When CBS late-night comedian Stephen Colbert broke the news on Thursday that the network had canceled The Late Show, his studio audience erupted in “boos” aimed at network bosses.
CBS announced that it had made a “financial decision” to cancel The Late Show, and had not merely fired Colbert and shed his $15 million annual salary, but put the kibosh on the entire show. Colbert will not be replaced and the show is ending its run.
Consequently, Colbert made his own announcement to kick off Thursday evening’s show, much to the distress of his studio audience.
Perhaps showing one big reason why he was being canceled, Colbert happily told his audience that radical, left-wing, California Democrat Senator Adam Schiff was his guest before he went into his opening remarks.
“But before we start the show, I want to let you know something that I found out just last night. Next year will be our last season,” Colbert told the folks in the seats before him.
“The network will be ending The Late Show in May, and…” he said whereupon he was interrupted by booing from the audience. To which he replied, “Yeah, I share your feelings.”
He went on to explain that it wasn’t just him going away, it was the whole show.
“It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away. [more booing from the crowd] And I do want to say, I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I’m so grateful to the Tiffany Network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home.”
Colbert went on to thank the viewers and his house band for their support. He also thanked the 200 Late Show employees that produced and staffed the show.
While the studio audience was enthusiastically on Colbert’s side, the ratings for his show prove that the greater TV audience is not.
Colbert’s CBS show — usually the top-rated late-night show among the three major broadcast networks — garnered an average of 2.6 million viewers during the 2023-24 season, way down from 3.81 million five years ago. The current 2024-25 season isn’t looking better. For the recent third quarter, Colbert attracted an average of 2.5 million.
It isn’t just Colbert losing his audience. All three major networks are losing to Fox News’ Gutfeld! which continues to trounce the competition in the late-night comedy category.
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