CBS Ending Late Show after 2025-26 Season

[l_miro 245]

1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

The Tonight Show is a heritage franchise dating back to the network's early days.  It won't go unless NBC itself is in danger of going away.

I'm still surprised Jimmy Kimmel was able to switch places with Nightline, a show that has more history than any attempt at ABC and CBS.  And it's faced the most uphill battle of affiliates either not carrying it initially or delaying it (mostly Sinclair, fresh off their "ban" of Bill Maher's show post 9/11)

And by some luck of a deal, CBS gets a new soap to replace their "View" ripoff that replaced another long running soap opera.

But for all we know, if the orange one is offended by their NFL coverage this season, they'll kill that off too.  Because of him, this blackmailed merger is all tied back to HIM.

 

eh. We thought linear cable was a sacred cow and Comcast just purged that out of its system like it was nothing. Discovery, the must have at one time even 10 years ago, would now get rid of cable nets and shove almost their debt onto them. 
 

The sacred cow is sports. The entire business model is now built on it. Everything that gets in the way of that will be excised - ABC didn't flinch when they had to cut WPLG to get more retrans cash money. It's said ABC wanted more money for retrans and considered tieing up with WSFL, which is almost as good as dead air, but WSVN apparently was the better offer.

 

Edited July 21, 2025 by l_miro

[mre29 1967]

4 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

I'm still surprised Jimmy Kimmel was able to switch places with Nightline, a show that has more history than any attempt at ABC and CBS.

 

ABC probably realized Kimmel was getting higher ratings. Also, have you seen Nightline lately? Episodes start with an opening teaser about stories that will be covered....and then immediately goes to the first break. WTF, ABC?

 

[Weeters 2173]

5 hours ago, atlnews2 said:

I think it was Matt Belloni at Puck that pointed out Lorne Michaels is a producer on both Tonight show and Late Night…he still has a lot of power at NBC. I wouldn’t be surprised if NBC wanted to axe Late Night but Lorne pulled  some strings and got it renewed with a reduced budget. Wasn’t Seth pulling in lower ratings than After Midnight? And after Midnight was canceled. 

 

Someone who knows more about the NBC union contracts might have to correct me here, but it's very possible that NBC has some operational efficiencies available that would make the costs of production slightly lower. A camera operator could be scheduled for an 8-hour shift with 4 hours working on Late Night and 4 hours working on SNL rehearsals. If the union has even a 5-hour minimum call, then they are "saving" money by moving people around, as neither show would theoretically pay for more than 4. 

4 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

I'm still surprised Jimmy Kimmel was able to switch places with Nightline, a show that has more history than any attempt at ABC and CBS.  

I am fairly confident they moved Kimmel because, given the choice between Nightline and Jimmy Fallon or Stephen Colbert, the young eyeballs these networks so desperately need are going to go to the latter.

[24994J 5888]

1 hour ago, Weeters said:

I am fairly confident they moved Kimmel because, given the choice between Nightline and Jimmy Fallon or Stephen Colbert, the young eyeballs these networks so desperately need are going to go to the latter.

 

Worth keeping in mind that Kimmel moved to the early slot when Leno & Letterman were still on. ABC was planning for the future, when it was clear those guys were sunsetting. What a world where the dopey fat guy from The Man Show is basically the elder statesman of late night.

Edited July 21, 2025 by 24994J

[SDHIll1980 150]

9 hours ago, 24994J said:

 

Worth keeping in mind that Kimmel moved to the early slot when Leno & Letterman were still on. ABC was planning for the future, when it was clear those guys were sunsetting. What a world where the dopey fat guy from The Man Show is basically the elder statesman of late night.

 

Not just the elder statesman of late-night, but if you exclude Nightline, Kimmel is long and by-far ABC's longest-running late night entertainment program.  Like with CBS back in the day, ABC had multiple attempts to compete with Johnny Carson by copying the same formula as the Eye--depending on the year, it was either reruns of their primetime shows (and in some cases reruns from other networks), movies, sketch comedy (Fridays), or talk shows that didn't last (Joey Bishop, Dick Cavett, and Rick Dees in the early '90s).  Their In Concert series on Friday nights (and sometimes Saturdays) was fairly successful, but even that eventually gave way once some more music concert shows (like MTV's Unplugged) started migrating more to cable. 

