CBS Ends Colbert’s 11-Year Late Show, Replacing It With $150 Million-Saving Comics Unleashed
Updated
Updated · CNN · May 18
CBS Ends Colbert’s 11-Year Late Show, Replacing It With $150 Million-Saving Comics Unleashed
2 articles · Updated · CNN · May 18
Thursday marks Stephen Colbert’s final "Late Show" after 11 years, with CBS immediately handing the 11:35 p.m. slot to Byron Allen’s "Comics Unleashed" on Friday.
CBS says the cancellation was financial, and Allen said the swap could save the network more than $150 million a year in production and marketing through a time-buy arrangement.
Colbert has stayed publicly upbeat, telling The New York Times he is focused less on anger than on the staff who will lose their jobs after the finale.
Political suspicion still shadows the decision because Paramount was seeking Trump administration approval for its Skydance merger and had just settled Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News when the cancellation was announced.
"Comics Unleashed" will offer replay-friendly, nonpolitical panel comedy instead of Colbert’s topical satire, underscoring CBS’s shift away from the traditional late-night format.
Can apolitical stand-up successfully replace the traditional late-night talk show format?
Is Byron Allen's low-cost lease the new blueprint for network television's future?