Category: 5. Entertainment

The Avengers need a new leader, and given how many potential candidates for the gig have either died, retired, or turned evil, they need it soon. The multiverse is collapsing, timelines are unravelling, box office numbers are wobbling, the Kang plan is in tatters and Blade is on its ninth script. So, naturally, Marvel’s answer is to hand the reins to a stretchy man in sensible shoes who once broke the entire multiverse.

Yes, according to The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman, the awesome foursome’s Reed Richards is being lined up as the new leader of Earth’s mightiest heroes. Or at least, he is (at times) in the comics, and it looks increasingly like he might be the only reality-straddling, buttoned up polymathable to take on this job on the big screen.

“He goes from being the nerdy scientist who’s locked away in the lab, to the husband and the father who’d do anything to protect his family, to the guy who’s leading the Avengers,” Shakman told Variety, in a new interview ahead of the release of First Steps. “I realised that the version we were building had to have all of those elements.”

With the Fantastic Four’s debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe now only a week away, it’s perhaps the right time to take a look at exactly what kind of man Marvel might be nudging into the empty chair. Let’s not forget that this is a mantle once sort of jointly held by Iron Man and Captain America.

Reed Richards, by contrast, is less a natural leader than he is the kind of man who accidentally invents godhood before breakfast. In the comics, he’s a genius, a father, a sometimes war criminal, and very occasionally the most powerful being in existence. If Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark was all ego, charisma and self-loathing in a can, and Chris Evans’s Steve Rogers was apple pie and emotional repression with the ability to bench-press liberty, then Reed is the guy who treats collapsing timelines like a crossword puzzle and has, on more than one occasion in the comics, tried to solve galactic crises using charts.

Perhaps the difference this time around (after two attempts to bring the Fantastic Four to the big screen during the 20th Century Fox era) is that Richards is now being played by Pedro Pascal, an actor who has already proven in The Mandalorian that he can project warmth, gravitas and reluctant-dad energy despite wearing a bucket on his head. If anyone can revive Marvel, it’s the guy who transformed what should have been another run-of-the-mill zombie video game adaptation (The Last of Us) into high-end post-apocalyptic art-house TV.

Giving Reed Richards the top job also speaks volumes about where the MCU is right now. Gone are the days of heroes with moral codes, defined character arcs, and just one version of themselves per universe. We’re deep into the age of collapse and crossover, where no one knows who’s running what, where half the audience are Googling “Wait, who is that?” during every post-credits scene, and the only thing holding the multiverse together is the vague promise that Downey’s Doctor Doom will eventually reboot the franchise with the sheer force of his contempt.

All of which brings us to hints this week (denied by Shakman) that the metal-plated menace might make his first appearance in First Steps, before presumably following Marvel’s first family into the main MCU in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday. If Reed is Marvel’s reset button, Doom is its nuclear option — the character you deploy when you’ve run out of timelines, villains, and narrative excuses.

The idea of Reed going up against a twisted variant of the previous Avengers figurehead – if this new Doom really is some kind of alternate-universe Tony Stark with a god complex and a cloak budget – has a certain multiverse-bending symmetry to it. So why not have Reed face him down as a new type of Avengers leader? They might just be from the same universe, and this is a battle that has been carried out countless times in print. Mister Fantastic is brilliant. He’s brave. And he’s got a pretty impressive track record of saving all of existence – which could come in useful when you’re facing the sort of supervillain who treats the fabric of existence like a mood board for his ego.

Unlike Stark or Rogers, Reed doesn’t need a cool catchphrase, or a billion-dollar suit with built-in sarcasm. He just needs a quiet room, a few hundred monitors, and the freedom to quietly map the collapse of the multiverse.

Legendary lyricist Alan Bergman died on Thursday (July 17) at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 99, it was announced Friday by family spokesman Ken Sunshine. His daughter Julie Bergman was present at the time of his death.

Bergman suffered from respiratory issues in recent months, but continued to write songs till the end.