 

Then, of course it was ABC's cancellation of Politically Incorrect in 2002 that paved the way for Jimmy Kimmel Live in the first place, after Bill Maher made controversial comments about the George W. Bush administration's handling of the military after the 9/11 attacks.  PI lost sponsors and some ABC affiliates after the comments, and its declining ratings contributed to its eventual cancellation.  In a roundabout way, Jimmy Kimmel owes his late night career to his former Comedy Central colleague Bill Maher.

Edited July 21, 2025 by SDHIll1980

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

1 hour ago, SDHIll1980 said:

 

Not just the elder statesman of late-night, but if you exclude Nightline, Kimmel is long and by-far ABC's longest-running late night entertainment program.  Like with CBS back in the day, ABC had multiple attempts to compete with Johnny Carson by copying the same formula as the Eye--depending on the year, it was either reruns of their primetime shows (and in some cases reruns from other networks), movies, sketch comedy (Fridays), or talk shows that didn't last (Joey Bishop, Dick Cavett, and Rick Dees in the early '90s).  Their In Concert series on Friday nights (and sometimes Saturdays) was fairly successful, but even that eventually gave way once some more music concert shows (like MTV's Unplugged) started migrating more to cable. 

 

Then, of course it was ABC's cancellation of Politically Incorrect in 2002 that paved the way for Jimmy Kimmel Live in the first place, after Bill Maher made controversial comments about the George W. Bush administration's handling of the military after the 9/11 attacks.  PI lost sponsors and some ABC affiliates after the comments, and its declining ratings contributed to its eventual cancellation.  In a roundabout way, Jimmy Kimmel owes his late night career to his former Comedy Central colleague Bill Maher.

I'd say ALL of the stations that pulled Politically Incorrect were that of Sinclair.  They would later go on to pull that Nightline episode that read out the 9/11 victims and "almost" aired the John Kerry hit piece "Stolen Honor" around the 2004 election.  This was the first time Americans were exposed to their antics as they were amassing more and more television stations across the country.

 

Networks have such iron-clad contracts with their affiliates that there is virtually ZERO deviation from their offerings. 20 years ago, Jimmy Kimmel was delayed and even dropped form several stations, and it wasn't until only 2 years ago when WEAR in Pensacola was forced to air the show "live" at 10:35 after having an hour-long 10pm show for many years.

 

Going back to 1993, rogue CBS affiliates like WJW (mired in bankruptcy under Gillett/SCI) were freely pre-empting shows like half of CBS This Morning and pushing David Letterman back to midnight for some random piece of syndication.   They had already pushed Dan Rather back to 7pm to make their 6pm show an hour back around the time they regained the WJW call letters.

 

I have to wonder if THIS was why they cut the deal with FOX (along with the other Gillett/SCI stations about to be sold to New World) instead of FOX getting the NFL and wanting to upgrade their affiliates.  Did the other Argyle or CitiCasters (Taft/GreatAmerican) ending up under New World pull the same antics?

Edited July 21, 2025 by tyrannical bastard

[Rusty Muck 4688]

1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Going back to 1993, rogue CBS affiliates like WJW (mired in bankruptcy under Gillett/SCI) were freely pre-empting shows like half of CBS This Morning and pushing David Letterman back to midnight for some random piece of syndication.   They had already pushed Dan Rather back to 7pm to make their 6pm show an hour back around the time they regained the WJW call letters.

 

I have to wonder if THIS was why they cut the deal with FOX (along with the other Gillett/SCI stations about to be sold to New World) instead of FOX getting the NFL and wanting to upgrade their affiliates.  Did the other Argyle or CitiCasters (Taft/GreatAmerican) ending up under New World pull the same antics?

Ron Pereleman had already taken over Gillett Communications by the time Letterman debuted on CBS. The station simply netted more revenue from Murphy Brown reruns and delaying Dave to midnight. Of course, they never cleared Pat Sajak because of the hometown kid Arsenio Hall and WOAC 67 cleared Crimetime After Primetime.

 

One has to remember that CBS cut payments to the affiliates in June 1992 and asked stations to repay 25 percent of what CBS had already given them. All that in the middle of a recession. There was already antipathy towards CBS among the affiliates even before they fumbled away the NFC rights. The Fox deal in that regard was a no-brainer for a station group like New World, which also benefitted from additional local revenue at the 10 p.m. hour and the News Corp. cash infusion.

