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Was The Late Show canceled for politics—or just plain business?
Insiders say the show was bleeding $40–50 million a year. That’s a staggering figure for any network program, even one that technically held the #1 spot in late night. But that ranking doesn’t mean much when the entire genre is on life support.
One CBS insider told the New York Post: “Colbert might be No. 1, but who watches late-night TV anymore?”
Some liberals cried foul, claiming CBS pulled the plug just days after Colbert criticized its parent company for a $16M settlement with Trump. That feels like a stretch. The criticism wasn’t very powerful or funny.
The unfunny part was the more damning crime.
Yes, The Late Show was top dog—but only in a dying format. Younger audiences don’t watch live TV at 11:30 p.m., and they definitely don’t sit through monologues packed with DNC talking points.
This doesn’t bode well for the future of the two Jimmys who host ABC and NBC’s late shows. Fallon sticks to goofball charm, but it’s not reversing the slide. Kimmel’s become a scolding MSNBC host with even less humor.
And while the network hosts flounder, cable has a surprise king: Gutfeld!
Fox News’ late-night show Gutfeld! beats all three network hosts with an average of 3.29 million viewers so clearly it’s not the politics that is off-putting. Gutfeld is hosted by a libertarian-leaning comedian with a background in satire, not legacy media.
So maybe it’s not politics or the format. It’s just those guys?