The Late Show ending in 2026

[SwimOdin]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna219499
 

This will make me sound old, but I love late night talk shows. I do t watch them anymore because I wake up before dawn most days, but growing up I watched them so much, especially Letterman and Conan. This is a sad day for weird nerds.

[[classic swim]]

*Comedy Central announces new season of Colbert Report*

[1pooh4u]

I just read this and cried a little. That show is almost as old as I am. I remember when David Letterman was a young dude 😬

[1pooh4u]

1 minute ago, [classic swim] said:

*Comedy Central announces new season of Colbert Report*

I hope so or a hook up with Stewart on TDS 

[Raptorpat]

I watched the first couple years of Colbert religiously, but we weren't watching it live and everything being so trump-centric got samey and depressing (I mean he was political comedy and it was Trump 45 so I don't blame him)

[Raptorpat]

I wonder how much if it has to do with the shift in the medium, like everything getting distilled down to whatever gets clipped and goes viral

[Raptorpat]

anyways here's a clip that'll probably go viral

 

[MasqueradeOverture]

It's not like his bosses are planning a merger necessitating Trump's approval and this is retaliation for his criticism of said knee bending, nope. Not at all.

[naraku360]

Honestly?

I kinda hated Late Show-era Colbert. With how neutered his commentary has been ever since the change and the constant onslaught of celebrities who used to be cool turning corporate shill, I'm not sure I'd be able to trust a 2025 Colbert Report.

[viperxmns]

Kimda crazy 

What cbs gonna do, just air reruns n crap i guess 

Womder if Stephen will find some other outlet like how Conan did

[Top Gun]

CBS has been the most lowest-common-denominator decrepit boomer programming for decades at this point.

[MasqueradeOverture]

1 hour ago, naraku360 said:

Honestly?

I kinda hated Late Show-era Colbert. With how neutered his commentary has been ever since the change and the constant onslaught of celebrities who used to be cool turning corporate shill, I'm not sure I'd be able to trust a 2025 Colbert Report.

Senioritis is one hell of a drug. There's always a chance the show gets Conan getting fired-level unhinged within the next 10 months.

[tsar4]

CBS has done this before, but last time (The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour) was a bit more abrupt.  They ran afoul of the Nixon Administration.

[Jman]

Colbert will likely end up on a streaming service to continue to be a thorn in Trump’s side.  The only loser here is CBS for their continued appearance of being weak and conciliatory.

[katt_goddess]

10 hours ago, viperxmns said:

Kimda crazy 

What cbs gonna do, just air reruns n crap i guess 

Womder if Stephen will find some other outlet like how Conan did

Late night reruns of classics like 'Dynasty' and 'Falcon Crest' to reappeal to old people who remember those things without having to worry about being offended by current events. 

[The Evil Dr. Longshadow]

Well, it's about time somebody put that ratings bomb to bed.  It hasn't been funny or had any information value since Johnny Carson was the host.

 

[katt_goddess]

8 minutes ago, The Evil Dr. Longshadow said:

Well, it's about time somebody put that ratings bomb to bed.  It hasn't been funny or had any information value since Johnny Carson was the host.

 

The Late Show was David Letterman's baby.  

[viperxmns]

22 minutes ago, katt_goddess said:

Late night reruns of classics like 'Dynasty' and 'Falcon Crest' to reappeal to old people who remember those things without having to worry about being offended by current events. 

Old Matlock followed by new Matlock

[The Evil Dr. Longshadow]

9 minutes ago, katt_goddess said:

The Late Show was David Letterman's baby.  

Crappy show, none the less.  Even SNL has fallen to crap.  And you're right, I was actually lumping the Tonight Show along with Late Night.

I've been finding the True Crime network more entertaining than any of the fake comedy shows from the big three lately.

[SwimOdin]

3 minutes ago, The Evil Dr. Longshadow said:

Crappy show, none the less.  Even SNL has fallen to crap.  And you're right, I was actually lumping the Tonight Show along with Late Night.

I've been finding the True Crime network more entertaining than any of the fake comedy shows from the big three lately.

Mmm.

[PenguinBoss]

Must be tough finding a comedy show with a sketch that relates to hoarding silver or eating lunch with ShopRite employees. You know, something the common man can relate to.

Edited 15 hours ago by PenguinBoss

[Raptorpat]

2 hours ago, The Evil Dr. Longshadow said:

Well, it's about time somebody put that ratings bomb to bed.

Quote

As the second quarter of 2025 wrapped, late-night’s pecking order held mostly steady—with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert topping the 11:35 PM hour in total viewers, and Late Night with Seth Meyers leading at 12:37 AM across both key ratings metrics.

CBS’s Late Show was the only show among the nine tracked by LateNighter to draw more total viewers in Q2 than it had in the first quarter of 2025—although just barely, with the show growing its audience by 1% quarter over quarter. All told, the Stephen Colbert-hosted show averaged 2.42 million viewers across 41 first-run episodes, comfortably outpacing ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (1.77 million) and NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (1.19 million). In the advertiser-coveted 18–49 demo, however, Kimmel surged ahead with 220,000 viewers—his strongest performance in a year—edging out Colbert (219,000) and leaving Fallon (at 157,000) in a distant third.

https://latenighter.com/news/ratings/late-night-tv-ratings-q2-2025/

[Mode 7]

Oh damn this thread is now musty 

[SwimOdin]

3 minutes ago, Raptorpat said:

https://latenighter.com/news/ratings/late-night-tv-ratings-q2-2025/

Thank you. I knew the metrics said he was the highest viewed, but burning calories to prove it to packard wasn’t something I was interested in, especially when he inevitably moves the goalpost with his next screed.