Bergman and his wife, Marilyn Bergman (who died in 2022 at age 93), are probably best known for writing exquisite ballads such as “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life,” “Pieces of Dreams” and “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?,” but they refused to be typecast. They also wrote the witty theme songs for such TV series as Maude, Good Times and Alice.

The Bergmans won three Academy Awards, including best original song for “The Windmills of Your Mind” from The Thomas Crown Affair and “The Way We Were” from the movie of the same name, and three Grammy Awards, including song of the year for “The Way We Were.”

The Bergmans received 15 Oscar nominations for best original song, a total equaled or bettered by only four songwriters in history – Sammy Cahn (26), Johnny Mercer (18), Diane Warren (16) and Paul Francis Webster (16). The Bergmans collaborated on their Oscar-nominated songs with seven different composers – Michel Legrand, Henry Mancini, Maurice Jarre, Marvin Hamlisch, David Shire, John Williams and Dave Grusin.

In 1983 they became the first (and still only) songwriters to be nominated for three Oscars for best original song in one year for “How Do You Keep the Music Playing” from Best Friends, “It Might Be You” from Tootsie and “If We Were in Love” from Yes, Giorgio.

They also won four Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.

The Bergmans were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 and received that organization’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 1997. They received a trustees award from the Recording Academy in 2013.

The Bergmans also received lifetime achievement awards from the National Academy of Songwriters and the National Music Publishers Association. They received honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and the University of Massachusetts. Alan Bergman’s alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, recognized him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award.

In the years since his wife’s death, Alan Bergman continued to write, record and perform. His final collaboration was with guitarist and composer Pat Metheny, who is set to record an album of nine Bergman/Metheny songs later this year.

Bergman died just eight days after the announcement of a celebration in his honor on what would have been his 100th birthday on Sept. 11. Many of his friends and admirers were set to perform at a concert in his honor that night at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Calif.

The roster was set to include Patti Austin, Shelly Berg, Aloe Blacc, Jackson Browne, Peter Erskine, Michael Feinstein, David Finck, Mitch Forman, Jason Gould, Dave Grusin, Tamir Hendelman, Trey Henry, Roger Kellaway, Seth MacFarlane, Serge Merlaud, Greg Phillinganes, Paul Reiser, Lee Ritenour, Sheléa, Tierney Sutton and Lillias White. In addition, there were to have been video appearances by Bill Charlap, Natalie Dessay, Pat Metheny, Neima Naouri and Barbra Streisand, who paid tribute to Bergman and Marilyn on her Grammy-nominated 2011 album What Matters Most – Barbra Streisand Sings the Lyrics of Alan & Marilyn Bergman. 

The event would have served as a benefit for the Jazz Bakery, of which Bergman was a founding board member. The non-profit listening room has been called “the most prestigious jazz space in Los Angeles.”

Two of the artists who were on the bill for the birthday event shared comments in a statement.

Five-time Grammy nominee Michael Feinstein said, “The songs Alan and Marilyn have written are part of a pantheon of enduring music that will live long beyond Alan’s Centenary, for they are timeless expressions of the human condition, and will never grow old. The love that they fundamentally lived, expressed and demonstrated in life, imbues their work with a special eloquence and truth. It is an honor to celebrate Alan on his 100th!”

Actor, comedian and writer Paul Reiser commented, “My goal in life is to try to be even a small fraction of the man — and artist — that my dear friend Alan Bergman is. (I may need more than 100 years to get there, but … working on it.)”

In addition, Ruth Price, founder of the Jazz Bakery, said, “100 years on this planet is no small achievement, but to have graced those years with such love, beauty and art speaks to a life extraordinarily well lived. Alan is incomparable, and I love him for all kinds of reasons.”

Survivors include his daughter Julie Bergman, a writer and film producer, and granddaughter Emily Sender, who just completed her masters in global food studies. There will be a private graveside burial.

