This evening, CBS announced it would be cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert effective May 2026.
The network cited an unspecified "financial decision" as the reason for its cancellation as it evidently will withdraw from late night TV altogether.
I would hazard a guess that its "financial decision" is to appease President Trump so the administration will approve Paramount's merger with Skydance. Earlier this week, Colbert was publicly critical of CBS' parent company Paramount for settling Trump's frivolous lawsuit against 60 Minutes and the network at the beginning of the month. That will not help Paramount's standing with Trump.
There is really no other reason for CBS to pull the plug on Colbert. It is a ratings juggernaut. But the merger is a higher priority. Giving $16 million to the Trump Presidential Library (an oxymoron if there ever was one) is but a drop in the bucket. Trump is going to want a lot more. He wants a scalp and Stephen Colbert's will do just nicely given he is a persistent thorn in the President's side. Although I'm sure Trump would be happier still if CBS were to also cancel 60 Minutes and I'm sure he will make such a demand in the not-too-distant future.
Of course, this represents an end to more than 30 years of late-night programming on CBS which began when David Letterman came to the network in September 1993 where he remained for more than two decades before Colbert took the reins in May 2015 after his successful Comedy Central show.
Would Colbert return to Comedy Central much like Jon Stewart? Or are networks going to shy away from someone like Colbert so as not to arouse Trump's ire?
What CBS will do after the late local news is anyone's guess although I would not be shocked if someone in the MAGAverse like Charlie Kirk got a time slot.
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