HOLY SHIT: CBS Just Straight Up Canceled "The Late Show Stephen Colbert" Despite Being Number One In The Ratings, Claiming The Decision Was "Purely Financial"

Source - TV’s ongoing problems with late night have come for Stephen Colbert, with CBS announcing Thursday that it plans to end his “Late Show” after the next TV season, citing a “financial decision.”

The decision — which ends years of original late-night programming at CBS that started when the network lured David Letterman from NBC in 1993 — comes as the economics of wee-hours TV have begun to accelerate, with media companies growing wary of the high price tags involved in producing the shows while the young viewers they try to attract watch more of them via digital video.

Colbert, who was informed of the network’s decision Wednesday evening, according to a person familiar with the matter, told the audience at the taping for Thursday’s broadcast about the matter.

Oh. My. God. There are television shows and then there institutions...The Late Show, my friends, is an institution. That program is to comedy what Michael Jordan is to Basketball. And while it may not be a sliver of what it once was, during it's heyday there was nothing else like it. David Letterman quite literally created redefined what was possible on television while sitting behind The Late Show desk. 

A statement from the network...

“We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘The Late Show’ franchise” in May of 2026,” CBS executives said in a statement. “We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.  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.”

So to me, someone who moved to New York City in 2014 to work for David Letterman, this comes as a shock. Almost as shocking as CBS, a network that's worth $16 BILLION, claiming that the decision was "purely financial." And don't get me wrong, I get it - Colbert is a left leaning host in a nation that increasingly swings right, but even so this seems crazy. Why not just get a new host? Are you guys really losing that much money? Why tell Colbert on a Wednesday? Did he not see this coming? This whole thing just seems so strange and abrupt. The Tonight Show has made it work, why can't The Late Show? Colbert also LEADS IN THE RATINGS with 2.42 million nightly viewers compared to Kimmel's 1.7 and Fallon's 1.19. Then again, my boss can get those kinds of numbers with a single tweet from his couch. I don't know. I just don't get it. There's definitely more to this story. I'll follow up when we learn more but holy moly, the end of an era indeed.