As the ridiculous drama played out, following the announcement that "Late Night with Stephen Colbert" was cancelled, it was stunning to see just how deliberately obtuse leftists were willing to be in search of fuel for their hatred of President Trump. I write that as someone who has been watching Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers practically leg-hump ignorance and stupidity for almost a decade now.
There was no mystery behind the decision to ax the show; it was a purely business decision rooted in shoring up the bottom line. The show was blowing through money like Hunter Biden at a cocaine and hooker barbecue. Colbert's tedious commitment to divisive politics may have made the decision easier, but that would have been the only way it factored in.
Anyone in the entertainment industry knows that it is all changing at a pace that is hard to keep up with. Nowhere is that more true than broadcast television, which is a dinosaur in cultural hospice care. Watching the spectacle of so many comics I know and other industry pros ignoring this harsh reality in defense of Colbert was just sad.
Prior to the cancellation of Colbert's show, NBC's Seth Meyers was honest about the changes in the business. This is from Deadline:
Seth Meyers has revealed that he also has the fear that Late Night with Seth Meyers could end tomorrow.
Speaking on the Armchair Expert podcast, hosted by Dax Shepard (see video below), which was recorded before The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was axed by CBS, Meyers said: “Only because it is such a time we’re living in as far as the entertainment industry. There is this weird thing [where] I feel like I shifted from fearing that I wouldn’t be good enough and now my fear is weirdly more outside my control, which is just at some point the ecosystem might not support it.
The shock of the cancellation of "The Late Show" should have been lessened by the knowledge that CBS had already begun the process of changing its late-night programming focus. After James Corden decided to leave "The Late Late Show" — which was originally hosted by Tom Snyder — the network abandoned the format and replaced it with a revival of a low-budget Comedy Central show called "@midnight." That show is also no longer around.
In another Deadline article, former late-night host Samantha Bee said, "These legacy shows are hemorrhaging money with no real end to that — in sight, people are just not tuning in.”
History tells us that these are normal growing pains for entertainment. Movies dealt a blow to vaudeville. Television dealt a blow to radio, as well as to movies (at first, anyway). Television and cinema would eventually learn to live in harmony. Now we're seeing the rise of streaming platforms and YouTube. I honestly can't remember the last time that I watched an episode of "Saturday Night Live" on a television. In fact, I don't ever watch full episodes; I merely check out clips on YouTube. They're usually available the next day on the SNL YouTube page, because the show's producers understand the future.
Most younger people are watching their phones, laptops, or tablets, not TV sets. The place in this universe for shows their parents watched is in Netflix or Prime Video reruns. For the most part, they're watching the ever-growing world of YouTube stars and social media influencers for entertainment. There will be no nostalgia for Stephen Colbert's pathetic cheerleading for Democratic politicians.
Colbert is doing himself no favors as his tenure winds down. This is from something my good friend Stephen Green wrote last week:
Before CBS finally rolls end credits on “The Late Show” — or boots cranky host Stephen Colbert out with a cardboard box of swag — the soon-to-be-former talkshow host seems determined to go down in a blaze of cringe.
He was referring to a recent appearance by the Queen of Cringe, Kamala Harris. By the time he finally goes off the air next year, Colbert will have done his level best to convince even people who aren't following the drama right now that he really needed to be shown the door.
Related: Mega-Props to Colbert and His Fans for Proving That CBS Made a Brilliant Decision
The legacy entertainers can lament the demise of broadcast television all they want, but these are exciting times in showbiz. The barriers to entry are almost gone. OK, talent is still necessary. The opportunities to create are wide open and growing more numerous seemingly by the hour. We all might be consuming entertainment from chips in our brains at this point in ten years.
I look forward to one day doing stand-up in a cortex near you.
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