# CBS is ending ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ next year (May 21, 2026) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [July 17, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000 "2025-07-17T23:57:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/181 "2025-07-24T18:07:03Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I disagree that you have to be a political attack dog to get viewers. Carson was a class act and so was Jay Leno. That – Carson in particular – was a different era. The media landscape, how people watch shows, and our society’s preoccupation with politics as entertainment, have all changed dramatically. The formula which worked for Carson 40 years ago, or Leno 20 years ago, very likely wouldn’t have a ghost of a chance of working today. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/182 "2025-07-24T18:14:01Z")
So how do you explain Fallon’s ratings being lower than Colbert and how do you explain Colbert having the best ratings for late night? Carson was on the air when there were far fewer viewing options, how so you not understand that this fact resulted in more people watching his show when there were very few other options? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/183 "2025-07-24T18:21:25Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > if CBS decided 20 minutes from now that he’s off the air, effective immediately, the network would handle it the way they handle cancelling any show. Usually when a show cancellation is announced, it isn’t publicly celebrated by a much-loathed President of the United States, whom, coincidentally, the show’s host has frequently attacked. So CBS does have to tread carefully. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/184 "2025-07-24T18:24:27Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > That – Carson in particular – was a different era. Ain’t that the truth. Even as bad as Nixon may have been we weren’t living under a proto-authoritarian government. The fact we are now and some refuse to recognize it is irrelevant. These late night talking heads have become more political in an effort to push back on what is happening. It is very likely in the coming weeks they will be silenced. Redstone clearly doesn’t give a shit about pushback from the public or her reputation. She just wants to see the deal go through. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/185 "2025-07-24T18:27:37Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > So CBS does have to tread carefully. Maybe, but again, my point is that from a _legal basis_, there’s nothing special about Colbert’s show, his contract, or the unions whose members work on his show which make it any more difficult to cancel it on a moment’s notice. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/186 "2025-07-24T18:46:53Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > If it’s political he made it so. What are you saying with this? If a comedian attacks those in power, then it’s their fault that those in power corruptly suppress the speech of that comedian because the comedian was the one who “made it political”? Is it fair game for anyone who criticizes a president to be silenced, because, again, they were the ones that made it political? Incidentally, if Trump wants less coverage on talk shows, maybe he should be less of the news. He makes a hundred times more news than any president Johnny Carson poked fun at. You basically have to talk about Trump if you’re running something like a talk show. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/187 "2025-07-24T18:52:49Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Carson was a class act Carson _played_ a class act on television. In real life, he was a rotten, detestable son of a bitch. > **[A long-awaited biography of Johnny Carson proves he's the Everest of...](https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-10-28/johnny-carson-tonight-show-bill-zehme-biography)** > > 'The Tonight Show' uber host has been off the air longer than he was on it. Does Johnny Carson's legend live? ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/188 "2025-07-24T19:07:03Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Is it fair game for anyone who criticizes a president to be silenced, because, again, they were the ones that made it political? Well, not when the President in question is a Satanic, baby eating Communist. Then it’s just fine. But a fine upstanding conservative, God-fearing patriot? Then it’s off with their heads! /s ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/189 "2025-07-24T23:09:16Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Carson _played_ a class act on television. > > In real life, he was a rotten, detestable son of a bitch. Your cite is paywalled. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/190 "2025-07-24T23:16:03Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > What are you saying with this? He made his show political. He is a shill for the Democratic party. It’s not some kind of dark hidden secret. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/191 "2025-07-24T23:45:37Z")
Hijack, but did anyone else here watch his 2016 election night special show on the Showtime premium cable network? If you remember, _everyone_, including Trump, expected Hillary Clinton to win. So the show started off light but gradually got really dark and sad as those present realized the consequences. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/192 "2025-07-24T23:50:59Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > > [@Cervaise](#): > > > > Carson _played_ a class act on television. > > > > In real life, he was a rotten, detestable son of a bitch. > > Your cite is paywalled. The main takeaway is that he was a very nasty and sometimes violent drunk who abused his wives. He was married four times. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/193 "2025-07-25T00:32:40Z")
You think CBS firing a bunch of unionized electricians (for example) on short notice won’t have any repercussions from unionized electricians at other CBS studios in New York? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/194 "2025-07-25T00:36:14Z")
I doubt that the union tradespeople are only working on one show and in any event are paid hourly. They’ll have other things to do. Regardless of what happens, there’s a contract and the contract will be fulfilled ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/195 "2025-07-25T00:37:30Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > You think CBS firing a bunch of unionized electricians (for example) on short notice won’t have any repercussions from unionized electricians at other CBS studios in New York? Where did I say that? I have acknowledged, several times, that there would likely be PR issues if CBS chose to shut it down now. My point has been that there’s no special protection of Colbert, or his staff, _from a legal or contractual basis_, that makes the show, and the people who work on it, **any different** from the people who work on any other TV show. TV shows get cancelled on a daily basis, usually on short notice, and the people who work on those TV shows – many of whom are members of a union or guild – wind up suddenly out of work. Even those working in New York. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/196 "2025-07-25T00:40:08Z")
And my point is that there are more issues at stake than legal and contractual issues. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/197 "2025-07-25T00:41:43Z")
I don’t disagree, and keep saying so, but it seems like people keep wanting to argue with me anyway. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/198 "2025-07-25T01:43:19Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > He made his show political. He is a shill for the Democratic party. It’s not some kind of dark hidden secret. You seem to be saying that it’s fair game for a president to silence their critics because those critics “made it political” by attacking the president. You seem quite hostile to the concept of free speech. It’s also pretty ridiculous to think you have to be a “shill for the democratic party” to attack Trump. He garners more criticism through his actions and words than any president we’ve ever seen in our lifetime. To not talk about him on a show about daily events would have to be a deliberate decision because he makes himself the dominant piece of news almost every day. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/199 "2025-07-25T02:07:37Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Giving Colbert another year is either really stupid or some kind of clever PR rope-a-dope I’m too dim to figure out. Everyone has it exactly backwards, IMO. The _actual_ reason for the cancellation is financial. But they _want_ it to seem like it’s motivated by Trump. CBS gets to cancel a money-losing show in a dead, Boomer-slop format. The cancellation itself gets to happen in a normal, orderly fashion. Trump gets to think that he had something to do with it. The show gets a temporary ratings boost from people that think it’s somehow sticking it to Trump. CBS suffers no long-term reputational damage because the public can’t remember anything that happened more than 6 months ago. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000/200 "2025-07-25T02:10:54Z")
It seems CBS is sending mixed messages. I suspect intentionally so. Everyone gets to pick their preferred message and the CBS execs can sneak away unnoticed. > The CBS press release announcing the decision had very big “My ‘We didn’t cancel _Late Show_ because of President Trump’ T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt” energy. The first paragraph of the release reads, “We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘THE LATE SHOW’ franchise at that time.” But then the second paragraph insists, “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.” These two ideas aren’t in complete opposition to one another, but they’re nonetheless getting very different ideas across, as if the people tasked with putting lipstick on this particular pig couldn’t decide which approach was better — or, at least, which was less bad than the other — threw up their hands, and tried both. Pointedly, there is _no_ comment from Colbert in the release, and there’s no way he wasn’t asked to provide a polite quote. - [SOURCE](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/late-show-with-stephen-colbert-ending-analysis-1235388587/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cbs-is-ending-the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert-next-year-may-21-2026/1021000.md?page=11)