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Stephen Colbert surprised viewers this week with the announcement that *The Late Show* is slated to conclude its run.
The long-running late-night program, which Colbert has helmed since 2015, will cease production next May. The show is ending altogether, not due to a change in presenters, but a complete cancellation as reported by the BBC.
Industry observers suggest that this cancellation may be indicative of broader trends within the broadcast landscape, leading some to question the future of similar programs hosted by Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, and Jimmy Kimmel.
TV critic Emma Bullimore points out that the late-night talk show format has historically thrived in the United States, a success that other countries, including the UK, have “admired but struggled to emulate”.
“Late-night shows are a staple of American TV in the same way British television would look odd without soaps or afternoon quizzes,” she says. “This cancellation certainly comes as a surprise, both in the decision itself and the way it has been delivered.”
The news has resonated with many viewers. “I’m not big into late night TV anymore,” one viewer shared, “but this feels weird. *The Late Show* is an institution.” Another user described the news as “really, really bad, not just for the state of late TV but also in a general sense for the state of media.”
The traditional chat show format, established decades ago, is facing a number of challenges in today’s evolving media ecosystem.
One significant factor is a potential shift in audience preferences, making the traditional content less appealing.
“These types of programmes are generally not a genre people will stream or watch via catch-up,” says Frances Taylor, TV previews editor at Radio Times. “They’re nightly and they’re topical and are therefore pretty much out of date just 24 hours later.”
“It’s tricky for them to have life outside of that nightly broadcast, whereas dramas, documentaries and sitcoms don’t suffer from that problem.”
Securing high-profile guests is also increasingly challenging, due to both the frequency of shows and the changing media landscape.
While chat shows were once prime venues for promoting stars, the proliferation of media platforms over the past 15 years has altered the landscape.
Appearances on popular social media and YouTube formats such as Chicken Shop Date or Snack Wars are seen as more attractive options by celebrities and their PR teams, allowing for a more relaxed environment with less risk of difficult questions.
Despite this shift, traditional TV has adapted to the times, striving to create viral-worthy content over the last decade.
Segments like James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke and Fallon’s Wheel of Musical Impressions were specifically designed with online appeal in mind.
And it worked, too. Audiences tend to love clips based on “bits” rather than chat. Graham Norton’s best performing YouTube clip, with more than 100m views, is the time Will Smith broke away from the sofa for an all-star musical performance.
Colbert has 10m YouTube subscribers – a healthy number for sure, but a weaker figure than Kimmel’s 20m and Fallon’s 32m.
It’s worth noting that, even before the invention of streaming, the world of US chat shows was always a competitive, dog-eat-dog world.
But the big TV advertising bucks that kept so many of them afloat have largely been going down with the terrestrial TV ship.
Fundamentally, the talk show format’s *raison d’être* is now under question. Taylor notes that, by the time they are broadcast late in the evening, “most people will already be across all of the major stories from the day”.
“Not only that, but their social feeds will be full of social creators feeding that appetite for topical, satirical content, be it with impressions of the US President or having an irreverent take on Elon Musk’s latest venture.”
She references John Mulaney’s recent attempt to bring a live chat show to Netflix, with mixed results.
Its future now looks uncertain, and Mulaney recently said he and the team were “figuring out” what their next move would be, stopping short of committing to a second season.
“That doesn’t exactly sound as though it was a runaway success,” Taylor says.
Colbert told viewers *The Late Show’s* cancellation was ultimately a financial decision – which is certainly a credible explanation.
Television is expensive to make, with huge teams of producers, directors, camera operators and other technical staff, not to mention the large fee for the presenter.
And while YouTubers can now offer an increasingly professional operation themselves, they can do so at a fraction of the cost.
But the cancellation still puzzled some. *The Late Show* was one of CBS’s top shows, attracting an average audience of 2.57m viewers in 2024.
Its ratings actually improved under Colbert, particularly after it began skewering the Trump administration – the host is one of the president’s most vocal critics.
As a result, some have questioned whether the show’s cancellation has anything to do with political pressure.
Its closure comes after CBS parent company Paramount settled with US President Donald Trump over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.
President Trump said the way his presidential rival’s answer to a question about Israel was presented on two different platforms made her look more favourable to viewers.
CBS noted at the time its settlement did not include a statement of apology or regret. Business commentators said the deal was made partly so as to not affect Paramount’s planned merger with Skydance Media, which Trump had the power to halt.
Speaking after the *The Late Show’s* cancellation was announced, Democratic Senator Adam Schiff said: “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”
The sentiment was echoed by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who noted the show’s cancellation came three days after Colbert’s criticism of the Paramount settlement.
Their comments highlight the political climate in which this decision has been made, but CBS denied this was a factor.
In its statement, the network said it was a “purely financial decision” and “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount”.
It’s not clear what will be next for Colbert himself. He may be snapped up by a streamer, or try to move his current show online.
Piers Morgan’s *Uncensored* provides a potential model – a programme which started on television and still looks like a TV show, but later moved, successfully, to YouTube.
The *Late Show* brand is “strong, storied and irreplaceable, and no host is funnier and more thoughtful – soulful – than Stephen Colbert”, said John Avlon, a media executive and former Democratic congressional nominee.
“That’s why he is loved by a loyal audience and they will follow him to whatever he does next.”
Other TV chat show hosts have found new formats in order to stay relevant. Colbert’s predecessor David Letterman was able to still attract A-list guests when he moved to Netflix in 2018 for a new series, *My Next Guest Needs No Introduction*.
If all else fails, there’s one other option available to Colbert. He is currently one of the few existing celebrities without his own podcast.
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