I will truly mourn the day Late Night is cancelled. The Letterman/Conan legacy of that show is so fundamental to my sense of humor that it will feel like a part of me is dying.

[[classic swim]]

2 hours ago, The Evil Dr. Longshadow said:

I've been finding the True Crime network more entertaining than any of the fake comedy shows from the big three lately.

Oh, is Jimmy Fallon not giving you tips on how to abduct and murder vulnerable Jerseynites?

[discolé monade]

all that bending the knee, happening...everywhere. long live the king. 

i wonder what will happen when it 's time for drumpf, and all of his playthings, to go home? 

[scoobdog]

3 hours ago, The Evil Dr. Longshadow said:

Crappy show, none the less.  Even SNL has fallen to crap.  And you're right, I was actually lumping the Tonight Show along with Late Night.

I've been finding the True Crime network more entertaining than any of the fake comedy shows from the big three lately.

How do you feel about prank videos where people jump out of trash cans to give unsuspecting janitors heart attacks?

[Insipid]

I was just about to subscribe to Parmount Plus, but fuck that. Looks like this will be the last season of Big Brother I will watch.

Bye bye, CBS. I hope bending the knee was worth it.

[scoobdog]

10 minutes ago, discolé monade said:

all that bending the knee, happening...everywhere. long live the king. 

i wonder what will happen when it 's time for drumpf, and all of his playthings, to go home? 

I also wonder if anyone will actually pay the settlements he's "won" when he inevitably doesn't wake up from a nap?

[discolé monade]

3 minutes ago, scoobdog said:

I also wonder if anyone will actually pay the settlements he's "won" when he inevitably doesn't wake up from a nap?

which shouldn't be long, given the true nature of his condition, or part of *and it's not the peak of health*

@mthor would know more, so we can all be lazy and not look shit up. 

[scoobdog]

Butt seriously....

The shock of this and the proximity to Trump's recent 60 Minutes settlement have everyone rightly looking in his direction, and there is no question that Trump has a hand in this even if it might not be explicit or direct.  However, the fact that a highly rated and fairly popular iteration of a 70 year old concept is losing money on a major network suggests that the problem isn't with the program or the formula, its with the audience as a whole.  Late night talk shows, and variety shows in general, have become obsolete in an age where all forms of topical comedy have been digested into YouTube, Threads, and TikTok videos.  It's not so much that people have shortened their attention spans as much as online video platforms have replaced aspects of how users collect and digest their entertainment.  Colbert would know doubt thrive on an online comedy platform like Funny or Die or College Humor where his content can be built around short comedic takes.

[naraku360]

5 minutes ago, scoobdog said:

Butt seriously....

 

[scoobdog]

8 minutes ago, naraku360 said:

 

Damn right it is.

[naraku360]

12 minutes ago, scoobdog said:

Damn right it is.

 

[Raptorpat]

40 minutes ago, scoobdog said:

However, the fact that a highly rated and fairly popular iteration of a 70 year old concept is losing money on a major network suggests that the problem isn't with the program or the formula, its with the audience as a whole.  Late night talk shows, and variety shows in general, have become obsolete in an age where all forms of topical comedy have been digested into YouTube, Threads, and TikTok videos.  It's not so much that people have shortened their attention spans as much as online video platforms have replaced aspects of how users collect and digest their entertainment.  

Quote

There have been reasons for worry. Advertisers committed around $439 million to five late night shows on broadcast TV in 2018 — “Late Show” and “Late Late Show” on CBS; “Tonight” and “Late Night” on NBC; and “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on ABC — according to Guideline, a tracker of ad spending. By 2024, those dollars slumped 49.8% to $220.6 million. The coronavirus pandemic and a Hollywood labor strike, both of which forced the programs to cut production, and the replacement of “Late Late Show” with “After Midnight,” a less-costly substitute, contributed to the ad shortfalls.

But so too did the exodus of young people from linear TV. Late-night has long commanded ad dollars and top premiums from advertisers eager to reach people between the ages of 18 and 34. Now that cohort is more accustomed to watching and passing along clips from the programs the morning after they air. That makes the shows increasingly difficult to monetize.

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/inside-cbs-breakup-stephen-colbert-late-night-audience-1236464740/

[katt_goddess]

5 hours ago, PenguinBoss said:

Must be tough finding a comedy show with a sketch that relates to hoarding silver or eating lunch with ShopRite employees. You know, something the common man can relate to.

Well apparently I can no longer take a sip of coffee when opening up any threads here. 

I smell maple and y'all almost owe me a new keyboard.

[mthor]

3 hours ago, discolé monade said:

which shouldn't be long, given the true nature of his condition, or part of *and it's not the peak of health*

@mthor would know more, so we can all be lazy and not look shit up. 

Which true nature? The one they're telling us, or the ones they're not? It's kind of convenient that venous insufficiency is  just about the most benign cause of dependent edema seen in geriatric patients. I'm willing to bet that he's got a certain degree of heart failure and/or renal insufficiency going on. (I mean, one can live for decades with either of those conditions, especially if one is compliant with treatment, but venous insufficiency is more optics-friendly.)