Folkestone doesn’t have a pier. It has an Arm. That’s what the harbour’s long walkway into the Channel is called. It is a suitably surreal, even grotesque setting for the Folkestone Triennial artworks that infest its salty nooks and crannies – or armpits and elbow crooks. Laure Prouvost has placed a mutant seabird, with three heads and an electric plug on its tail, on the adjacent concrete stump of the defunct ferry terminal. Surprising? Not really if you have just visited The Ministry of Sewers, an installation by Cooking Sections that documents and protests the poisoning of our rivers and seas.

There’s nothing like an exhibit on the scale of Britain’s water pollution to kick off a day at the seaside. It’s cloudy when I visit, the cliffs and sea swathed in white mist and the water under the Arm looking like a detergent soup. It all adds to the uncanny mood. And art doesn’t come much more uncanny than the sculpture by Dorothy Cross near the far end of the Arm. You have to go down soaking wet, concrete steps to a recess with a precipitous opening to the evil-looking sea. “Try not to fall in,” says the attendant, who stays up above. Here you find a massive block of blood-coloured marble, as if a giant tuna steak had been stashed here by fish smugglers. The sides are smooth, the top uneven and rough. Out of this earthy hulk Cross has carved several pairs of feet in hyperrealistic detail, nervously walking its beach-like surface. They face out to sea, as if about to make a bold leap into the blue-green water, to find a better life.

Cross has made a monument to migrants. The marble she has used is from Syria, the feet pattering over it full of fear and hope. These lifelike appendages and the surface on which they stand echo Magritte’s surrealist 1934 painting The Red Model, of disembodied feet on red ground, while her use of massive, raw stone to suggest infinite sorrow – the weight of the world – shows she understands Michelangelo. This is a superb sculpture, brilliantly sited. It would be worth visiting Folkestone just to see it.

But there’s more – if you fancy a walk. Up above the cliffs, on steep green downs guarded by Martello towers built to fend off invasion during the Napoleonic wars, are a string of thoughtful, often witty artworks. A monolith that looks as if it were made from glue and plastic stands alone on a mowed hill, facing the sea. Approaching, you read the words “Curse dissolved”. That’s heartening. The brochure describes this piece by South African artist Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape as “meditative” but it made me laugh. What is the curse? Who lifted it?

I chew on this as I climb to a white circular tower inside which Katie Paterson also plays with magic. Paterson shows, on curving display tables inside the round room where red-coated soldiers once lived, a collection of mystic charms from different times and places. There are images of ancient Egyptian gods, Buddhist amulets and a tiny figure of the Mesopotamian demon Pazuzu who features in The Exorcist.

Each replica is cast in materials that bear witness to planetary crisis, including space debris from satellites and plastic from the Mariana trench. Paterson has a track record of working with scientists to get her hands on such exotic materials. Her installation is a more refined version of the Ministry of Sewers, a sly way to show us that we are turning everything to crap. These amulets are bluntly satirical. They seem to mock the magical thinking of those who would wish away the Earth’s crisis.

If you head on to the next Martello tower you might be momentarily cheered up by Jennifer Tee’s wavy picture of a giant kelp, mapped in the grass in brown bricks which also have sea kelp and other life forms imprinted on their surfaces. It makes you look out to the sea below and imagine the threatened life it holds.

There are jollities to be found in this seaside art trail – for the kids, Monster Chetwynd has started building an adventure playground, and down in the harbour you can get Emeka Ogboh’s “artist designed ice-cream”. But then I find huge burial urns littered in the high moorland overlooking the misty Channel. Sara Trillo has modelled these deathly objects on bronze age grave goods. They return you to melancholy: the view from here is as bleak as it is beautiful.

Folkestone Triennial opens on 19 July

BOOM, Belgium (AP) — Fans roared in excitement and organizers sighed with relief as the Tomorrowland music festival kicked off Friday — just two days after a massive fire engulfed the main stage and threw one of Europe’s biggest summer concert events into doubt.

