Hey, folks, it is Friday, July eighteenth. Colbert is out. The Late Show has been canceled. This is a shocker in the world of entertainment, But if you've been paying attention to late night the past few years, this is not a shocker at all. Folks of that welcome to this edition of Amy and TJ. Rooves. I guess first things first, it is I don't care what you say. You wake up to the news that the Late Show, not to just he's out, but the show is going away. That's just a shock.
It's a shock because this is also the number one, the highest rated late night show of them all. Now, Jimmy Kimmel might be slightly up in the demo, but in terms of overall viewers, Stephen Colbert, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is the number one and has been the number one late night show for quite some time.
Yeah. He, I guess he found his footing. Well, was at twenty sixteen when Trump was running for Elex and all the other late night comics didn't want to touch Trump. And you go back to then when we were still getting adjusted to Trump. We're kind of comfortable now we know him, But then he was a shock to the system and people didn't want to go after him on late night. Colbert made the decision. He was after him relentlessly, night after night, and you know what, he became number
one and never gave it up. It's true he never gave it up. But here we are. He's still on top, has been doing his thing. So everybody wakes up like, what happened? Where is this coming from? And this has a lot to do with financials that we will get into. But Colbert was the one rhobes last night to I guess break the news to his audience. Can you imagine sitting in there, thinking you're about to watch some fun show and he starts off with this, Yeah, explains that to him.
And the audience booed, and he said, I feel exactly the same way. But it was Yeah, it was totally shocking to hear him say I'm not leaving, I'm not being replaced. The show is done. It's over in May, and he talked about the two hundred people who work on the show, who loved the show, who put their heart and soul into the show. Everyone is losing their jobs May.
Because that's when his contract was up. He did sign a new deal, three year deal that now is supposed to come up in May of twenty twenty six, and that is going to be it for the show. He started out with the audience last night saying, and I quote this was his statement. Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending the late show in May, not just the end of our show, but the end of the late show on CBS. I'm not being replaced, this is just going away. He went on
to say, it's a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it, and it's a job I'm looking forward to doing with this usual gang of idiots for another ten months. Through in a little joke there a jab at his team, But when he said that, that's something I related to, like, Yes, this is your baby and you're in charge of it right now, and you know you're going to have to let it go. You want to leave it in good hands. That's something we didn't get a chance to do. I mean, really a much
different scale. But when he said that, like wow, he actually wish he was being replaced.
It resonated with us because of the headlines of everything involved with GMA three too. Yes, you know you when you put your heart and soul into something like Colbert has, you wanted to continue, you wanted to thrive. When you leave, you don't want it to with her, and you certainly don't want it to die. And that's exactly what he's facing right now. And the network was very quick. CBS was very quick to point out that the decision to
cancel Colbert's show was purely a financial decision. They said it was a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night, and they made clear they pointed out it had nothing to do with the show's performance or content or other matters happening at Paramount. Why you think they added that rogues because it it look this is it. You pointed out earlier when we first started the podcast that Stephen Colbert has been an outs spoken critic of
President Trump since twenty sixteen. It was just on Monday night that Colbert pointed out this settlement that happened between President Trump and Paramount, the owner of CBS. They settled for a sixteen million dollar settlement in a lawsuit where President Trump was suing CBS over a sixteen minutes interview they did with Kamala Harris so Colbert called that settlement a big fat bribe, and he even made fun of reports out there that somehow Paramount was going to try
to please Trump by putting pressure on Colbert. So that was just a few nights ago, and then I believe it was two nights later, Colbert gets the call that tells him not only is he out, the show is done and over.
It's tough to imagine that that, given all he has said over the years, that that set people off. But there's a very very sensitive time, and that timing is just a little too close. It's if they had been thinking about this for the past few weeks, I still would have waited to get some separation between him making that statement. So why that almost lends itself to the idea that this was in some way a reaction to
what he said, but they claim it's not. But you can tell just how fiery things have been robes the fact that this was a really long statement, frankly that CBS put out, but they made sure to include that bit.
They knew the criticism was coming, they knew the speculation was coming. They knew that people were going to connect dots and say Stephen Colbert and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is being canceled because of the bed that
Paramount is in with President Trump. Because yes, they had the sixteen million dollars settlement over this lawsuit, but there was a reason why a lot of folks pointed to them making that settlement, because they are in the middle of a multi billion dollar merger with a movie studio Skydance that requires approval from the Trump administration for it
to go forward. So a lot of folks believe that this settlement, this lawsuit was settled because Paramount wants to be in good standing with President Trump so this multi billion dollar merger can move forward.
