Well, if they do, that kind of ends the argument, doesn't it?
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CBS cancels The Late Show
- Thread starter EricSam
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Well, if they do, that kind of ends the argument, doesn't it?
She lost a lot of audience when she called Ivanka Trump a "feckless c**t" seven years ago and never really recovered. She was cancelled two years after that.
No one's brought this up yet, but After Midnight (which Colbert was an executive producer of and championed Taylor Tomlinson for) got cancelled because Taylor couldn't do standup and the show. The staff probably wasn't as big, though. But when that happened, I wondered if Colbert's show was going to be next - but I thought maybe it would be in a year or two.
Tomlinson's show was much more niched. There were no skits, just a mini-monologue and a quiz-show format with three comedians. No band, no scenery, no big production budget. They undoubtedly had some writers to work with her on the opening comments and the questions to feed the panelists, but that's a tiny budget compared to producing an 11:35 pm network show. It was basically a brand extension of the "quiz show" skit that SNL as done for decades, just longer.
It started off that way, but in the second season they "retooled" it to add an interview segment for all the guests on a couch, it got less crazy/unpredictable and I stopped watching. The best episode I saw of the first season was with some non comedian named Max Greenfield, who obviously had no idea what the show was about, and was just on the show to promote his own show "The Neighborhood". Then when they showed the clip from "The Neighborhood", he was barely in the clip!
She was never at the level of the Daily Show once she left that to try her own hand. It wasn’t a great network fit. She took a swing and good for her for branching out on her own.
She did one of the all-time best Daily Show segments ever----"News I'd Like to F**k", or "NILF", in 2007.
All online copies have since vanished, but this one incomplete synopsis remains:
Samantha Bee, NILF hunter - AfterEllen
Last night, my TV broke my heart. And then it reached in and put a string of lights around it. First, Melinda Doolittle was kicked off American Idol. I know, I know, you all told me that would happen, but I was foolishly holding out hope. After that travesty, I was dejected and glum and …
afterellen.com
That would be a downgrade for Greg and I can't imagine he'd accept an offer to get out of his current "big fish in a small pond" status.
TBS tried to dramatically re-tool its network to be an irreverent comedy network like Comedy Central for a few years, but was weird seeing Adult Swim type branding leading into King of Queens reruns.
I guess I should have used some emojis here.
Found it. Daily Show, 2007. Samantha Bee:
(it says "download", but it links to a player)
(it says "download", but it links to a player)
His audience size on Fox is larger than the big 3 network equivalents, and there is a much better future in "cable channels" that are also distributed online than on OTA network television.
There's a litany of Fox News talent that have left for other places and it didn't work out for them at all. I'm pretty sure Megyn Kelly wishes she never left even though NBC paid her very well.
What’s the demo though. I bet it’s not 25-54. Young people are not watching his show.
It's better than the "Big 3" network late shows.
I think Fox News has such strong brand recognition that probably a lot of the shows like it and Hannity and the rest probably have a shared audience, so its more considered a "Fox News" show whereas the rest are in general considered late night shows for a general audience (even if they are super left.) It's kind of on its own island in that way. It would probably be similar if ESPN had a sports centered late night comedy show.
While radio likes 25-54, TV prefers 18-49.
Let's work with real numbers. Since the new season just began last week, let's take the second quarter of 2025. These are average nightly viewers for the quarter:
Total Audience:
1. Gutfeld (FOX): 3.29 million (Gutfeld airs at 10 p.m. Eastern/9 p.m. Central, so HUT levels are higher)
2. Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS): 2.42 million (airs at 11:35 p.m. Eastern/10:35 p.m. Central)
3. Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC): 1.77 million (11:35 Eastern/10:35 Central)
4. Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (NBC): 1.19 million (11:35/10:35)
5. The Daily Show (Comedy Central): 994,000 (airs at 11:00 p.m. Eastern/10:00 p.m. Central)
6. Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC): 900,000 (airs at 12:37 a.m. Eastern/11:37 p.m. Central)
(The combined audience of Colbert and Kimmel is 4.19 million. The combined audience of Colbert, Kimmel and the Daily Show is 5.184 million).
18-49 Adults:
1. Gutfeld (FOX) 238,000
2. Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC): 220,000
3. Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS): 219,000
4. The Daily Show (Comedy Central) 190,000
5. Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (NBC): 157,000
6. Late Show with Seth Meyers (NBC): 111,000
(The combined 18-49 demo for Kimmel and Colbert is 439,000. The combined 18-49 demo for Kimmel, Colbert and the Daily Show is 629,000.)
So, yeah, Gutfeld beats any one of the 11:35 shows on CBS, ABC or NBC, but the audience for the top two "liberal" talk shows combined is substantially larger, and if you fold in The Daily Show, it's clear that the Gutfeld audience is a minority of late night viewers, aided by airing in the final hour of primetime and a lead-in from Sean Hannity rather than the end of a local late newscast.
It's not how ratings are counted, but as a practical matter, more viewers are choosing Colbert, Kimmel and The Daily Show than choose Gutfeld.
Full report here: Here Are Final Late Night Ratings for Q2 2025 - LateNighter
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Now add in social media views. I’d bet The Daily Show comes out on top.
In a landslide. Part of Colbert's problem is that he doesn't have viral moments, and really, Kimmel rarely does.
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