Workers labored around the clock to clear out the debris from the elaborate backdrop that was consumed in Wednesday’s fire.

Shouting ‘’We made it!’’, the festival’s opening performers, Australian electronic music group Nervo, were able to take to the main stage Friday after a last-minute scramble and slight delay. Some charred frames were still visible behind them.

No one was hurt in the fire, organizers said. The causes are being investigated.

Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world attend Tomorrowland’s annual multi-day festival outside the Belgian town of Boom. Some 38,000 people were camping at the festival site Friday, Tomorrowland spokesperson Debby Wilmsen said.

’’Maybe there are some few people that say, OK, we would like to have a refund, but it’s only like a very small percentage because most of them are still coming to the festival,” she told AP.

“It is all about unity, and I think with a good vibe and a positive energy that our festival-goers give to each other and the music we offer, I think they will still have a good time,″ she said. ’’We really tried our best.″

Australian fans Zak Hiscock and Brooke Antoniou — who traveled half the world to see the famed festival as part of a summer holiday in Europe — described hearing about the fire.

“We were sitting having dinner when we actually heard the news of the stage burning down. We were very devastated and shattered, quite upset because we travelled a long way,’’ Hiscock said.

Ukrainian visitor Oleksandr Beshkynskyi shared their joy that the festival went ahead as planned.

‘’It’s not just about the one DJ or two DJs you’re looking to see, but about all the mood and about the dream being alive,” Beshkynskyi said. ___

Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.

 

View the Promo HERE 

View Photos HERE 

New York, NY – July 18, 2025 – Discovery Channel’s new occupation-reality series TRUCK DYNASTY, premiering Tuesday, August 12 at 9PM ET/PT, follows a larger-than-life family who transform average trucks into the loudest, most coveted, and eye-catching custom creations around. 

Florida’s Apocalypse Manufacturing owner Joe Ghattas is a self-made boss in the custom truck industry, known for his bold designs and loyal following that includes hardcore enthusiasts, world-famous rappers, sports superstars, and elite supermodels. Alongside his wife and co-owner Ashley, he designs, fabricates, and sells these outrageous custom creations. No design is too wild for them to build – ranging from an Apocalypse Hellfire with a pull-out mobile kitchen for legendary chef Guy Fieri or an Apocalypse Super Truck with superhero branding for NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal. With the support of his in-laws, who run sales and marketing for the business, Joe is on the brink of breaking through the fiercely competitive marketplace to establish an American auto brand in a category all its own.  

From a high-water emergency response vehicle built for fire departments to traverse downed palm trees to a ‘Boat Truck’ – an amphibious Jeep that cruises the highway and dives straight into the water – TRUCK DYNASTY showcases next-level creations built to conquer land, water, and everything in between. 

For the latest updates, viewers can use the hashtag #TruckDynasty and follow Discovery on Facebook, X, and Instagram.  

TRUCK DYNASTY is produced for Discovery Channel by Scott Brothers Entertainment, with powerhouse executive producers Drew and Jonathan Scott. 

---

About Discovery Channel   

Across every platform, Discovery Channel is dedicated to connecting audiences who have a passion for adventure and crave a connection to the world around them. Popular series including Deadliest Catch, Expedition Unknown, Mystery at Blind Frog Ranch and Gold Rush, along with Shark Week, the annual tentpole programming event, serve as trusted portals that transport viewers directly into thrilling, real, high stakes moments. Through smart, authentic characters whose stories inform and inspire, Discovery celebrates the men and women who will stop at nothing to explore new spaces and achieve their dreams. For more information, please visit www.discovery.com. 

Discovery Channel is part of Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD), a leading global media and entertainment company that creates and distributes the world’s most differentiated and complete portfolio of content and brands across television, film and streaming. Available in more than 220 countries and territories and 50 languages, Warner Bros. Discovery inspires, informs and entertains audiences worldwide through its iconic brands and products which also include: Discovery Channel, Max, discovery+, CNN, DC, Eurosport, HBO, HBO Max, HGTV, OWN, Investigation Discovery, TLC, Magnolia Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Games, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies, Discovery en Español, Hogar de HGTV and others. For more information, please visit www.wbd.com. 

