MovieChat Forums > The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015) Discussion > Floundering Colbert makes desperate chan...

Floundering Colbert makes desperate changes to Late Show

posted 9 years ago by haynese_98
13 replies | jump to latest

https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/late-show-stephen-colbert-change-chris-licht-1201756161/

Indeed, that is what is taking place. Colbert’s broadcast this evening was his program’s first under a new showrunner, Chris Licht, a former CBS News vice president who had been executive producer of “CBS This Morning.” CBS last week named Licht to be the new executive producer of the show, which, after an exhaustive launch effort last fall, has struggled in a ratings battle with ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and lags behind NBC’s “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

Stephen Colbert is losing the Late Night war!

[–] dvd123 9 years ago

From the comment section:

All three of his viewers noticed.

LOL

Seriously, though, as many bad things as I've said about Licht, I will give him a little credit for improving the flow of the intro. Prior to this, I used to cringe when Stephen awkwardly attempted to quiet down the audience so he could tell a joke before the theme song kicked in. As of this moment, that's fixed.

FWIW, though, that's an easy fix. The more systemic issues of Late Night are going to take a lot more than just moving things around.

Stephen did seem a bit more relaxed, overall. Post Report, as much as he publicly pined for creative fulfillment and autonomy, I think he's now beginning to figure out that he does his best work when someone else is calling the shots.

[–] haynese_98 9 years ago

I give them credit for trying to fix what's broken but honestly I think the show's dead in the water. I just don't see any chance for the ratings to go up, Colbert just doesn't have very much late night appeal.

It's funny, I wanted this show to succeed I can't watch any late night programs right now as they're all incredibly awful.

Conan is probably the best right now and I've never really liked him all that much.

Shall we play a game?

[–] dvd123 9 years ago

No, the show definitely has no hope.

It's not like Licht can perform a personality-ectomy on Stephen :)

[–] TMC-4 9 years ago

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-ca-st-stephen-colbert-late-night-20160501-story.html

It usually takes a while for late-night shows to find their groove, but Colbert seems to have been eclipsed by everybody from James Corden to John Oliver.

[–] arp-16916 9 years ago

I hope this show runner can fix this show if not i imagine Colbert getting the boot? They should of done this from the start

[–] Zak_007 9 years ago

The show also seems to have demographic problem. I thought Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were mostly viewed by younger crowd when they were at Comedy Central. How did that demographic disappear suddenly? I'm wishing it succeeds somehow but beginning to realize Colbert is not charming in interviewing all types of persons (outside of his snarky character in Colbert Show).

I thought Monday/Tuesday shows were slightly better than the shows before the break.

They should improve their social media content and release short videos of the show quicker. Attention spans are shorter now with Social media. Also, they should do more skits outside like prank interviews they used to a lot in The Daily Show/Colbert Report.

[–] dvd123 9 years ago

How did that demographic disappear suddenly?

It didn't disappear suddenly. Stephen's young Comedy Central audience went with him to CBS. Colbert was actually competitive with Fallon with young viewers for a while. But without the edge, without the liberal politics, his young fan base has eroded.

Comedy Central's median viewer age is one of the lowest, while CBS is the highest. CBS, by hiring Stephen, was attempting to be relevant, to lower their median age. The problem, though, is that younger viewers don't want watered down entertainment/politics. I really think Les Moonves thought Stephen was going to keep his audience and add a good chunk of CBS's older viewers as well, but, the reality is that you can't please young and old at the same time- at least not for late night and not in this political climate. A slight lean to the left alienates older conservative viewers AND alienates younger viewers as well who want something considerably further left.

[–] sellis1 9 years ago

The problem, though, is that younger viewers don't want watered down entertainment/politics.

Having people sit in with the band who turn out to be senior citizen jazz musicians can't be helping much with the younger viewers, either.

[–] youngjediboy 9 years ago

I just came on here to see if something behind the scenes had changed with the show. I've just been watching the show on and off, mostly as background noise, streamed from the website, since the show started. I can't say I ever really loved this new show. I was also a huge fan of the Report and had pretty high hopes.

BUT as of this week it feels like the Late Show is FINALLY hitting its groove. Last night's show with Tom Hanks was amazing (of course Hanks interviews are always good). As everyone has mentioned, the intro is finally fixed and has a polished and smooth flow. The jokes and skits just work. They cut out the banter with Batiste.

Whatever changes they made, it's working well and I hope the momentum keeps going!

[–] Zak_007 9 years ago

John Oliver and Samantha Bee seems to be the real replacements for Jon Stewart. When the MSM has turned into shallow reality TV, these are the two shows doing comedy and real investigative journalism.

[–] imadkassir 9 years ago

he had something special on comedy central but chose to leave and do what everyone else doing !!

[–] jcrew617 9 years ago

Yeah, I think it was a bad idea bringing in an ultra-political comedian to do a mainstream celeb comedy show. He was an fake extreme-RW and an ultra-liberal in real life, and can't appeal to middle apolitical people. Also, he's not well-known to actors/celebrities where as Jon Stewart did some mainstream movies and worked with MTV. I thought the smarter choice would have been Seth Meyers but he was too new to Late Night. Not sure if poaching from NBC is something Les wants to do.

[–] ColinInLa 9 years ago

Also, he's not well-known to actors/celebrities

Saywhatnow?! After all those years on The Daily Show and his own show on Comedy Central? He's not only well known in the industry, but damn-near beloved.

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