 

 

Edited July 21, 2025 by Rusty Muck

[Megatron81 343]

I was surprised by the Late Show being cancelled I thought maybe they would get a new host if they couldn't renew Colbert in my opinion. It had a good run with David Letterman 22 years out of 33 years on air with Colbert. I was never into the late night shows I always preferred Jay Leno over David Letterman if I watched late night which I largely was in bed going to sleep I'd sleep with The Tonight Show on in the background as I have to have the TV on all night to sleep.  

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

Good Lord, what a time when networks used to PAY affiliates to run their programming....

 

When exactly did the tide shift from actual to reverse compensation?  Retransmission Consent and Must-Carry rules debuted in 1993 and the only deals at the time were between corporations and their "sister" cable channels in the few places they overlapped.  As companies consolidated, these overlaps became more common.  

 

KRON getting bought by Young was the lynchpin of the modern arrangement since NBC enacted onerous demands they did not want to follow.  So they took their ball over to KNTV to rechristen themselves as NBC for the Bay Area.  Other stations like WJXT and WISH followed because they either did not want to pay for network programming, or balked at the rate that they were being charged for network programming.

 

And then, Perry Sook decided to shake down the cable companies at the source, demanding cash for the carriage of Nexstar's stations.  Then the networks wanted their cut of this, and our jacked up form of paying for free TV exists to this day, but for how much longer?

 

And most of the defections in recent years?  CBS.  Because they wanted more money.

 

CBS shot themselves in the foot in Raleigh to get Media General /  Nexstar to pay them more $$$.  NBC gets on WRAL and runs with it since it's their best ratings EVER there.

 

And with what just went down in Atlanta, they'll take their ball and go home where they can when it's not working.

 

 

Edited July 22, 2025 by tyrannical bastard

[norcalTVfan 58]

4 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Good Lord, what a time when networks used to PAY affiliates to run their programming....

 

When exactly did the tide shift from actual to reverse compensation?  Retransmission Consent and Must-Carry rules debuted in 1993 and the only deals at the time were between corporations and their "sister" cable channels in the few places they overlapped.  As companies consolidated, these overlaps became more common.  

 

KRON getting bought by Young was the lynchpin of the modern arrangement since NBC enacted onerous demands they did not want to follow.  So they took their ball over to KNTV to rechristen themselves as NBC for the Bay Area.  Other stations like WJXT and WISH followed because they either did not want to pay for network programming, or balked at the rate that they were being charged for network programming.

 

And then, Perry Sook decided to shake down the cable companies at the source, demanding cash for the carriage of Nexstar's stations.  Then the networks wanted their cut of this, and our jacked up form of paying for free TV exists to this day, but for how much longer?

 

And most of the defections in recent years?  CBS.  Because they wanted more money.

 

CBS shot themselves in the foot in Raleigh to get Media General /  Nexstar to pay them more $$$.  NBC gets on WRAL and runs with it since it's their best ratings EVER there.

 

And with what just went down in Atlanta, they'll take their ball and go home where they can and it's not working.

 

 

^^This, all of this^^
It was sad to watch the fall of KRON into obsolescence

[l_miro 245]

4 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Good Lord, what a time when networks used to PAY affiliates to run their programming....

When exactly did the tide shift from actual to reverse compensation? 

 

 

When ESPN hit $7 per sub per month and Les Moonves went around complaining CBS and his stations weren't getting that, but they should get that much, and more, because sports and ratings.

 

Then NBC under Valary got the genius idea - twist affiliates' arms into letting the network negotiate retrans fee with cable on their behalf, give some of that cash money up to NBC, in exchange for a tiered affiliate agreement based on how obedient the affiliate is - bronze with 3yr affiliate agreement if you're being a peasant, gold tier with 5 years if you didn't fight NBC's demands. 

 

Couple with forced channel bundling and there you go. 

 

Btw Peacock monthly fee is going up by $3 on Wednesday, because sports. 

 

Edited July 22, 2025 by l_miro

[Georgie56 3661]

Here’s Jon Stewart’s take on this:

 

 

[T.L. Hughes 958]

Trump undermining Paramount’s own claims that the cancellation was purely financial:

 

FCC Chair Brendan Carr once again ignoring politicizing situations is not supposed to be in his job description:

[nomadcowatbk 188]

On 7/21/2025 at 12:48 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

 

I have to wonder if THIS was why they cut the deal with FOX (along with the other Gillett/SCI stations about to be sold to New World) instead of FOX getting the NFL and wanting to upgrade their affiliates.  Did the other Argyle or CitiCasters (Taft/GreatAmerican) ending up under New World pull the same antics?

