CBS ends “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” next year

Cnn
–

In a shocking step, CBS ends “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” next year and may leave the late night television business as a whole.

The cancellation will be effective in May 2026, the normal end of the Broadcast TV season, the network announced on Thursday evening.

The move is particularly surprising, since “The Late Show” is usually the highest rated show at night. And the timing is obliged to ask questions, since only two weeks after the parent company of CBS, Paramount, has derived a lawsuit by President Trump against CBS News.

The settlement – and the upcoming merger of Paramount with SkyDance media – triggered speculation about Colbert's future at CBS. After all, Colbert is one of Trump's most fixed critics on television.

Colbert played online for his fate when he returned from vacation on Monday evening. He condemned the Paramount settlement in the air and compared it to a “big fat bribery money”, and he joked that his new mustache would protect him from the company: “Okay, okay, but how will you put Stephen Colbert pressure … if you can't find it?”

However, CBS said in an explanation: “This is a purely financial decision against a challenging background in the late night. It is in no way related to the performance, content or other matters of the show in any way.”

Colbert shared the news at his show on Thursday evening.

“Next year will be our last season,” said Colbert, as an audible 'Boos' in the studio audience. “The network will end our show in May,” he said. “It is the end of” The Late Show “on CBS,” he added and said: “It all just goes away.”

Colbert said he found out about the “last night” network.

“I want to say that the people of CBS were great partners,” said Colbert. “I am so grateful to the Tiffany network that he gave me this chair and this beautiful theater at home. And of course I am grateful to you, the audience that came to us every evening here, outside, all over the world.”

Colbert, who took over the management from David Letterman in 2015, said: “I wish someone else would get it” after him.

The network ended James Corden's “Late Late Show” in 2023. At that time, the managers said that the show had become unprofitable for CBS. Colbert helped produce a replacement show “After Midnight” that ended at the beginning of this year.

This is a developing story. It is updated.