David Knight Legg
https://x.com/KnightLegg
@KnightLegg
Stephen Colbert killed The Late Show he inherited from David Letterman.Some leading Democrats, like Adam Schiff worry that the cancellation is due to Colbert’s leftist politics. They’re right - to a point. Half the country is Democrat, and he used to be liked: so how did his ratings drop 8 million viewers in his debut year to less than 2.5million a decade later? He forgot how to make people laugh. He became self-righteously partisan and lost any sense of ironic distance. Here’s how Stephen Colbert destroyed one of the most lucrative franchises in television: 1. When he took over The Late Show from David Letterman in 2015, he decided to politicize the format. - he front-lined his overt opposition to Republican policies and politicians actively promoting Democratic mayors, governors and the Biden White House; particularly relentless in promoting their pandemic policies. - During the first Trump Administration this worked as a biting counterpoint to Trump’s tweets, which provided enough content to support multiple shows. Colbert’s political edge played to the classic Shakespearean motif of the court jester who speaks truth to power; a courageous counterpoint to the official narrative. 2. But then The Late Show became the DNC Talking Points memo:When Biden came in, it became clear Colbert wasn’t actually courageously ironic - he was actually just a slavishly loyal Democrat activist. Which is OK professionally in TV media - just as long as you don’t kill the ratings that pay the bills. Lose viewers = lose your job. Colbert was on thin ice. But rather than being a liberal with a sense of ironic distance - like Bill Maher or Jon Stewart - he allowed slavish partisanship to kill the humour at the heart of what used to be a Letterman show anyone could watch. People can’t relate to a ‘comedian’ whose irony only cuts one way. 3. So he got challenged by smarter liberals: His ratings began to drop. The critical moment when he got called out was his 2021 interview with Jon Stewart on the origins of the virus, and the handling of the pandemic following Colbert’s “Vax-scene” musical-style cringey show. Colbert had become so selectively focused on promoting Democrat ideas he became reduced to a kind of snarky teacher-styled contempt for anyone who didn’t ’get it’, when ‘getting it’ meant being in thrall to the current liberal dogma. 4. …and became hard to watch: Colbert committed the cardinal sin of late night: he became decidedly unfunny. And self-righteous. And maudlin about anything that didn’t go his way. Most recently when CBS parent company Paramount had to pay damages to settle with Trump after a series of stories that were provably untrue. 5. …which became a financial liability for CBS/Paramount
aramount is giving him nine months notice. There’s not enough people watching him anymore to really care. Some Democrats are up in arms that he is being fired ‘for his politics’. That’s true. Just not for the reasons they think. Johnny Carson - the godfather of late night TV - made it crystal clear: don’t let your ego get ahead of your role. Good riddance, Stephen Colbert. You made it about your politics. And it turns out no one wanted another politician on TV at midnight.
