There’s currently a body count of “one” in the late-night wars.
A 0.38..the lowest for a week of Colbert “Late Show” originals thus far.
It’s still way too early to call the “Late Show” dead. But it’s definitely time for concern
Is it really too early to call it dead?
Colbert's Comedy Central fan base was loyal and passionate, so a no confidence vote was never going to happen overnight. But, 9 months later, the votes are definitely in. Unless he's playing a character, the channel's getting changed, and there's no way in heck he's going back to playing a character 24/7 again.
I know that the pundits are whipping themselves into a frenzy coming up with a multitude of cure alls for everything they believe is wrong with this show, but it's all just wishful thinking. Audiences prefer Stephen when he's playing a character- and he's never going back to that. Cue the funeral dirge.
Monotony.
A never-ending parade of interchangeable 30-something actors and actresses plugging their new movie or CBS series.
As I write this a 30-something actress is giggling and burbling her canned interview anecdote.
I don't know her name. I can't distinguish her from the other 99 young bubbly ingenues who have already been on the show.
They all look the same. They all talk the same. Their films are low-brow flops.
After 9 years of witty, insightful, pointed, brilliant comedy on The Colbert Report, I feel as though I have died and am in purgatory.
What have I done to deserve this?
Tonight I'm watching and I'm thinking of the Talk Show Schtick Chris Farley used to do. "That was awesome". This is kinda like that but Chris was better.
shareI keep asking myself, "Why am I still watching?"
After the monologue is over, my mind wanders.
During the guest interviews (aka marketing segments) I surf channels to see what else is on.
When the musical guest begins to sing, I turn off the TV and go to bed with a good book.
The only plus in all of this is that the show is so bad I'm reading more and going to bed earlier.
No, it's not too early to call this incarnation of Late Show dead. But isn't a large chunk of network and cable TV dying? Ratings GO DOWN something like 5-10% every year and cord cutters are growing by the day. Now Late Night has turned into a cheapened product.
At least Fallon entertains a certain crowd of people, I'm just not one of them. Colbert has really nothing to offer. He came in overconfident and smug and now he's just waiting for his marching orders. He just doesn't look right on TV wearing stupid hats and other lame attempts to make a comedy skit go viral on YouTube.
Is Colbert quick witted? Yes. Is he likeable enough to be on Late Night? I'm thinking not.
Shall we play a game?
When the musical guest begins to sing, I turn off the TV
When the musical guest begins to sing, I turn off the TV
Now that's just sad.
Why is that sad? Nothing wrong with reading.
I think your proportions are a bit off. I usually give the song about 30-40 seconds, which is generally enough, as many songs tend to be repetitive. That is at least 1/7th of the song, usually, equivalent to reading several dozen pages of a Dickens novel. Even someone who turns it off as soon as it begins has invested quite a bit more, relatively, than reading a sentence or less of a novel.
I usually give the song about 30-40 seconds
Actually, my description was oversimplified, sorry. I often watch these shows online or on DVR. In that case, I often skip ahead 30 seconds at a time during the songs to sample different parts of them. Most current pop/rock/rap songs don't appeal to me anyway, so it's often not worth my time to watch my time to watch the whole thing or even a majority of them. Perhaps I am older than their target demographic.
shareSkipping around to sample different parts of a song is like skipping around to sample different parts of a movie in that there's often a certain flow that is being missed. After all, something like Darth Vader telling Luke Skywalker that he's his father would have no impact if you didn't watch everything that led up to that point. Or reading some random pages of a book. In any case, yeah, we like what we like. However, unless you read/watch/listen to it, you wouldn't really know if you like it. Your time must be really expensive if you can't spare 3 or 4 minutes for someone who spent a lot more time than that creating something you deem unworthy of your attention within the first few seconds. :P
"People don't know what they like; they just like what they know."
Jesus, get over it already. Most people can tell if they are going to like a song after the first 10-15 seconds of listening to it. Do you know how long 15 seconds actually is? When flipping through radio stations people tend to not even listen 5 seconds...you know why? Because you can tell the style/genre of the music as soon as you hear it...people KNOW what they like and dont. and to be fair, I havent liked nearly any of the music on the late show either.
shareIt was so nice to watch the LSSC last week (RNC week), given that there were no musical guests that week; it was finally safe to watch! (I didn't want to violate the new rule that everyone must either skip the LSSC entirely or watch every musical performance all the way through--none of this "I watch the show for Colbert" nonsense!)
shareI didn't want to violate the new rule that everyone must either skip the LSSC entirely or watch every musical performance all the way through
I did notice the musical performance on last night's show (John Prine) was under 2 minutes long--easier to watch at least half of the song when it's that short....
shareI must be getting old. I've never heard of most of the musical guests that have been on his show.
shareYou're not old. They seem to exclusively book independent and college-scene acts for this show. The same sort of weird NYC bands Carson Daly is always highlighting on his Last Call show. They're not even youtube sensations.
"I said no camels, that's five camels, can't you count?"
O.K., so now I don't feel so old - Ha! Thanks I_Guard.
shareI wonder what cbs plan is going to be in terms of either replacing him or changing the show format? Jimmy K really stepped up his show and it's a lot better and more enjoyable. JImmy F I am not his biggest fan but his show is fun to watch and the guests always have fun on his show. I was watching an episode and i was surprised on how much i was enjoying his show. He sucks at interviewing people and i can't take the fakeness.
It would be very bad press if they simply fire Colbert, I'm thinking they'll slowly push him out over time. In other words, more changes are coming to the Late Show starting early Sep!
Shall we play a game?