Celebrities have expressed disappointment and anger at the controversial decision to end the long-running Late Show, bringing an end to host Stephen Colbert’s award-winning tenure.

The late-night comedy show has been on CBS for 33 years and the news arrived just days after Colbert called out the network’s parent company Paramount for settling a “frivolous” lawsuit with Donald Trump for $16m. Paramount is seeking approval for a $8.4bn merger with Skydance, a company ran by David Ellison, son of close Trump ally Larry Ellison.

Colbert called it a “big fat bribe” earlier this week and later announced to his audience that the show would be ending next year. “Let me tell you, it is a fantastic job,” he said. “I wish someone else was getting it. And it is a job I am looking forward to doing with this usual gang of idiots for another 10 months.”

The Late Show received an Emmy nomination earlier this week for talk series.

“Sorry to hear @CBS is canceling one of the best shows they have,” actor and director Ben Stiller wrote on X. “Wishing all the people who work so hard on that show all the best.”

His Severance colleague Adam Scott also shared his sentiment. “Love you Stephen,” he wrote. “This is absolute bullshit and I for one am looking forward to the next 10 months of shows.”

Writer and director Judd Apatow also wrote in response to Colbert’s Instagram post: “My admiration and appreciation for you is bottomless. Excited to see what other brilliance you put into the world.”

Broadcast journalist Katie Couric added: “I am so upset about this. I need more information.”

West Side Story and Evita actor Rachel Zegler wrote: “i am extremely sad. i adore you, stephen.”

Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste, who used to lead Colbert’s band on the show, called him “the greatest to ever do it” on Instagram.

Actor John Cusack shared a clip of Colbert on social media and wrote: “He’s not groveling enough to American fascism – Larry Ellison needs his tax cuts — doesn’t need comedians reminding people they are not cattle.”

Senator Bernie Sanders also expressed similar ire. “CBS’s billionaire owners pay Trump $16 million to settle a bogus lawsuit while trying to sell the network to Skydance,” he wrote. “Stephen Colbert, an extraordinary talent and the most popular late night host, slams the deal. Days later, he’s fired. Do I think this is a coincidence? NO.”

TV personality Andy Cohen, who hosts late-night show Watch What Happens Live, called it “a sad day” both for late-night television and for CBS. “I’m stunned,” he said to Deadline. “He’s one of three late-night shows deemed worthy enough for an Emmy nomination. He produces a brilliant show.”

Colbert’s late-night rival Jimmy Kimmel also weighed in, sharing his frustration with the decision. In an Instagram story poking fun at the network’s much-ridiculed comedy shows, he wrote: “Love you, Stephen. Fuck you and all your Sheldons, CBS.”

Trump has already taken to Truth Social for a victory lap, writing: “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”

Director Mohit Suri has revealed that debutant Ahaan Panday nearly missed out on his lead role in ‘Saiyaara’ a romantic musical drama, due to an old mimicry video of Shah Rukh Khan that resurfaced online. The video, which showed Ahaan recreating iconic scenes from ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ and ‘Mohabbatein’, drew criticism and raised doubts about his casting.

Mohit Suri says Ahaan Panday’s mimicry video was endearing, not disqualifying

In an interview with Radio Nasha, Mohit Suri clarified that Ahaan Panday’s mimicry video was made well before he joined the industry. He shared that while his wife found the video endearing, he hadn’t seen it himself. By the time they met, Ahaan had already taken it down after being advised to focus on acting over mimicry.Initially, Mohit Suri didn’t think Ahaan Panday was right for the role and was advised by Aditya Chopra to meet him for dinner to let him down gently. However, after spending time with Ahaan until 3 AM, Suri saw his character come alive in him. Later, in a playful twist, Ahaan sent Suri all his bad audition videos on WhatsApp, joking, “Look who you’ve cast.”