WDAF delayed Letterman (and Conan's first year) a 1/2 hour, KSHB continued to delay continue by a 1/2hr for a couple years, still not as bad as how he was treated in Houston

[mre29 1967]

On 7/21/2025 at 1:48 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

Networks have such iron-clad contracts with their affiliates that there is virtually ZERO deviation from their offerings. 20 years ago, Jimmy Kimmel was delayed and even dropped form several stations, and it wasn't until only 2 years ago when WEAR in Pensacola was forced to air the show "live" at 10:35 after having an hour-long 10pm show for many years.

 

Why does this give me the feeling no affiliates are going to preempt Comics Unleashed (Years Ago)?

 

[l_miro 245]

2 hours ago, T.L. Hughes said:

Trump undermining Paramount’s own claims that the cancellation was purely financial:

FCC Chair Brendan Carr once again ignoring politicizing situations is not supposed to be in his job description:

 

Not - "It's really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!"

 

Quote

 In a June 2024 profile with Entertainment Weekly, Colbert pulled out a photo not of late-night legends Johnny Carson or David Letterman but famed news anchor Walter Cronkite. 'This is my reminder,' Colbert intoned, 'that Walter Cronkite started off as a morning anchor who had a puppet lion, so let's not hear about the dignity of CBS News. F**k you.'

 

What does Cronkite have to do with the Late Show? Nothing. At least that awful, hateful creature Ellen is gone finally. Now the three windbags will be gone. All through their own doing. Losing 80% of viewers handed to them by Jay Leno and David Letterman, losing $40 mil a year in revenue, all while making $15 million a year is reason enough. Anybody else would've been fired long ago. 

 

There's nothing to salvage from Johnny Carson's legacy anyway.

[Dave Lampstein 287]

FCC has signed off on Skydance/Paramount deal… expected to close in a few weeks

 

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/fcc-approves-paramount-skydance-merger-deal-conditions-1236459974/

[Rusty Muck 4688]

3 hours ago, Dave Lampstein said:

FCC has signed off on Skydance/Paramount deal… expected to close in a few weeks

 

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/fcc-approves-paramount-skydance-merger-deal-conditions-1236459974/

And when that mercifully closes, expect Skydance to dispose of CBS and sell it all to Nexstar.

 

Because Perry Sook will easily agree to the demands set forth by Brendan Carr against employees doing actual journalism, that deal will assuredly be greenlit in a matter of weeks. Carr might even reward Perry for his fealty and do away with the ownership caps completely.

Edited July 25, 2025 by Rusty Muck

[MediaZone4K 2661]

Meanwhile South Park (a Paramount entity) just premiered its 27th season featuring a naked President Trump with a microscopic private part in a relationship with The Devil --- just typing it out sounds insane lol.

 

A character even urges others to be quiet before Paramount cancels them.  We'll see what the blow back from that is.

 

While Colbert's cancellation may definitely be influenced by Trump I doubt it's the sole reason given, being that other Paramount entities feature even sharper Trump criticism. 

Edited July 25, 2025 by MediaZone4K

[MediaZone4K 2661]

Letterman reacts with skepticism

 

Edited July 27, 2025 by MediaZone4K

[Megatron81 343]

On 7/21/2025 at 4:45 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

Good Lord, what a time when networks used to PAY affiliates to run their programming....

 

When exactly did the tide shift from actual to reverse compensation?  Retransmission Consent and Must-Carry rules debuted in 1993 and the only deals at the time were between corporations and their "sister" cable channels in the few places they overlapped.  As companies consolidated, these overlaps became more common.  

 

KRON getting bought by Young was the lynchpin of the modern arrangement since NBC enacted onerous demands they did not want to follow.  So they took their ball over to KNTV to rechristen themselves as NBC for the Bay Area.  Other stations like WJXT and WISH followed because they either did not want to pay for network programming, or balked at the rate that they were being charged for network programming.

 

And then, Perry Sook decided to shake down the cable companies at the source, demanding cash for the carriage of Nexstar's stations.  Then the networks wanted their cut of this, and our jacked up form of paying for free TV exists to this day, but for how much longer?

