CBS Canceling 'Late Show with Stephen Colbert' After Next Season

[abtinf]

> "[it's] purely a financial decision"

> "It is not related in any way to the show’s performance"

Naively, these seem like contradictory statements.

[FirmwareBurner]

>Naively, these seem like contradictory statements.

It isn't contradictory. They don't want to publicly admit "hey nobody watched our unfunny show" because then it might impact their shares/valuation. Most likely that show was a loss leader.

[readthenotes1]

Among other things, Colbert said:

“Now, I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles: It’s big fat bribe, because this all comes as Paramount owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance.”

maybe they are worried that Colbert will say things that are actionable and could lead to more lawsuits?

[x3n0ph3n3]

It could be that Colbert's pay has outpaced advertising revenue.

[pm90]

Extremely disturbing to see the US Press go the same way as the Indian Press did under Modi.

[dehrmann]

I'd worry more about defunding public broadcasting or the Washington Post editorial stance. There's a good faith argument here that the cause was market conditions:

> The genre has been struggling as the majority of the country migrates in droves to streaming entertainment and away from traditional broadcast and cable television...

> The number of late-night shows has dwindled in recent years...

> The genre has also experienced a sharp decline in advertising revenue in recent years...

[Sai_]

At some level, it is worse. The Indian press never sold us citizens koolaid about freedom, talking truth to power, and patted themselves on the back about winning Pulitzer Prizes for journalism.

The Indian press knows it is a bottom feeder and doesn’t try not to be which gives space for critical thought to emerge (even if it masked as extreme cynicism - “everyone is corrupt”) which results in extreme skepticism of everyone.

[ProAm]

America is over as we have known if for the last 95 years

[nwah1]

The Late Show has an elderly and shrinking audience. And, Colbert hasn't been funny in years, nor has he been challenging the powers that be.

When he did the White House Correspondents' Dinner and roasted George W Bush, that was extremely edgy. The Colbert Report was also wickedly funny.

But the Late Show makes John Oliver look like Lenny Bruce.

[Flatcircle]

The show cost 100 million a year to make a loses 40 million a year. It's not just politics

https://x.com/MattBelloni/status/1946236833668731390

[metabagel]

Does this disregard the halo effect on the brand as well as the value to Paramount Plus streaming?

[leereeves]

How much of that $100 million goes to Colbert himself?

[whoknowsidont]

Why are these very interesting and topical threads being flagged? I'd love for someone pressing that button to explain the rationale.

[bananapub]

basically every article that is anti-the-US-regime gets flagged.

[burnt-resistor]

According to Keith Olbermann, a far-ish left progressive, on his podcast The Late Show's cancellation it really was primarily due to financial difficulties of it being too expensive in a declining industry of traditional media where there are barely any OTA TV or cable viewers. Their overhead is too much and their internet audiences don't make them enough money. This is a classic horse and buggy company failing to adapt to an automobile world.

He also made it known he doesn't care personally for Colbert who rapidly took a proverbial wrecking ball to David Letterman's set to effectively damnatio memoriae his predecessor and obliterate all potential memorabilia.

[euroderf]

> rapidly took a proverbial wrecking ball to David Letterman's set

What's this about ? Letterman had the skyline behind his desk; was anything else memorable ?

[RickJWagner]

I’m not surprised that a late night host was let go, I’m surprised it was Colbert.

Jimmy Kimmel has a well documented history of racist and sexist skits. Every time a new video of his past emerges, it’s got to be an embarrassment for his network.

Poor luck for Colbert.

[metabagel]

Kimmel was awfully sexist with Adam Corolla.

[DrNosferatu]

Really confused about this:

Why the flagging?

[Flatcircle]

Shouldn’t be surprising, every late night show is going to end soon. They’re all too expensive

[dawnerd]

It’s currently the number one late night show. It’s not about money. It’s because the president pressured them after Colbert called the network out Tuesday for taking a bribe.

[paleotrope]

How can they be so expensive? Unless you mean in relation to ad revenue.

It's one host, maybe a band, they don't pay the guests cause their there to pitch their show/music/book/film. Maybe all the extra staff they need to write jokes and whatnot. Maybe all the drug advertisements really don't pay all that much anymore.

[nemomarx]

How expensive can they be? One set, minimal editing?

[metabagel]

It's surprising that the most successful late night show is going away first, and the optics of it happening while Paramount is trying to curry favor with the Trump administration couldn't be worse.

[iancmceachern]

Why was this post flagged?

[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

Some kind community members wanted to make it stand out to others who peruse /active.

[ivape]

Their beefing over South Park as well:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sou...

At the heart of the dispute: a new 10-year, $3 billion overall deal for Parker and Stone that would more than triple the valuation of the current deal that expires in 2027

Yeah. So that's not going to happen lol.

[paleotrope]

"One possible factor in the negotiations: an $800 million loan that Park County took in 2023 from private equity firm the Carlyle Group. Parker and Stone could be squeezed for cash to repay roughly $80 million in interest per year, according to one person knowledgeable of the arrangement, who noted that Paramount may be open to paying more than $150 million annually in a new deal but not for 10 years."

That's quite the loan.

[xnx]

I'm in Central time and love Colbert, but I'd never watch it if I lived in Eastern and had to wait until 11:35 PM.

[tim333]

I'm in London and watch sometimes on youtube. It's been years since I watched a program on TV at the official time you are supposed to watch it.

[kjsingh]

It's a long beef and Colbert was one of the talk show hosts Trump hated peculiarly :)

https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/17/14944994/stephen-colbe...

[bitlax]

Reality, unbiased, asserts itself.

[electroglyph]

didn't he talk shit about the Paramount deal just a couple days ago?

[nteleky]

Honest, informed satire that's often more helpful in learning about real issues than "the news"; no surprise it's being cancelled. This and John Oliver are probably the last real holdouts in honest media in the current era, from what I've seen.

[bad_username]

From my observations, Colbert's satire strictly represents one segment of the political spectrum. So it's either not informed, or not honest.

[iwontberude]

I hope now that he’s done selling out, he can return to the Colbert Report

[Dwedit]

Same company owns both CBS and Comedy Central.

[plemer]

In what way do you think Colbert sold out?