No More Reason To Watch CBS

I'm a Letterman guy.  I was just the right age, when Dave had his NBC show, to get what he was doing--to see him as a sort of rebel, spitting in the face of the suits, the corporations, the network, tradition, and the idea of what was "cool."  But, it turned out, that what Dave really wanted was to be seen as worthy to fill the shoes of his own idol, Johnny Carson, and when that didn't happen (I mean, he had bitten the hand that fed him for a decade by that point), he left in a huff and went to CBS, which rolled out a red carpet for him, buying and refurbishing the Ed Sullivan Theater so he could have his own, more respectable show, airing opposite the Tonight Show, now hosted by Jay Leno, a man Dave had come up with in the industry, who he had called a friend, but now considered an enemy.

I'm getting somewhere with this little history lesson.  That was 1993--a whole lifetime ago--when "The Late Show" began.  And it was shinier, more corporate, more professional, than "Late Night" had been.  David Letterman had grown up.*  And when his CBS show was at its best, it reminded you of what you so loved about Letterman's first show, only with a (slightly) more respectable veneer.  By the time Dave went off the air in 2015, he was the old guard, Seth Meyers was running his old show (now produced by Lorne Michaels), Jay Leno had given way to Conan O'Brien, then took "The Tonight Show" back, and had since passed it to Jimmy Fallon.  And Kimmel had been doing a live show on ABC since 2003.

And after Dave came Stephen Colbert, who, despite being a hundred times more straight-laced, traditional, and respectable as Letterman, made a powerful enemy in one Donald Trump (who he had as a guest on his show in 2016, and when asked why (when he was so negative toward him), said, "I wanted to be able to say I'd had the very last president of the United States on my show."), and after calling out the payout CBS gave the Trump administration when it would've been easily winnible in court as the bribe that it was, his show suddenly became too expensive to produce and was announced to be ending in May of 2026.  

Well, that day has come (and probably gone by the time I finish this post), and Colbert had some great guests in the days before his finale, from Steven Spielberg to Barack Obama, from John Stewart to his fellow late night hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, and Jimmy Fallon.  And, of course, he had Letterman on, to throw things off the roof of the Sullivan Theater in an episode that would have thrilled the eleven year old me to the core.**

And then, Colbert too was gone.  The show is gone, as there's not a host coming after him.  And that, like I said that the start, is that--the only reason left to watch CBS, walking out the door.  Please lock it behind you, would you?

*At least as much as he was capable.  Conan O'Brien took over "Late Night," and was really Dave's successor, bringing his own dorky outsider perspective, only with less cynicism, an earnest wish to be liked that Dave had (whether feigned or not) had never aspired to.

**Colbert claimed CBS/Paramount had given him a big wedding cake in honor of the show, with "The Late Show 1993-2026" written on it, which he tossed off the roof and the camera watched explode on the pavement below in ultra slow-motion.