 

And most of the defections in recent years?  CBS.  Because they wanted more money.

 

CBS shot themselves in the foot in Raleigh to get Media General /  Nexstar to pay them more $$$.  NBC gets on WRAL and runs with it since it's their best ratings EVER there.

 

And with what just went down in Atlanta, they'll take their ball and go home where they can when it's not working.

 

 

 

Cablevision & LIN TV then owner of WOOD TV did battle quite a bit in the 90s which started in 93 for a few months they couldn't reach a deal wasn't until closer to Super Bowl 28 when they agreed to a new deal. I didn't have Cablevision at the time I had Adelphia Comm before I moved in 96 only without WOOD TV for 6 hours returned at 6AM in fall of 93.

 

Then in Jan 96 WOOD TV was taken off Cablevision once again they found loophole and that was returned just before Super Bowl 30, 97 was off for the whole year and I had to watch WOOD TV on rabbit ears put a crappy cable network in its place called Romance Classic UGH, it wasn't even about retrans it was about putting the weather radar and the weather radio in the background which became general entertainment channel WXSP in 1999. 

 

Suckyvision always seem to get a deal done right before you guessed it Super Bowl 2 days before SB32 otherwise had to watch it on rabbit ears and Cablevision didn't put the weather channel on the system as LIN wanted that on basic and Cablevision didn't want to put it on basic. May 2001 was when Charter Spectrum put WXSP in the lineup which was UPN at the time and airing Tigers, Pistons, & Redwings as well. WWMT wanted to do a news update which was on Headline News at the bottom of every half hour with their agreement with Cablevision which was taken off I believe in 2002 on Headline News.   

Edited July 28, 2025 by Megatron81

[MediaZone4K 2661]

I don't doubt politics played some factor in the Late Show cancellation, but this gives a some credence to the budget caused cancellation arguers...

 

Paramount's BET announced it's suspending the BET Hip Hop and BET Soul Train Awards. changing viewership habits most definitely played a part. Cuts are happening across the board.

 

https://www.aol.com/bet-suspends-two-iconic-music-175901501.html#:~:text=59 PM CDT-,BET Suspends Two Iconic Music Award Shows After Nearly Four,iconic Soul Train TV show.

 

The latter had already been on pause for the last two years. AOL reports that it's due to Paramount restructuring efforts amid the Skydance merger.

 

I'm sad to see the soul train awards on pause, but the BET hip-hop awards felt redundant as the regular BET awards covers hip-hop for a significant chunk of its 4+ hour plus run time.

 

Edited August 11, 2025 by MediaZone4K

[nathannah 2792]

It looks like the last After Midnight repeat will air on Friday night, with Comics Unleashed returning next Monday...

 

But judging from WDJT in Milwaukee carrying Crime Expose through that hour with no alternate timeslot for our favorite copyright-free and evergreen-humor filled filler program, taking the show is voluntarily depending on how much you can convince CBS that you can't carry it because of sudden 'alternate programming obligations' for an entire season. We'll see if other stations do the same (many of them still have AM by default for next week in their listings).

[mre29 1967]

Guess who's interested in the 11:35pm time slot?

 

Yup, Byron Allen.

 

Quote

Could the successor to David Letterman and Stephen Colbert at 11:35 p.m. on CBS be Byron Allen and his roundtable of stand-up comics?

 

If Allen gets his way, that’s exactly what’s going to happen after Colbert’s edition of The Late Show ends its run—thanks to cancellation by CBS—in May. He stands ready to jump into that time period with his now 20-year-old comedy/talk show, Comics Unleashed.

 

That’s what Allen—the longtime comic, TV host, independent producer, and indefatigable explorer of opportunities left in the wake of the disintegrating broadcast business—told me during a session at the annual Advertising Week conference in Manhattan on Wednesday.

 

Specifically, to my question of whether he would raise his hand again to fill the Colbert opening at CBS, as he did after the network shut down its 12:35 a.m. entry, After Midnight, last June, Allen said: “It’s already raised.”

 

[tyrannical bastard 4676]

36 minutes ago, mre29 said:

Guess who's interested in the 11:35pm time slot?

 

Yup, Byron Allen.

 

 

Oh dear god no!

Byron should consider himself lucky enough that "Comics Unleashed" got their 12:37 time back. 
But Byron Allen's gonna Byron Allen, and we'll see the same repeats over and over again, year after year...