‘Saiyaara’ marks Ahaan Panday’s debut opposite Aneet Padda

The film stars Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda in lead roles and explores a rollercoaster romance set against a musical backdrop. The trailer, released on July 9, has garnered over 4 million views, with fans praising the fresh pairing and emotional tone.Already popular on several platforms, the music album comprises songs by Mithoon, Sachet-Parampara, Vishal Mishra, Tanishk Bagchi, and Faheem Abdullah.

Mohit Suri says ‘Saiyaara’ is not another ‘Aashiqui 2’

While comparisons to Aashiqui 2 are inevitable, Mohit Suri clarified that Saiyaara is a completely different story. He explained that it follows a young boy chasing big dreams, someone who hasn’t even tasted success yet. In fact, Suri added, Saiyaara feels more personal and closer to his own early years.The film is set to release in theatres on July 18, 2025, and marks Suri’s first collaboration with Yash Raj Films.

Donald Trump posted his reaction to CBS announcing the upcoming cancelation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

The president said he was saddened by the company’s decision to end such an iconic series, and added that even though Colbert frequently mocked and criticized him over the years, that he nonetheless respected Colbert as media professional and wished him the best of luck moving forward.

Kidding. Trump positively gloated (as we predicted he would), and took shots at ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel and NBC host Jimmy Fallon while he was at it.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning. “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! [Fox News late night host] Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”

Last night, Kimmel posted his own reaction to CBS’ decision on Instagram, saying, “Love you Stephen. F–k you and all your Sheldons CBS.”

CBS shocked the industry on Thursday by announcing that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will wrap its run in May 2026, following the 2025-26 broadcast season.

The announcement also comes as CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, is hoping to close a merger with Skydance in the next few months. The company recently settled a lawsuit filed last year by Trump (before he was elected to a second term as president) over a 60 Minutes interview with Trump’s election opponent, Kamala Harris. The settlement is widely seen as helping the merger’s chances for approval by the FCC under the Trump administration — and which Colbert criticized earlier this week, calling the $16 million settlement a “big fat bribe.”

In a statement, CBS said the merger wasn’t a factor in the decision and the cancellation was “purely a financial decision” made in a declining linear TV landscape. According to The New York Times, broadcast late-night ad revenue has dropped 50 percent in the last seven years.

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season,” read the statement from Paramount co-CEO and CBS president and CEO George Cheeks, CBS Entertainment head Amy Reisenbach and CBS Studios president David Stapf. “We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire The Late Show franchise at that time. We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television. This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

But as The Hollywood Reporter‘s Daniel Feinberg pointed out, “official reasons and optics are two different things, and if the folks in charge at CBS didn’t know what the optics were, they wouldn’t have released a statement saying that what we think we can see with our eyes and infer with our common sense definitely aren’t the truth. The optics here may not have any connection to facts, but man the optics here suck — and they suck on a slew of levels that are ALL addressed in the statement as things that we’re not supposed to be thinking about but can’t help but think about.”

— Rick Porter contributed to this report

Donald Trump posted his reaction to CBS announcing the upcoming cancelation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

The president said he was saddened by the company’s decision to end such an iconic series, and added that even though Colbert frequently mocked and criticized him over the years, that he nonetheless respected Colbert as media professional and wished him the best of luck moving forward.

Kidding.

Trump positively gloated (as we predicted he would), and took shots at ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel and NBC host Jimmy Fallon while he was at it.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning. “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! [Fox News late night host] Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”

CBS announced on Thursday that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will wrap its run in May 2026, following the 2025-26 broadcast season.

Colbert told the show’s live audience during the taping of Thursday’s show at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York. In a statement, CBS said the cancellation was “purely a financial decision” made in a declining linear TV landscape.

