Last week, CBS cancelled the iconic Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
I was less surprised than some. Like Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers, for ten years Stephen Colbert, has relentlessly been anti-Trump and anti-Republican.
The three guys with the longest running and most successful late shows - Johnny Carson, David Letterman, and Jay Leno – were mostly apolitical. About 3 years ago, I asked Leno, “How can these shows survive with only half the country willing to watch them?” He said, “I have no idea. I used to tweak a Democrat occasionally, but I’d go right back and jab a Republican. Nothing too mean. My job wasn’t to push a political ideology. It was to make everyone laugh.”
Although Colbert’s late-night audience is much larger than Kimmel’s, it was still anemic reaching fewer than one percent of American homes every night, and with audiences that small, The Late Show was losing over $40 million a year.
No, the Late Show cancellation wasn’t a surprise. What surprised me is that they are letting it continue to hemorrhage $40 million for one more year.
What are your thoughts?
I’m Bill Lamb, and that’s my Point of View.