And of course, if that merger does eventually happen, everybody's going to come back and say, aha, it worked. Aha, see ah, Look they bought their way out. Look they fired their way out. They did everything they needed to do to get this billion plus dout. We're talking about a huge, huge sale of this company, and that's been talked about for long and that's the reason for the sixteen million dollars element. This is the reason for that's
what they are saying out there. So I just found it interesting that this long statement in the second frame of it. Essentially, they included that line before. They didn't even wait for y'all to accuse us. That's one I always find it if honey, don't know what your mama always say, who's speaking first is probably the guilty one, right, the one that runs up. Uh, it wasn't me. I'm having nothing to do with it, Like, I ain't even ask you. That's what it felt like.
Yep, it certainly so.
That reaction obviously came quickly from all over the place. It came from some members of Congress, It's come from everybody, of course, on the Internet. It comes from a lot of media reporters and observers. And the reaction I guess so many of us robes were waiting for, was from President Trump, and we did get it just a short time ago, shortly before this recording, as we're sitting here, he did put out a statement.
Yes, President Trump went onto his favorite social media site truth Social and said this, I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.
You know, that doesn't surprise us could expect something like that from the president. What surprised me maybe a little, and maybe he was smart enough not to say it. Knew not to say it. I thought he would take credit for it.
He hasn't taken credit for it. But then he went on further to let other people know that they too might be next in line. Trump went on to say, I hear Jimmy Kemmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert. Trump also said Greg Guttfield is better than all of them combined, including the moron on NBC who ruined the once Great Tonight Show, referring to Jimmy Fallon but didn't name him specifically.
YEA, if you don't know who Greg Guttfield is, he's the guy. He is the king of Late Night, to be honest with you, right now on television, but he's on Fox News. He has been doing Gangbusters over there. We'll get into more of him here shortly. But that was President Trump. Schiff, actually Senator Schiff was Now, wow, that's you're talking about two Trump critics sitting down together. He was a guest on Colbert's show last night, and he had something to say almost immediately after the taping
as well. And this, I guess is one of the more high profile people robes that is suggesting that something is.
Up yeah, Adam Swift tweeted, this just finished taping with Stephen Colbert, who announced his show with canceled. If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know and deserves better.
Yeah, and that type of speculation will continue because we don't understand how a show. There are a few I mean, we could start naming them right now that are institutions in television. And you would go with the morning shows, well Today and jim A. You would go with certainly the Tonight Show, the Late Show, fallen, excuse me, Kimmel.
Yeah, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy.
Oh yeah. There are some institutions. If somebody told you sixty minutes was going to go away, if somebody told you one of these staples is going to go yeah, wait, what's happening? And the show this one, I didn't realize robes there have actually only been two hosts.
Yeah, it's David Letterman and Stephen Colbert.
Period.
I didn't realize that either.
I thought there were a few more sprinkled in that the Tonight Show had several more, even though we know that two main ones but had some. These are only two guys who have ever been in charge of that show.
And it was actually surprising to me because it seems like so much time and so many things have happened over this past decade. But the fact that Letterman didn't step away until twenty fifteen, and that is when we had the new host take up for Stephen Colbert, and so he's been doing it for ten years. But it's amazing to go back and look that Letterman had this show for twenty plus years.
Yeah, and you go back and they this was a big deal, a big coup for CBS in the first place, because Letterman had a successful show going over at NBC has on Late night show. They plucked him. This was a big deal, and he builds a powerhouse at CBS and turns that show into what it is today. Oh, what it is today, what it's going to be for the next Way's a nine.
Months ten months, yes, ten months.
But it's they tried and tried and reason this is such an institution. They were trying to keep up with the Tonight's show at the time. When you remember the Pat Say Jack show, Oh no.
Okay, I was like, wait, Pat Say Jack, yes, but the show, no, we had a late night show, no will of fortune.
They tried to get a show going with him, he couldn't compete with the Tonight Show. That show was canceled before him merv Griffin, Wow, I had a show on That one did okay, but there was some kind of contractual disputars whatever. That one went wet. So they had been trying for a long time at late night. They nailed it, finally created this juggernaut, got two great comedians to do it, and it's over.
You know what's crazy too. Three days ago, the ratings came out for the second quarter of twenty twenty five. It was a news article published again a few days ago, and they literally said the headline, Stephen Colbert is holding on to the top spot in his hour, Greg Guttfield dominating his slot. But still they were praising Colbert's ratings, saying, he's averaging two point four million, and that is fairly significant given what the other shows are doing. He's well
aware of Jimmy Kimmel's at one point seven. This was the last quarter, and the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon is one point one eight. So you look at those numbers and Colbert was if you can say dominating, but yes, he was doing extremely well.
