For years, late-night television was a staple of American culture.
Johnny Carson was the king of late-night TV, hosting “The Tonight Show” from 1962 to 1992. When he announced his retirement, there was a juicy and memorable battle to see who would replace him, as chronicled in Bill Carter’s classic book “The Late Shift,” which was turned into an HBO movie.
Jay Leno ended up replacing Carson, which led Letterman to bolt to CBS, setting up a late-night fight that lasted two decades. In addition, in the early 1990s, Arsenio Hall brought a much-needed new approach to late night by attracting guests — and viewers — who were younger and much more diverse than traditional late night.
Fox kept trying to get into the game, running out hosts such as Joan Rivers and Chevy Chase. And we were introduced to new late-night hosts, such as Conan O’Brien, Craig Kilborn and Craig Ferguson.
They were the glory days of late night.
These days? Well, there are still big household names in the late-night chairs: Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers. But the times are not only changing, they have changed.
CBS is pretty much getting out of the late-night business, it appears. For eight years, James Corden hosted a show that aired after Colbert. But when he announced he was leaving, CBS replaced him with a comedy-type game show hosted by Taylor Tomlinson that ended because Tomlinson quit. (It’s being replaced by the syndicated “Comics Unleashed,” which is produced by Byron Allen’s company.)
Then came the stunner earlier this month. CBS announced that Colbert’s show will end next May and will not be replaced. The timing was certainly curious — it was announced just days after Colbert blasted CBS’s owners, Paramount, for settling a lawsuit with President Donald Trump. Nevertheless, CBS insists it is canceling Colbert’s show because of financial reasons.
This just isn’t about late-night political commentary leading to dwindling viewership and canceled hosts.
Another late-night host, “The Daily Show’s” Jon Stewart, said on air, “Late-night TV is a struggling financial model. We are all basically operating a Blockbuster kiosk inside a Tower Records.”
The Guardian’s David Smith wrote, “The late-night format has been struggling for years as viewers increasingly cut the cable TV cord and migrate to streaming. Younger people are more apt to find amusement on YouTube or TikTok, leaving smaller, ageing TV audiences and declining ad revenues.”
The question now is whether everyone will get out of the late-night talk-show game.
At NBC, Fallon and Meyers are signed through 2028. But Kimmel’s contract at ABC is up next year.
CNBC’s Sarah Whitten, Lillian Rizzo and Alex Sherman recently wrote, “The entertainment industry will have a better sense of where the truth lies next year when Disney decides the fate of (Kimmel’s show).”
They added, “‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ has been a late night staple since 2003, acting not only as a typical talk show on the circuit, but as a valuable marketing hub for Disney’s slate of theatrical and television content. In addition to traditional one-on-one interviews, Kimmel will also frequently host several stars from the same project, often for blockbuster titles from Marvel, Star Wars and the company’s animated franchises.”
In the end, it all comes down to two things: money and viewers.
CNBC reported that Colbert’s show loses about $40 million a year. As far as NBC, it wrote, “The suite of NBC’s late night shows — ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,’ ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers,’ and ‘Saturday Night Live’ — lose more than $100 million per year based on cost relative to traditional TV advertising, said a person familiar with the shows’ finances. However, the three shows are more profitable when considering other lines of revenue, such as from streaming and digital, a second person said.”
As far as ABC, the CNBC reporters wrote, ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ … loses money based on cost relative to traditional TV advertising, according to a person familiar with the matter. Still, the show is profitable if more than just traditional TV advertising revenue is taken into account, according to a second person directly familiar with the show’s finances. ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ helps ABC boost affiliate revenue when it strikes carriage deals with pay-TV distributors.”
The show also does well on YouTube. All the late-night hosts have huge followings on social media, such as TikTok and Instagram.
As far as viewers, in the second quarter of 2025, Colbert’s show on linear TV averaged 2.4 million viewers for first-run shows. Kimmel averaged 1.7 million, and Fallon averaged 1.1 million. Again, this is just linear TV, which doesn’t include YouTube or streaming platforms such as Peacock, Paramount+ or Hulu.
These days, however, late night is not what it used to be. At his peak, at a time when TV options weren’t as expansive, Carson was drawing 10 to 15 million viewers a night.
Nevertheless, CBS has made its decision. Now it’s ABC and NBC at the fork in the road.
On a recent podcast with Dax Shepard, Meyers was asked if he ever feared that his show could end tomorrow. Meyers said, “I do. I mean, only because it is such a time we’re living in, as far as the entertainment industry. There is this weird thing that I feel like I shifted from fearing that I wouldn’t be good enough. And now my fear is weirdly more outside of my control, which is … just at some point, the ecosystem might not support (late-night).”
Covering the tragedy
As you know by now, New York City was shaken after a shooter attacked a Park Avenue tower on Monday. The gunman killed four people before killing himself. Reports are that the gunman was from Las Vegas and traveled across the country. Authorities say a note found in his wallet suggested that he had a grievance against the National Football League, whose offices were the building the gunman attacked.
He claimed he had CTE, the brain disease that has been linked to concussions and other head injuries often associated with sports such as football. He said he wanted his brain to be studied for CTE.
The four killed included a police officer working an off-duty security shift, another security officer, and two office workers: an executive from an investment firm and an associate from a real estate company. An NFL employee was “seriously injured” and is in stable condition, according to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
As Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy noted, “The most accurate coverage of the deadly mass shooting targeting the NFL’s New York headquarters came from local and national news media plugged directly into the NYPD, FBI, and Mayor Eric Adams’s office. But there was another important source of news during Monday’s chaotic events: NFL insiders.”
McCarthy reported that, through their sources inside the NFL offices, several reporters provided key news and context. Those reporters included Dianna Russini of The Athletic, Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington of ESPN, former ESPNer Josina Anderson, and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
McCarthy wrote, “NFL insiders reported accurately and responsibly from a distance on a tragic, difficult story, one far removed from their usual beat.”
In addition, Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder wrote, “‘Good Morning Football’ addresses ‘heartbreaking news’ of NFL headquarters shooting.”
Careful what you sue for
