The response to CBS cancelling Colbert is very revealing
I must admit that I was very surprised when Paramount announced the end of “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert — and then allowed it to continue for almost another year. Most of the other major personalities who were shown the exit door were gone immediately. Think Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo, Brian Williams, Joy Reid, Glenn Beck, and so many more.
So, why let Colbert sit behind the desk for another ten months? Maybe because they did not exactly fire Colbert. They announced the end of the program. It is more like announcing the final season of a sitcom. The cast is just collateral damage. Is Colbert really through at the network – or will the latter announce some new role? Anything is possible – but I am betting that Colbert and CBS are in divorce mode.
His fan club is predicting good things for Colbert into the future. They say he will not go away. Maybe not entirely, but those who lost their lofty perches on the major networks never had the same visibility and influence they once had. I repeat. Think Bill O’Reilly, Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon, Chris Cuomo, Brian Williams, Joy Reid, Glenn Beck, and so many more.
There was a rumor circulating that he cut a deal with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow for a new twosome show. That was subsequently debunked. Wherever Colbert goes, it will be on a much lower perch – even if it is not the Maddow-Colbert lower perch.
If you ever believed that “The Late Show” under Colbert was not a hardline left-wing propaganda vehicle for the Democratic Party, you need to analyze who is reacting. You can see the political divide by who is cheering his departure and who is lamenting.
Trump’s good riddance posting on Truth Social speaks for those on the right. On the other side is the left-wing establishment — and they are in yet another state of hysterical apoplexy. They see the departure of Colbert as yet another end-of-the-world event – giving new meaning to the word “hyperbole.” That is not the sort of reaction you would get if the show and Colbert were not positioned so firmly in the left-wing establishment camp. It is getting a partisan reaction because the show is – as conservatives have been saying for years – a product of and for the political left.
The crazed reaction from the left is yet another example of their myopic self-centered view of politics and public policy. Everything they see as a setback automatically becomes an existential crisis of the first magnitude. They go into a deranged meltdown. For them, the common ground is always on the far left.
They also tie everything negative in their world to … Trump. The President was never a Colbert fan. Duh! But neither am I. No sooner had Paramount made the announcement than the voices on the left immediately tied the dismissal to Trump. Another authoritarian move by the President to cancel opposition, they claim.
The only problem is that Trump never called for Colbert to be fired – as best I can recall. Paramount said it was mostly a financial decision. The Colbert show was extremely expensive compared to the competition, costing CBS more than $40 million a year—and the ratings were slipping. As were all the so-called late night comedians — except Greg Gutfeld on FOX.
Perhaps the most interesting unintentional revelations were the reactions of the other left-wing late night comedians. They rushed to Colbert’s defense – and even appeared on his program as a show of support. What?
That act of allegiance clearly shows that Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyer and Jon Stewart are not “media personalities” but hardcore members of the left-wing establishment. In a non-political world, they would be the competition. They would be happy to see a “competitor” go down. A few kind words of condolences, perhaps, but not this locked-arm support from the competition.
The reaction of the competitors clearly demonstrates that they are, first and foremost,t left-wing “political advocates.” Their bond and loyalties are not to the networks that pay them but to their common political cause. In fact, their political allegiance is so paramount (No pun intended) that they attack the networks that pay them. They are part of the Democrat-led Trump Resistance Movement – and it is killing their popularity and their ratings, as it should.
So, there ‘tis.
Certainly silly for CBS to continue the Colbert disaster for another 10 months. They must enjoy losing millions.
Late night is dead. The last good late night host was Jay Leno. There is nothing on late night now worth staying up for.
Thomas, you are correct, and Jay Leno blasted the late-night shows perfectly.
Oye. What amazes me is how you cannot see Trump putting his fingers on the scales of everything, from personalities to politics to businesses to the market to the economy picking winners and losers all the time. Did you vote for Trump to determine which companies succeed or fail in America? For Trump to use our tax dollars to get Brazil to free the Trump ally indicted in Brazil’s court system? Vote for Trump to change the names of our football teams? Vote for Trump to annex Canada? Change the names of major bodies of water? Use Congressional authorized funding as extortion to his priorities? Or his policies to support Israeli genocide?
Of course, businesses and organizations will attempt to deflect Trump’s ire to other shiny objects. He is prone to attack for the silliest of reasons. You can mollify him with shiny trinkets, fake deals, and paltry payoffs. The Muslims got him a plane. FISA gave him a statue. He’s easy to please. He’s easy to upset. He will use anything he can to gain leverage.
We have never had a President pick winners and losers like this. Congress has never let the President operate so far out of his sandbox and so far into other’s sandboxes. We like free markets, not markets where the King picks winners and losers. If at all possible, all the time. If not, then just for extreme situations for short term effects.
On this one, Paramount has a pending deal needing Federal Government approval to merge with Skydance. They know Trump rewards those who bend a knee. Or give him a gold trinket. Or buy a million of his meme coins. Perhaps legal, certainly un-American and un-Presidential. But you like those policies. Reagan is a twirling in his grave. They know Trump will gum up the works even for the slightest of difference in his MAGA approach: ask Disney and so many others.
Also, late night is expensive, competition from streaming, podcasts is cutting into viewership, so you can cut costs, blame the market, and let the knee-bending speak for itself.
If Skydance approved: mission accomplished. Price was cheap. Amazingly, the late-night hours will be filled with Paramount programming when Colbert is gone.
One of my major market plays in this environment is “Trump watch” to leverage and arbitrage Trump maneuvers in the market. Given his tariffs, tiffs, TACO, etc., one could see those building inventory before the hammer came down, some consumers buying early to beat the tariffs, etc. to make a little cash by leveraging the fake market moves due to Trump putting his fingers on the scale. Or leverage the tiffs like Turmp/Musk tiff-fingers-on-the-scales over Tesla stock. I made 4% in one day on that one. Sad to say “Trump watch” has taken over for market analytics which mean little in the economic chaos that is Trump. As he picks winners and losers, you can buy low, sell high, often within a day or two.
Nope, we see Trump putting his fingers on all types of scales from windmills in Europe to Football team names in America. Many times he moves the market for an equity with his fake calls.
Never watched the left-wing show. I could not stand the commercials!!!!