Dominating, but dismal. That's the problem. Your dominating ratings are dismal compared to years past. You will find plenty of write up to tell you advertising dollars in late night have gone down some fifty percent in the past five to seven years, folks, fifty percent in ad dollars. That is just not going to be sustainable when you have these big budgets. Another thing people don't realize. Like I said, folks who have been paying attention, this is not a shocker.
There have been not even breadcrumbs. I mean, there have been like flares going off showing the way that Late Night is going. We're gonna get into that, and you're gonna say to yourself after you hear some of this, wow, I see why they did it. All right, folks, We continue now with this really shocking news, not just that Stephen Colbert is going to be out at the Late Show on CBS, but the show itself. I guess a late night institution at this point that David Letterman started
is going to be going away. They are going to cancel the show altogether. It won't be coming back after May when Colbert's contract is up. But Robes we've been talking about, you were given the ratings. He is on top of ratings, but the ratings are so far down from where they used to be. So the idea now of Fallin, where we see Fallon everywhere. He's starring in this, he's at the Christmas Prey, he's doing all these things. One million viewers is not going to be okay.
Now.
One million viewers is almost a staggering thought in late night television, giving the three million plus that were used to be gotten just a few years ago. Yes, and certainly in the heyday of the Linos and the lettermans of the world. To think now the numbers we're talking about and the demo numbers. He's number one and overall, but he's number two in the demo, right, and that demo is eighteen to forty nine year olds, And we're talking about two hundred and twenty thousand in the demo. Kimmel,
that's Kimmel's number. Fallon has one hundred and fifty seven thousand in the demo. You're making a face right there like this. Yes, because we have worked in television, we know what those numbers mean. And that's RUSS for guys making fifteen million dollars a year.
It's unjustifiable, is what it is. But it's interesting to me. Why wouldn't they have asked and maybe Colbert would not have considered this, But we're seeing this in network news in other shows where hosts that are making huge amounts of money when the show's dwindling audience doesn't support those salaries, they've asked hosts to take a cut, maybe even cut their salary by thirty percent, by fifty It doesn't even
appear that that was offered. There was no negotiation. According to the way Cole Bear said it, it was a shock to him. He got a phone call and it was done over see you later. You got ten months by And that is what's shocking about it. They weren't even trying to maybe downsize or find a way to cut costs to keep it alive. They just said, you're done the cost cutting.
And again I didn't really we're not late night watchers, but I did not realize this show only tapes four nights a week, right, because they're cutting costs. Do you know that Fallon show only tapes four nights a week? Yes, for production costs the other as well. All three late night shows on the networks have done that. They've made that move because they're trying to cut costs. What does that tell you, now, CBS. That's not to say the
writing might have been on the wall. You remember the Late Late Show, Late Late Show with James Cordon.
That's our that's our the time our alarm clocks off pretty much.
But by the time that show was we've been wrapping up.
We're waking up. So no, the point is, I've not seen it, but I do remember it. I know of it.
See, I didn't even remember that the show got canceled, The Late Late Show with James Cordon. Yes, was it Karaoke the Car Karaoke Guy that everybody loves. That show got canceled two years ago. It went away. Why because it brought in forty five million dollars in revenue and it costs sixty million dollars to put on. Dang, So CBS made that move years ago. Again, that report was, that report has been out there, But they made that move because it just wasn't sustainable, and in its place
they put a like a game show with the comedian. Now, it just happened to that it went away because the comedian wants to go back on the road touring. CBS said, we're just not gonna continue the show, We're not gonna replace, So they have given away essentially a late night time slot that has been there for decades. So they are recognizing that late night is not going to be sustainable for years to come. And cobear the number one is experience in.
That now and part of the problem. The folks who are up late night are the younger viewers, which are the the one type of viewer that all advertisers want. They want them young, They want to bring them into their brands to stay with them for the rest of their lives. Once you get to a certain age, they don't really wantch you. And so what are the young people doing. They're not watching television period, They're not watching
traditional broadcasting, they're not watching cable. They are on YouTube, they are on TikTok, and all of that content, as we know, is very cheap to make and has huge returns for the content creators, much more so than what we're even seeing in broadcasting. So yes, the young viewers who would tend to watch the snarky comedians make fun of the day's news and the politicians behind much of it. They're not watching television. Most of them don't even have TVs.
