Everyone was shocked — shocked! — when Stephen Colbert announced this week that CBS had canceled The Late Show.
The media reacted as if a meteor was hurtling toward Earth.
But how surprising was the end of The Late Show, really?
Did jaws drop when Blockbuster Video closed its doors in 2014?
Did people scream when blimps were phased out of air travel back in 1937?
“What do you mean no more silent films?!”
The end of The Late Show was just as inevitable as those moments — a predictable chapter in the slow death of a format long past its prime.
And it’s not just Colbert. The Grim Reaper is knocking on the doors of all late-night TV shows. Those comedians in neckties? They’re pretending not to hear.
These retro programs — born in the 1950s as a convenient way to fill airtime — now struggle with audiences too small to justify their massive costs.
According to The Post, Colbert’s show was losing $40 to $50 million a year, while The Times toned it down to “tens of millions.”
Hard to blame Trump for that.
It’s true, The Late Show was still winning in the ratings with an average of 2.42 million viewers each night during the first quarter. But only 9% of those viewers were in the coveted 18-49 age group—the demographic advertisers desperately want.
In other words, no ad dollars were coming in, because young people just didn’t care.
And why would they?
They’ve got YouTube and TikTok to scroll through after dark.
The funniest story of the week, by a mile, was Astronomer CEO Andy Byron getting caught on the jumbotron kiss cam canoodling with his head of HR at a Coldplay concert.
I even chuckled as I typed that.
Fifteen years ago, Americans would’ve turned to David Letterman or Conan O’Brien to roast the horny halfwits.
Now, social media beats them all — faster, sharper, and way funnier than Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, or Meyers ever could.
Shake up the format all you want, but a fixed 11:30 p.m. show with commercial breaks on a dusty, old, censored network simply can’t compete with instant, razor-sharp reactions from billions.
Could chats with A-list stars keep these struggling shows afloat?
Hah. The five-minute, skim-the-surface celebrity interview is dead too. Celebrities are overexposed, and these promotional appearances show them at their fakest and least likable.
That’s why podcasts like Good Hang with Amy Poehler and Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang—free, on-demand, and unfiltered—are booming. They offer casual, revealing, full-hour conversations with big names.
Sensing the sea change, top talent keeps choosing headphones over TV sets.
Escalating political tensions have been just one of the many problems facing late-night TV.
The escalating politics of late night have often been blamed as the main culprit — and they certainly were a thorn in the side. But their political slant is no longer the biggest problem.
Think about it: Gen Z and Millennials aren’t tuning out talk shows because the hosts lean too far left.
The simple truth is that these monologue-couch-desk shows have become outdated museum pieces, losing their connection with today’s audiences.
The Late Late Show with James Corden was the first major casualty. Now, the guillotine has fallen on CBS’s former crown jewel. NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! won’t be far behind.
Sure, politically charged cable shows like The Daily Show and Gutfeld are still chugging along—but they’re a different breed altogether.
Undeniably, the network late-night staples that were once for everyone have become shows for no one.
The biggest late-night TV story this week centered on a 16-year-old interview with David Letterman.
It’s telling that, aside from Colbert’s exit, just one other noteworthy story has emerged from late-night TV all month.
That was Joaquin Phoenix’s apology for his awkward stunt interview with David Letterman—the original Late Show host—back in 2009.
It’s a stark reminder of how vital late-night TV once was. A 16-year-old moment with a very different man still sparks more buzz than anything the new crop can muster.
Honestly, I’d love to see Letterman return for a “Top 10 Reasons Late-Night Shows Are Disappearing” countdown.
But honestly, he’d only need one reason.
Nobody’s watching anymore.
