The decision to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert sent ripple effects throughout the entertainment industry. Said announcement came out of left field and was made for a show that reportedly maintained the highest ratings in its genre. However, at least one person in the media thinks it's not too late to simply undo the decision, and that person is Rachel Maddow.
Ever since it was announced that The Late Show was ending, there have been those who have suggested the decision to do so was not financial, as CBS claimed, but rather political. Stephen Colbert was a comedian who often criticized Donald Trump, and many feel the decision to end his show helped pave the way to approval for parent company Paramount’s recent merger with Skydance. In an appearance on The Best People with Nicole Wallace Podcast, MSNOW host Rachel Maddow didn’t simply suggest a connection. She called it “transparent.” Maddow said…
It’s absolutely transparent what CBS and Paramount were doing with getting rid of Stephen Colbert. ‘Oh, it’s a financial decision.’ Right, because having the highest-rated late-night show in America for years is somehow financially unsustainable now when it wasn’t before?
Maddow isn’t the only one who has questioned the justification of the cancellation, as the show wasn’t making money. Jimmy Kimmel, another late-night host who recently found his show embroiled in controversy, previously said he knows what programs like The Late Show cost. With that, Kimmel doesn't believe the show is losing the amount of money that's been claimed.
It's certainly true that the late-night TV ecosystem has gone through a lot of changes in recent years, with the prevalence of people watching clips on YouTube rather than the actual show being a contributing factor. However, there's no indication, at least right now, that any other late-night TV offerings are on the chopping block. In fact, Jimmy Kimmel recently signed a contract extension, so he will be on for at least another year.
As of now, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is set to wrap at the end of the season, sometime in May. However, considering how universally unpopular the decision to end the show has clearly been, Rachel Maddow has a simple suggestion. Maddow continued…’
They announced the cancellation of Colbert — everybody knows what it’s about, right? They’re trying to sort of live down their shame already, and I think, in terms of the way they are capitulating. I think the CBS News takeover has been a huge embarrassment to everybody involved in it. And they should reverse the decision about Colbert. He’s still on the air now, he’s still got a few months horizon left before they’re planning on taking him off the air. They should change that.
Stephen Colbert has made his dissatisfaction with the cancellation clear. It's hard not to wonder that if the new ownership of CBS asked him to stay, he might be willing to do it. Of course, by this point, he may also be ready to move on and not be as willing to stay in a job that he was nearly fired from once.
At this point, though, The Late Show airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET as part of the 2025 TV schedule.
