentally ill mulatto. Light-skinned democrats say one thing but do another.
You pay extra money to live near people who look and think like me rather than your fellow constituents of the dark variety because you know I won’t grape and kill you or steal your silverware.
The fact that you’re so feisty is more proof you don’t watch this garbage.
Also, this creepy boomer thinks you’re gonna throw him some pussy because he’s reply-guying me and coming to your rescue. Are you gonna let him down easy?
You using NASCAR to make your fucking case is evidence of your patheticness! And all you have is “I’m right, cuz I said so, boomer!” as filler!
The only thing you’ve shown is that you’re an attention seeking loser that does nothing but troll on mommy’s computer all, day, instead of doing something productive with your life!
Go get a fucking job already, Zero!
Despite your unnecessary off-topic grievances and tangents (again), you just keep proving that you truly deserve the title of “Late Night Killjoy” the more you keep replying back~
No matter how many more times you respond, I hope that you knowing that I will continue watching late night will traumatize and haunt you to the point I will repeat and hammer this statement, over and over and over~
Also, you calling me a killjoy doesn’t make it true. It’s you neoliberals who proved you wear that crown the last decade of jelly awful life is because of Trump, when it really wasn’t. It was just the Khazar media. Notice how it’s not as bad now? That’s not an accident. It’s because the hook-noses are now pro-Trump. But that never occurred to you. You’re an unserious person, conwoman.
You can’t pretend to be fun or funny people when you aren’t listening to jokes. You’re just commiserating about politics. Comedy shows became MSNBC. That is a major reason why it failed.
Says the unserious Nazi millennial, Zero, who’s in bad need of having his bare ass violently turned into ground beef with a rattan cane, Singapore style, for calling Connie ‘sugartits’! Only micropenis losers, like Zero, would call women that!
The war that is not a war was over on 38 separate occasions.
The lining’s so tough, you can’t cut it with a knife. Vandals cut a 280-foot, 300-foot, 350-foot slit with a knife.
The ballroom will be paid by private donors.
The wall will be paid by Mexico.
COVID will be gone by April.