CBS’ cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” casts a shadow over a staple of TV, but experts say late-night shows aren’t going anywhere –– they might just look different.
The abrupt cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” a staple of late-night talk shows, caught many off guard.
CBS’ decision to cancel “The Late Show,” after nine seasons with the highest ratings in late night, has been roundly criticized by seemingly everyone from regular viewers to comedians and even the host himself. But it has also forced many to start asking a question that for a long time seemed unthinkable: Are late-night talk shows a thing of the past?
From Colbert’s tenure on “The Late Show” all the way back to Johnny Carson’s foundational “Tonight Show,” late-night talk shows have been one of the “foundational institutions” of broadcast TV, says Steve Granelli, an associate teaching professor of communications studies at Northeastern University.
Alongside the nightly news, it’s been a regular part of what people consider their daily media diet. That makes it a source of comfort, something people can rely on day in and day out, Granelli says.
“This question of ‘does late-night television have a place?’ seems very unmooring from a very traditional understanding of what networks provide the general public,” Granelli says. “People are saying, ‘This is something that I always felt was going to be there, and now I realize without it, I need it more.’”
Whether CBS’ decision was financially motivated, as it claims, or political — Colbert is an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump on a network whose parent company is looking to get federal approval on a merger — is rife for speculation. But regardless of the motivation, the fact that a highly successful TV show could be canceled just like that raises alarm bells for the entire entertainment industry.
“Just anecdotally, I know a lot of comedy writers, people who work in the industry, are shaking in their boots right now,” says Laurel Ahnert, an assistant teaching professor of communication studies at Northeastern. “They feel like this is a death knell for them and their careers. So, there are people in the industry themselves who are anticipating the collapse of these longstanding franchises.”
More specifically, the cancellation of the industry’s leading late-night show reveals the awkward place the format finds itself in 2025.
The traditional late-night model worked so well on broadcast networks like CBS and NBC because there used to be a select few TV channels that people could tune in to every night. Now, late-night shows are not only competing against each other and cable programming but a firehose of content on streaming platforms, YouTube and TikTok.
“If you approach late-night television as trying to remake a scenario where everyone is tuning in at a particular time to watch a particular thing and it’s only going to be judged based off of those ratings, then it’s a failing strategy because we can already see Colbert was the highest-rated late-night show,” Granelli says.
Traditional late-night shows have been adapting to this new media environment for years now. More often than not, “Late Show” viewers watch clips of Colbert interviewing guests not during the show’s broadcast time slot but online and in bitsized clips on social media.
The producers behind late-night shows have for years tried to create moments that go viral online and even design entire segments, like Seth Meyers’ “Day Drinking,” that seem tailormade to live online.
However, there’s a fundamental contradiction between these shows shifting to feed an online audience and the high production value — and cost — of running a traditional late-night show, Granelli explains.
It doesn’t quite explain CBS’ decision to completely axe “The Late Show,” he adds. Other networks like NBC found ways to cut costs without canceling late-night programming. The next generation of online-only talk shows, like “Hot Ones” and “Chicken Shop Date” raise the question of whether the glitz and glamor of traditional late night is necessary at all.
“Can a late-night show look more like a podcast and have the low production values of a video podcast?” Granelli says.
Both experts agree that although anxiety around the state of late night is hitting a fever pitch, it’s not going away anytime soon.
“I can’t predict the future, but I do think if not an end, we’re going to see a mutation of the late-night formula,” Ahnert says. “These are largely a vehicle for entertainment promotion, so I think something will emerge, and we already see a lot of YouTube people interviewing celebrities. There’s going to be a place for that type of content.”
Colbert and his team still have 10 months left, and it looks like they’re going out with a bang. But where he goes next — another network or cable show or a podcast like his former late-night compatriot Conan O’Brien — could also be a sign of the format’s future.
As for “The Late Show” itself, Granelli notes how CBS essentially “just put a defibrillator to the interest in this show.”
“There’s going to be more people watching the next set of live shows than there probably have been for the past 10 years,” Granelli says.