The announcement also comes as CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, is hoping to close a merger with Skydance in the next few months. The company recently settled a lawsuit filed last year by Donald Trump (before he was elected to a second term as president) over a 60 Minutes interview with Trump’s election opponent, Kamala Harris. The settlement is widely seen as helping the merger’s chances for approval by the FCC under the Trump administration — and which Colbert criticized upon his return from a hiatus earlier this week. In its statement, CBS said that wasn’t a factor in the decision.

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season,” reads a statement from Paramount co-CEO and CBS president and CEO George Cheeks, CBS Entertainment head Amy Reisenbach and CBS Studios president David Stapf. “We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire The Late Show franchise at that time. We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television. This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”  

— Rick Porter contributed to this report

From an early age I worried if I was doing enough. Growing up in Hong Kong, a city where competition is keen, I wanted to do well. That brought a lot of anxiety.

I started to practise mindfulness in 2012. It helps a lot with my emotions, and I can think more clearly. As an educational psychologist, I see lots of mental health issues. I think bringing mindfulness into our schools is an important way to find moments of calm, especially in the fast-paced city of Hong Kong.

That’s what drew me to the Space‑Out competition – a contest about doing nothing. I saw it advertised on social media last year. The founder, Korean artist Woopsyang, has said that there’s a lot of societal pressure to always be productive, so it’s important to appreciate downtime.

Woopsyang started the Space-Out competition in Seoul in 2014. It was a performance-art piece that involved people competing to effectively do nothing and “space out” for 90 minutes. There have since been competitions all over the world, held several times a year.

I entered one in Hong Kong last October. It was a hot afternoon and the event was held in an open space inside a busy mall in the centre of the city. There were many spectators chit-chatting. About 100 people took part, each sitting on a yoga mat that had been laid out neatly on the square.

We were guided through a series of stretches before we settled down for the 90 minutes. You have to sit there without any significant movement; you cannot sleep, make any noise or check your phone.

After the time is up, the final 10 participants are voted for by the spectators, likely based on our statements about why we joined the competition, and our expressions over the 90 minutes. The finalists’ heart rates are measured throughout – the one with the steadiest is the winner.

Every 15 minutes or so the judges come to measure your heart rate. These approaches make you nervous. I could feel my heart beating faster, but I tried to see it as a way to practise acceptance – to notice those feelings of tenseness, and try not to force myself to relax.

We all have wandering minds – my thoughts jumped from my family, to the sound of the wind in the trees, to the fan humming around us. But you just take note of them. You observe it, like seeing the clouds up in the sky and how they come and go.

I paid attention to my breath, to the feelings in my body, and my thoughts and emotions. I focused on the sensation of the breeze across my skin, noticing subtle changes in the environment and how they affected my body. Though it was a “space out” competition, I was doing the opposite: actively practising mindfulness, observing my mind and my breath.

skip past newsletter promotion

after newsletter promotion

After about 30 minutes, I remembered we were being judged by the spectators, so I tried to imagine what being spaced out would look like. I dropped my glasses down my nose and sat like that for the next hour.

When they announced the competition was over, I wanted to sit for longer. I have a busy life – alongside my job, I am studying, and have two kids, aged 11 and nine – so having this space was a luxury, especially in this world where our minds are stimulated all day long. Often we can get through a day and our mind might not have settled for even a second.

I was surprised when I was announced as the winner. I understand that, for many people, sitting in silence for 90 minutes would be a nightmare, but I found it very enjoyable.

I think it’s vital to take time to come back to ourselves. In many parts of the world, people live day in, day out, never stopping – it’s as if stopping is a kind of laziness. Although the event was just for 90 minutes, it gave us a way to just be ourselves, and I hope it reminds people that productivity isn’t always the most important thing.

The trophy I won is based on Rodin’s The Thinker statue. It sits in my living room, and I see it as a reminder that we should all spare at least a few minutes a day to allow ourselves to do the things that nourish us, or just to have the space to do nothing. That is a gift.

As told to Naomi Larsson Piñeda

Do you have an experience to share? Email experience@theguardian.com