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?

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.

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”

mace wrote:

RadioActive 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!   

Even though Colbert's show was usually top of the ratings, doesn't mean that it brought in more money for CBS than Fallon or Kimmel on NBC and ABC.  Other than the first two years, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno always had higher ratings than David Letterman on CBS.  But Letterman attracted a more elusive demo for advertisers and brought in considerably more revenue than The Tonight Show.  Letterman was also paid a lot more than Leno.

Maybe the reverse is true now with Fallon bringing in the big money for NBC and Colbert not so much.  The way that NBC treats Jimmy Fallon with specials, hosting game shows and having him guest on other NBC programs and general high profile indicates he is a valuable property for the network.  Could be that Colbert had bragging rights but Fallon and or Kimmel actually bring in the most of the shrinking revenues for late night. 

I have no doubt the cancellation was political, but it could also have been that the show in spite of leading in ratings was losing money and this made it an easier decision to cancel the show.  Looks like CBS is getting out of late night programming altogether.  I wonder if some affiliates will just pick up the network news service for some late night hours.

torontostan wrote:

"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 

If it was only a political firing, why wouldn't they just frog march him out, buy out his contract and either end the show now or find a new host?
I've been fired and laid off out of the blue before and "well you can at least keep working for another 10 months" was never an option, and I'm sure it's not for most others who have been in the same boat.
The payroll for Colbert's staff of 200 could easily be in the $20 million range, taking into account benefits and union contracts etc.
Operating and maintaining the Ed Sullivan Theater for the sole purpose of the show must cost a pretty penny too.
Fallon/Meyers/SNL all at least have the economy of scale of sharing the 30 Rock facility with NBC news studios, plus the Kelly Clarkson Show now using David Letterman's and Conan O'Brien's old 6A studio.
The economics of late night TV have become such that even Conan O'Brien couldn't make it work on Turner, Lilly Singh couldn't make the late, late night NBC slot work anymore, James Corden's budget made no sense anymore as a 12:30 show and even the stripped-down format of After Midnight didn't work for CBS either. Jimmy Kimmel's ABC contract ends next year and he had already hinted earlier that he might not be extending the show.
I've seen it in person and the Ed Sullivan Theater must be a valuable property: Broadway frontage, an incredible marquee, a 13-storey office tower on the 53rd Street frontage (the Hello Deli closed a couple years ago though, and the former Studio 54 was on the same block). CBS bought it for Letterman for only a few million in 1993. I don't know for a fact if they still own it or not but if they do they could probably pay off the Trump suit and then some just by selling off the real estate. Would be a perfect spot if someone wanted to get into the Broadway theatre business, or it could also be demolished and used to build a new modern skyscraper in a prime Times Square-adjacent spot (just a few blocks away from the Trump Tower too). 

 

DX wrote:

torontostan wrote:

"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 

If it was only a political firing, why wouldn't they just frog march him out, buy out his contract and either end the show now or find a new host?
I've been fired and laid off out of the blue before and "well you can at least keep working for another 10 months" was never an option, and I'm sure it's not for most others who have been in the same boat.
The payroll for Colbert's staff of 200 could easily be in the $20 million range, taking into account benefits and union contracts etc.
Operating and maintaining the Ed Sullivan Theater for the sole purpose of the show must cost a pretty penny too.
Fallon/Meyers/SNL all at least have the economy of scale of sharing the 30 Rock facility with NBC news studios, plus the Kelly Clarkson Show now using David Letterman's and Conan O'Brien's old 6A studio.
The economics of late night TV have become such that even Conan O'Brien couldn't make it work on Turner, Lilly Singh couldn't make the late, late night NBC slot work anymore, James Corden's budget made no sense anymore as a 12:30 show and even the stripped-down format of After Midnight didn't work for CBS either. Jimmy Kimmel's ABC contract ends next year and he had already hinted earlier that he might not be extending the show.
I've seen it in person and the Ed Sullivan Theater must be a valuable property: Broadway frontage, an incredible marquee, a 13-storey office tower on the 53rd Street frontage (the Hello Deli closed a couple years ago though, and the former Studio 54 was on the same block). CBS bought it for Letterman for only a few million in 1993. I don't know for a fact if they still own it or not but if they do they could probably pay off the Trump suit and then some just by selling off the real estate. Would be a perfect spot if someone wanted to get into the Broadway theatre business, or it could also be demolished and used to build a new modern skyscraper in a prime Times Square-adjacent spot (just a few blocks away from the Trump Tower too). 
 

Everything you say may be true, but they didn't have to make the announcement when they did. Why not wait a few months for the Trump settlement insanity to die down and then pull the plug? Instead of 10 months to go, he'd have 8, let's say. By then, the other story would be out of the spotlight.

The only logical conclusion you can draw is that they were trying to send a message to a certain someone who lives on Pennsylvania Ave. Hence, the not-so-coincidental timing of the cancellation. 

