{"id":587096,"date":"2026-04-16T04:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T04:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587096\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T04:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T04:40:08","slug":"cbs-is-developing-other-ideas-for-late-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587096\/","title":{"rendered":"CBS Is “Developing Other Ideas” for Late Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn the days ahead of David Ellison buying Paramount, CBS<\/a> fired Stephen Colbert<\/a>. Per the network, it was \u201cpurely a financial decision.\u201d Colbert countered that it is \u201creasonable\u201d to assume there were politics at play<\/a>; CBS had just settled a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over a 60 Minutes segment, and Ellison needed (and still needs<\/a>) Trump\u2019s Department of Justice to allow the growth of his media empire. Few TV personalities have been as harsh on Trump as Colbert, which is truly saying something.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo CBS is replacing The Late Show, which wraps its 33-year (22 of those with founding host David Letterman) run next month, with Byron Allen<\/a>\u2018s panel show Comics Unleashed<\/a> in a time-buy deal. In other words, it is Allen paying CBS for the airtime (and hopefully recouping its money via commercials) and not the other way around. That may prove to be a very temporary solution for 11:30.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith just a one-season deal in place with Allen, CBS is \u201cdeveloping other ideas\u201d for 11:30 p.m., George Cheeks, Paramount\u2019s chair of TV media, said Wednesday during a press conference.<\/p>\n

\n\tCheeks cited the \u201cimmediate profitability\u201d (again, because of Allen leasing the hour) that came with the arrangement as having \u201cmade lot of sense for us right now.\u201d He said CBS \u201cconsidered everything\u201d for the post-Colbert era, which included airing repeats and even giving the time back to local affiliates. The Late Show will wrap next month.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Cheeks, formerly one of a trio of temporary Paramount Global CEOs, wants you to know he is not giving up on late night<\/a>. He\u2019s just given up on the old financial structure \u2014 Colbert\u2019s show, for example, employs 200 people.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI started in late night. I grew up in late night,\u201d Cheeks said. \u201cI believe in late night. I think the reality is that the reach is still there, but the reach is there primarily on YouTube, which is under monetized. So if we\u2019re going to go back in that space, we have to go back in that space with a different financial model.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEverything is on the table, Cheeks said. The Comics Unleashed arrangement could be extended beyond the terms of the current deal, of course.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmy Reisenbach, CBS Entertainment president, was quick to say these secret alternative concepts are not in \u201cactive development,\u201d but are \u201cjust conversations at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, you\u2019ve got a year, guys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the days ahead of David Ellison buying Paramount, CBS fired Stephen Colbert. Per the network, it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[49565,991,120217,88,13726,10674,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-587096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-byron-allen","9":"tag-cbs","10":"tag-comics-unleashed","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-late-night","13":"tag-stephen-colbert","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}