The Lights Go Out on Colbert

The end of an era is officially here. This Thursday, May 21, Stephen Colbert will sign off from The Late Show for the final time, effectively killing off a 33-year CBS late-night franchise that started with David Letterman.

While Paramount suits are spinning this as a "purely financial decision" in a brutal linear television landscape, anyone with a pulse knows the real story. David Ellison’s Skydance-led Paramount is desperate to hack away at expenses, and cutting Colbert saves the network an estimated $150 million annually in production and marketing costs.

But what CBS is replacing him with has the industry shaking its head.

Beginning Friday, May 22, the 11:35 PM timeslot will belong to Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed.

Let’s be completely real about what this is: it is a glorified infomercial.

Allen isn’t getting hired by CBS. He is executing a "time-buy" agreement. He is literally writing a massive check to CBS to lease their airwaves for the hour, renting out The Late Show's historic real estate. Allen's business model relies entirely on buying up this dead-zone time, producing dirt-cheap, apolitical roundtable comedy sets that haven't changed since 2006, and trying to hustle enough ad time to make a profit on the back end.

CBS Media Chair George Cheeks even admitted to reporters that this deal immediately makes the timeslot "profitable" for the network because they have zero skin in the game. They get handed a check, and Byron gets to figure out how to sell the commercial inventory. It’s cheap, evergreen programming designed specifically so advertisers don't have to worry about political controversy. It’s also incredibly lazy television.

If FTVLive was a betting man, we would bet the house that Comics Unleashed will not see a Year Two in the 11:35 PM slot on CBS.

CBS has already admitted that this one-season deal is a temporary band-aid to buy them time while they figure out what they actually want to do with the late-night graveyard long-term. Once audiences realize they are trading sharp, topical satire for decades-old syndicated energy and zero-budget production value, the ratings drop-off is going to be severe.

Enjoy your free money while it lasts, CBS. As for Byron Allen? Good luck selling those ads.