In the days ahead of David Ellison buying Paramount, CBS fired Stephen Colbert. Per the network, it was “purely a financial decision.” Colbert countered that it is “reasonable” to assume there were politics at play; CBS had just settled a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over a 60 Minutes segment, and Ellison needed (and still needs) Trump’s Department of Justice to allow the growth of his media empire. Few TV personalities have been as harsh on Trump as Colbert, which is truly saying something.
So CBS is replacing The Late Show, which wraps its 33-year (22 of those with founding host David Letterman) run next month, with Byron Allen‘s panel show Comics Unleashed in a time-buy deal. In other words, it is Allen paying CBS for the airtime (and hopefully recouping its money via commercials) and not the other way around. That may prove to be a very temporary solution for 11:30.
With just a one-season deal in place with Allen, CBS is “developing other ideas” for 11:30 p.m., George Cheeks, Paramount’s chair of TV media, said Wednesday during a press conference.
Cheeks cited the “immediate profitability” (again, because of Allen leasing the hour) that came with the arrangement as having “made lot of sense for us right now.” He said CBS “considered everything” for the post-Colbert era, which included airing repeats and even giving the time back to local affiliates. The Late Show will wrap next month.
But Cheeks, formerly one of a trio of temporary Paramount Global CEOs, wants you to know he is not giving up on late night. He’s just given up on the old financial structure — Colbert’s show, for example, employs 200 people.
“I started in late night. I grew up in late night,” Cheeks said. “I believe in late night. I think the reality is that the reach is still there, but the reach is there primarily on YouTube, which is under monetized. So if we’re going to go back in that space, we have to go back in that space with a different financial model.”
Everything is on the table, Cheeks said.
Amy Reisenbach, CBS Entertainment president, was quick to say these secret concepts are not in “active development,” but are “just conversations at this point.”
Well, you’ve got a year, guys.