So this is the problem, and how do you fix it? No one knows.
They didn't figure out how to monetize what you're talking about. Those clips were great. Kimmel used to go viral seemed like every week because he did some skit of some gag. So where the kids figure out, I don't have to stay up late and watch your whole show. I'm gonna see the clip in the morning, correct, and I'm gonna watch it for a few seconds. I'm gonna laugh and move on about my day. You can't monetize that to the tune of a fifteen million dollar year salary just
yet anyway. But they tried, and they've been trying and trying and trying. But the shows we talked about this the other day, we just ha was it might have been a promo I think for the CBS Morning Show. And this is not a criticism of them, but I look like, wow, that's the same glass table, the same round table, the same three people wearing the same outfits
with the same color background. It's as if news and networks in particular have a difficult time change adapt evolving, and the late shows you watch tonight, it looks exactly the way it looked when Johnny Carson did the show, except for a few skits maybe, But it's the same thing.
Yeah, And so some of the older folks are sticking around because doesn't it feel good. It almost feels nostalgic, It feels safe. This is what you know, this is what you like, this is how you laugh. But for the folks who are younger, who they need, desperately need, they can't focus. We know we have children. They can't focus for more than thirty seconds on anything. So the clips were great, but it wasn't driving people back to
watch the show. So, yes, they loved watching them, they appreciated the humor, and they're wildly popular, but it doesn't translate to folks tuning in at eleven thirty five to watch these late night shows.
It's weird when you do think about it's the same thing. Meeting comes out, same suit, same tie, gives the monologue, goes over, sits behind a desk, gives a shout out to his band, brings out whatever celebrity to promote whatever movie, you do the same package, little stories and little laughs, and there is you're not expecting a moment anymore. Think it the greatest late night moments. You could probably think
of what our Senil Hall I can remember one. I can remember Jay Lintle with Was it Hugh Grant that moment after he was arrested. Oh, there are moments that stand out. Those moments just don't seem.
They were long, long, long ago it happened like that anymore. They really don't. And you know, you brought up the early show CBS and not to point, not to single them out, but all the morning shows, I would imagine, and us having worked in morning television for many decades, you have to think they're concerned because the same thing is happening on morning television with the morning network news shows. Their audience is dwindling each year. It's they're trying to
stop the bleeding. But there aren't gains that anyone's talking about. These are all losses that.
Stopped the bleeding. As always, that used to always be my complaint at a network, like all we're trying to do is hold on to the viewers we have instead of trying to try something and be a little risky to possibly go gain new viewers. It was never anywhere that seemed to take those types comfortable tap taking those types of risks.
No, and talking about TikTok trends or you know, that doesn't make people who use TikTok tune into morning television. And so we've seen the desperate attempts. We've been a part of them. We have contributed to some of the stories that we were assigned to try and get younger folks to watch morning television and it simply does not work.
How many reporters in the past ten years we're tasked with being the social media person and every morning what's trending.
Yes, we had social Square and we're like touching things like it was an iPad on the wall because you know, we were hip and cool and young and we got you young folks. No, we didn't. We don't. We haven't figured it out. Television broadcasting has not figured it out.
Yeah, and like Knight has not figured it out. And you paratly saw the headline as well. I think it was a couple years ago in New York Times, is this Late Night's last gasp. They've been talking about this for years. This is going to happen? What the streamers trying to come up with? The A couple of folks doing late night on streaming. They're trying to see so it might late night, might continue. It just might be somewhere else.
They might look a little in a smaller screen.
And please let it look different.
Please, Yeah, be innovative and that. But see the innovation, the creativity and the transparency, the authenticity. That is what TikTok, That is what YouTube gives viewers.
Podcasting gives folks. We're just listening to folks differently. Yeah, same canned stuff.
They want authenticity. They don't want scripts, they don't want that. They don't want planned and canned. They want real and new.
And they're making that clear look of all the folks. So many folks upset about this and Jimmy Kimmel's competition, but he's not celebrating. These guys have collaborated on plenty of things over the years and certainly seemed to be say they are seemed to be robes, authentic friends. But he didn't hold his tongue and had an expletive laden response, Yes, what happens?
Yeah, on a story I was on his Instagram story, Kim Will put out love you, Stephen, fuck you and all your Sheldon's CBS. That was very blunt and to the point.
Yeah, and he can say that, I hope there's no backlash or anything. Network's not going to go after him for that necessarily. He can say what he wants and that's his opinion. But man, that stings if you're sitting in his chair, if you're sitting in Falon's chair, if you're looking to where even if you want to get rid of me, like I know, the show is going to go on, but now you have to think that, Wow, even the show.
