When then-CBS president George Cheeks “eventually” called Stephen Colbert to discuss The Late Show‘s cancellation, Colbert made clear his wishes for the show’s final 10 months.
In a new Hollywood Reporter‘s new cover story, Colbert recounts how last July he got the cancellation news not from network brass, but his longtime manager, James “Babydoll” Dixon.
Cheeks “called me eventually,” Colbert says—amid the exec’s transition from CBS president/CEO to Chair of TV Media at the newly merged Paramount Skydance Corporation.
“It was later in the summer, and he called to express that he wished [it] had gone down a different way. I said, ‘Me too,'” Colbert recalls. “And then I said, ‘I’m not over here grinding a knife, but we are going to make jokes about how this went down and about [The Late Show allegedly losing] $40 million [per year] and about CBS’ apparent check-cutting spree to the president [to settle a lawsuit]. That’s the show I want to do for 10 more months because I like working for CBS and I’m not going to change that relationship between now and the end if you allow that to happen.'”
Cheeks’ response, per Colbert: “He said, ‘I promise you that’s what will happen.’ So that was it.”
Colbert has kept to his side of the bargain, and with the exception of a confrontation with the network over a planned interview with Texas senatorial candidate James Talarico, his on-air comments about CBS bosses have been cordial.
After all, “what’s the use of being mad?” he tells THR. “All I want to do is go have fun for an audience that appreciates it, and that’s what my goal has been for 10 months. When this is all over, I will probably have a different — or rather a fuller — perspective on all of this, but I don’t really have time to be mad about anything right now.”
As for how he first learned of the 33-year-old Late Show franchise’s fate, Colbert says his manager delivered the news in-person.
“He says, ‘This is going to be the last season.’ So, I sat up and said, ‘Really? Huh? Well, this comes as a surprise,'” Colbert says. “And he goes, ‘I can imagine so. They said it’s not making any money.’”
Colbert says he told Dixon that as “a company man,” he understood that at the end of the day, it’s all about profitability. Still, he recalls remarking to his manager, “’I don’t understand—it hasn’t been two years since I signed my last [three-year] contract, and they were feverish to lock me down. It was the best negotiation we’ve ever had….’ Baby said, ‘They say they could show me the numbers if we want,’ but I’m not going to ask them to open books. I’m not here to talk anybody into me.”
Weeks after The Late Show‘s cancellation was announced, Cheeks at a merger-related press conference said that given the “significant secular decline” of the advertising marketplace, CBS decided it “couldn’t stay in that [late-night] daypart”after Taylor Tomlinson opted not to re-up her contract for another season of After Midnight.
“We are huge fans of Colbert. We love the show,” Cheeks said. “Unfortunately the economics made it a challenge for us to keep going.”
CBS’ The Late Show, launched by David Letterman in August 1993, will air its final episode Thursday, May 21.