RadioActive wrote:

DX wrote:

torontostan wrote:

"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 

If it was only a political firing, why wouldn't they just frog march him out, buy out his contract and either end the show now or find a new host?
I've been fired and laid off out of the blue before and "well you can at least keep working for another 10 months" was never an option, and I'm sure it's not for most others who have been in the same boat.
The payroll for Colbert's staff of 200 could easily be in the $20 million range, taking into account benefits and union contracts etc.
Operating and maintaining the Ed Sullivan Theater for the sole purpose of the show must cost a pretty penny too.
Fallon/Meyers/SNL all at least have the economy of scale of sharing the 30 Rock facility with NBC news studios, plus the Kelly Clarkson Show now using David Letterman's and Conan O'Brien's old 6A studio.
The economics of late night TV have become such that even Conan O'Brien couldn't make it work on Turner, Lilly Singh couldn't make the late, late night NBC slot work anymore, James Corden's budget made no sense anymore as a 12:30 show and even the stripped-down format of After Midnight didn't work for CBS either. Jimmy Kimmel's ABC contract ends next year and he had already hinted earlier that he might not be extending the show.
I've seen it in person and the Ed Sullivan Theater must be a valuable property: Broadway frontage, an incredible marquee, a 13-storey office tower on the 53rd Street frontage (the Hello Deli closed a couple years ago though, and the former Studio 54 was on the same block). CBS bought it for Letterman for only a few million in 1993. I don't know for a fact if they still own it or not but if they do they could probably pay off the Trump suit and then some just by selling off the real estate. Would be a perfect spot if someone wanted to get into the Broadway theatre business, or it could also be demolished and used to build a new modern skyscraper in a prime Times Square-adjacent spot (just a few blocks away from the Trump Tower too). 
 

Everything you say may be true, but they didn't have to make the announcement when they did. Why not wait a few months for the Trump settlement insanity to die down and then pull the plug? Instead of 10 months to go, he'd have 8, let's say. By then, the other story would be out of the spotlight.

The only logical conclusion you can draw is that they were trying to send a message to a certain someone who lives on Pennsylvania Ave. Hence, the not-so-coincidental timing of the cancellation. 

Orange Man understands "you're fired," I don't think he understands "you have one more season" so much, except when it comes to Jerome Powell.
Maybe Colbert's comments on the Trump settlement were the last straw for CBS, or maybe Colbert came out hot on the first day after his vacation because he was already in the midst of negotiating the end of his show.
At the end of the day, CBS followed the same old late night, Vinnie Favale template used in the past for James Corden, Craig Ferguson and David Letterman (and that NBC even used for Johnny Carson): the host announces the upcoming season is the final season, they go through the motions of the final season and then go out with a bang.
If you want to know what a real late night host firing looks like, go back to 1987 and Joan Rivers. That was the kind of sudden and final firing that most of us are familiar with.
Here's the real late night conspiracy that has never been publicly answered: when David Letterman's end run was announced, Craig Ferguson announced out of the blue a few weeks later that he would be ending his run too. So did Ferguson, thanks perhaps to Peter Lassally, have the Helen Kushnick/Jay Leno clause in his contract giving him the 11:30 slot once Letterman retired and then did CBS elect to give him a payout instead because they wanted someone else as host?
 

67GreenRambler wrote:

found online, fwiw

what I find amusing is the Hollywood Accounting - or in this case the NYC Democrat accounting - involved in CBS paying Colbert's production company Millions, (and I have read it is more than double the amount shown below) to lease the studio space owned by CBS.

There are millions of dollars to trim there before cancellation would be required

Any idea's on what Corus ( Global ) and CBS will do with this time slot. Global reduced its late night news just to get this show. I don't think they will expand the 11pm news back to 1 hour, maybe a repeat of Global National.
Will CBS keep this time slot, if they do what type of program will they put there. The same question would be if they give this time back to the local stations.

Does anyone remember what type program CBS had at 11:30 before the Late Show.

Flashpoint ran in prime time on CBS for three seasons.  The show you are thinking of that ran late night was CTV's Night Heat.  It ran a few years after CTV on CBS from 1987 until 1993. Kids In The Hall also ran late night in the US on CBS, Comedy Central and HBO.  CBS picked up the CBC program in 1993, four years after the debut on CBC and HBO.  It ran two years on CBS and the network would edit the show or leave certain skits out. 

Mavridis wrote:

Word around here is that the show stands to make less than $60mil in domestic TV ad revenue this year - not enough to cover production.   Next year, they predicted it would less than half of that.  

It is enough, but they don't realize they don't need writers making $500,000 and a theatre that costs millions more. There were ways to keep the show going beyond cancelling it. 

Scroll down (in this link) to the Evolution of Paramount...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skydance_Media

Oh what a tangled web we weave.

I never knew Colbert had such a large family. 10 siblings. Wow!

I wish Craig Ferguson's show was still around. God, was that program great.

It was like a satire on the other guys, with "Geoff Peterson," a robot skeleton, as his co-host, a pantomime horse named "Secretariat" galloping onto the set at strange times, Ferguson ripping up his questions when his guest came out and just chatting with them, and his "I don't give a shit" monologue at the top of every show. 

Totally original because he didn't take the conventions or rules of talk shows seriously and it was a great hour. I still have the last one from 2014 saved on my DVR. It was terrific.