- RadioActive
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Re: End Of An Era: Late Show With Stephen Colbert To End In 2026 On CBS
But to be fair, an audience that comes to see Colbert, regardless of politics, is not going to cheer when he tells them he's been cancelled. Obviously, they're fans. What other reaction would you expect?
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Re: End Of An Era: Late Show With Stephen Colbert To End In 2026 On CBS
The CBC points out Colbert's strong affinity over the years to Canada and why audiences north of the border will miss him.
With Colbert exit, Canada will lose the talk show host most attuned to our whims and politics
This is a bit from 8 years ago and it's amazing how resonant it still seems.
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Thread Starter- paterson1
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Re: End Of An Era: Late Show With Stephen Colbert To End In 2026 On CBS
Aside from all of the politics involved with this cancellation, Variety reports that the three late night talk shows at 11:35 were down 50% in revenue in 2024 compared to 2018. In 2018 the three shows brought in about $439 million and last year only $220 million. Also there were reports that Colbert's show lost $40 million last year for CBS. Stephen mentioned last night that the show had a staff of 200.
It is interesting also that when David Letterman had his debut on CBS the first show in August 1993 had an audience of 23 million watching. Bill Murray was the first guest and Billy Joel was the musical guest. Colbert, Fallon and Kimmel average 1.5-4 million viewers each for most programs.
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Re: End Of An Era: Late Show With Stephen Colbert To End In 2026 On CBS
The Writers' Guild of America's statement on the cancellation of the Colbert show pulls no punches about what the union thinks is going on.
"Given Paramount’s recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that The Late Show’s cancelation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration as the company looks for merger approval."
While acknowledging that cancellations are part of the TV business, the union is calling on the New York State Attorney General to launch an investigation into this sudden and stunning decision.
"The Writers Guild of America calls on New York State Attorney General Letitia James, no stranger to prosecuting Trump for illegal business practices, to join California and launch an investigation into potential wrongdoing at Paramount. We call on our elected leaders to hold those responsible to account, to demand answers about why this beloved program was canceled and to assure the public that Colbert and his writers were not censored due to their views or the whims of the President."
It probably won't amount to much, but it's certainly a very strongly worded statement that leaves little doubt where they stand.
Read the full statement here.
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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Re: End Of An Era: Late Show With Stephen Colbert To End In 2026 On CBS
Other late night talk show hosts react. Are they next?
"[Jimmy] Kimmel didn’t mince his words yesterday in his reaction to the Colbert news, saying “f*ck you” to CBS and “all your Sheldons,” a veiled reference to the number of Big Bang Theory spinoffs the network has made."
Insiders Lament “End Of An Era”
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Thread Starter- Hansa
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Re: End Of An Era: Late Show With Stephen Colbert To End In 2026 On CBS
Apparently, CBS was losing $40 million a year on the Late Show due to falling ad revenues so even cutting Colbert's $15 million salary wouldn't have helped much. If they were losing money as the #1 show it's hard to see how long any network late-night show will survive - at least not with staffs of 200, high production values, and hosts being paid $10 or $15 million.
Last edited by Hansa (Yesterday 4:30 pm)
- SpinningWheel
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Re: End Of An Era: Late Show With Stephen Colbert To End In 2026 On CBS
mace wrote:
Here's the announcement, in case you missed it.
Gee. The audience booed after hearing the announcement. Not surprised, Colbert is preaching to his left wing choir studio audience.
LOL! You're right about his politics. I was reading a blog by Nobel Laureate Economist Paul Krugman today and in it he mentioned that the creator of the phrase “reality has a well-known liberal bias.” was Stephen Colbert around 20 years-ago. 
A phrase I have heard often but didn't know until today that he said it first!
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Re: End Of An Era: Late Show With Stephen Colbert To End In 2026 On CBS
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Thread Starter- torontostan
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Re: End Of An Era: Late Show With Stephen Colbert To End In 2026 On CBS
"Losing $40 million last year" doesn't add up.... the Late Show would've brought in around $80 million, Colbert cost them 15, leaving more than enough for the rest of the staff... never mind any staff cuts they could've made (200 seems like an unnecessary number of staff for a 45 minute show.... lots of fat to trim there before cancelling it all). Definitely a political bargaining chip to help the CBS merger.... sad