Yeah and apparently it's like the #1 late show on cable which baffles me haha Also makes it that much more sketchy that Paramount cancelled it "for financial reasons"
It is doubtful it is political. They already cut their 12:30 show. It just isn't worth the money anymore. The others will retire or get fired or take big salary cuts. Colbert is a very thoughtful, intelligent, funny person but the show was the most boring thing he has done.
I wonder if Taylor Tomlinson was seeing the writing on the wall and decided to end After Midnight before it got canned. It was pretty solid show with basically no competition.
The whole 5-minute couch interview promoting whatever plus monologue with inane daily chatter model is just dead imo. it seems like maybe john mulaney is at least trying to shake it up but I m sadly immune to his charms
Do people stay up to watch late night shows anymore, or just the clips the next day? Back in my day..... (up hill, both ways, in the snow...) you had to watch arsenio/letterman/leno or you missed it. There was no replay the next day, so times have changed.
That is what is so weird about these shows. People who have to be at work at 8 or 9 in the morning are not going to be able to watch it, but young people with flexible schedules are not planning their lives at being home around that time either. It is just a relic of an earlier era. They have survived off of going viral.
Even us - We used to watch Seth Myers clips on youtube, and sometimes we may watch John Oliver or something else... But man - I used to look at the listing for the week to see what musical guest would be on (or actor/actress) and Id stay up for it.... I think you are right though, its just a relic - Seth has a podcast, Conan too... they all do. Is that our future now? (or is it the present...)
As for his show.... I havent been able to watch the whole thing in one sitting. I think he is VERY funny.... Just not in this element.
unfortunately my immediate thought after watching colbert was “maybe this isn’t a grand conspiracy maybe they’re just cancelling the show because it fucking sucked”
If it was entirely, or even mostly, political they wouldn't leave him on the air until May and get rid of the entire franchise altogether. Podcasts cost a fraction of the cost and do similar or sometimes better numbers.
I guess all the late night talk show hosts being on good terms and advocating for eachother is positive or whatever, but man I do kinda miss the dynamic when I was growing up where there were only two main late night hosts and they openly despised eachother.
And were either a Leno person or a Letterman person, and that said something about what kind of person you were and your sense of humor. I grew up in a Letterman household and my dad hated Leno so much even before the Conan thing lol
My parents were neither, not watching Late Night.... I was raised on Letterman with my friends watching it, so I was a sheep... But if there was a musical guest on Leno, I would certainly tune in. But Stupid Human/Pet Tricks, Top 10 Lists, etc.... that was right in my wheelhouse. I was 'All In'.
Leno vs. Letterman was mostly kayfabe. Let's not forget that these guys are multi-millionaires fighting to be even bigger millionaires. But yes, who you watched said something about you, just like if you prefer Lennon or McCartney or Seinfeld versus Friends. Leno vs. O'Brien was much more dramatic. O'Brien was unfairly treated and it would have been great to see him get a shot to grow his audience at that timeslot, but it isn't Leno's fault so much as it was NBC. They tried to push Leno out the door and then got cold feet and set up that primetime show that was always going to be a problem.
And I think Conan benefited from it in the long run anyways. Got to do whatever he wanted on TBS, and now gets to have long-form conversations with all his favorite people, while getting paid insane money from Sirius, along with having more time for movies and event hosting gigs.