You're getting rid of Late Night is on the table. Yes, that's scared, you know. I'm actually it is going to be very interesting what these ratings are going to be like for the next ten months, because you're seeing obviously a groundswell of support for Stephen now from the actors and from the producers and the folks who come on his show who love his show. And we can tell you what some of these folks are saying, because it
is interesting. But I was just thinking to myself, are so many more people now going to watch Colbert now that they've heard the headlines now that they know it's same, absolutely same.
Haven't had a desire to watch a late night show no matter who the guest is, anything that I hear about, Yes, I want to watch him for the next tea. I do too, absolutely do.
And I think that it might be like an incredible Swan song in a sense, because he might see the best ratings he's ever seen in his career.
I think no doubt he will. But this reminds me it's similar to professional athletes who announced that something is going to be their last season. So now you get kind of a everywhere they would go for a game, the crowd gives them love, and that school gives them love. That he now every celebrity is going to every name is going to show up in that chair over the next ten months to be a part of a goodbye to him, And that's kind of cool. Yeah.
Some of the folks, some of the folks who wrote in just to give you a sense, Judd Apatow, famous filmmaker and producer. He wrote, my admiration and appreciation for you is bottomless excited to see what other brilliance you put into the world. Snow White actress Rachel Zegler wrote, I am extremely sad. I adore you Stephen, but seven star Adam Scott. I loved what he put out there. He said, love you, Steven. This is absolute bullshit, And I, for one am looking forward to the next ten months
of shows. And I really think that is going to be the sentiment from so many people.
Yeah, we can understand financials, we can actually understand difficult decisions that have to be made, we can understand a changing media landscape. But this feels like bullshit exactly. It does, and we all do. Whether you watch the show or not. It's still right now. I mean people have that maybe some political issues with him, but the guy's a talented comedian.
He was so funny.
It was The Daily Show, and then he got the Cobert Report. Yeah, Colbert Report.
Yes, he loved him on the Daily Show. It was amazing on the and that led him to the star that he is now.
Yeah, and he's been a good steward of that show, that legacy show, and it was in good hands and it just right now feels that way.
You know. I was on I agree. I agree. I was on a plane with him on the way to cover the Emmys. The Oscars. I can't remember which a ward show it was, and he was so kind and so funny. I watched him interact with his wife, with the whole rest of the plane. There was some silly thing that happened with the flight attendant, and I just thought, what a good guy like I just I don't know him personally, but I just got to actually observe him.
And you know, it's just, it's it's a it's a gut punch to anyone who's so good at their craft, who is now no longer allowed to do the job they're so amazing at. That is certainly said. But speaking to the politics, did you see what Senator Warren? Obviously she's politically motivated, but what she said, what she said is just what a lot of folks are an investigation she is so well, no, she already she already. So
here's the deal. This is funny. Back in May, she opened an investigation into whether Paramount was engaging in bribery with Trump over this s guy dance merger. So he's
already got an investigation underway about that whole situation. But she put this out on X She said, CBS canceled Colbert's show, just three days after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its sixteen million dollars settlement with Trump, a deal that looks like bribery, And then she said America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons. Here's the deal. We're never gonna know that unless Trump announces it and says, yep, that's what happened.
But short of that, are we ever going to actually know if that had a factor or if it was the factor for CBS canceling Colbert's show.
The way they handle it, this one maybe is on them. Sometimes. I know the public can get going and social media can get going and say we're never gonna believe what we're hearing kind of a I don't think it's the public's fault. I mean, you gave us every reason to be suspicious. This was days ago, exactly. Got a call two days after that joke.
Look if Jimmy Fallon's show, if the whole show is being canceled because of poor ratings, and NBC announced that no one would probably say a word, this is very different.
Yeah, they needed to give us more, maybe something. This could have been a set. Why would do you have to do it now. By the way, why couldn't we have waited till later in the year.
Why we could have announced a final season in September something like that.
Why now the timing's weird. If now, if we hear about this damn sale going through anywhere in the next two months, okay, people are going to lose it.
They are, and honestly, rightfully so I get it, and I think a lot of folks listening get it. We understand sometimes that's not just CoInc sometimes it is. But a lot of times, what do they say, where there's smoke, there's fire.
Well, Stephen Gobert, just we thank you and we love you for the years of entertainment, for being kind on a plane that robot was on, but we and look, if you need some help navigating when you have to leave a job and he didn't want to please, you know where to find us.
Thanks for listening, everybody. Hope you have a great Friday.