"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" thread.

He has, actually. This article mentions that The Late Show has seen a 40% increase in the 18-49 demo over the past year, which obviously is almost completely due to the switch from Letterman to Colbert. Unfortunately, that growth is not enough.

 

That's an average that includes his first few shows. At this point, at least for live ratings, he's doing worse than Dave.

 

Even in the 18-49?

 

Yep. He averaged like a .37 this week abd 1.7 overall (rough numbers just from the live+same day ratings). That's like what Craig Ferguson wpuld get on a good day. Dave was never quite that bad, though maybe close in the demo.

 

Never mind all the other distractions of life, I have to think talk show ratings are being affected by the amount of other TV that's out there. I have an excessive and unhealthy number of shows I'm keeping up with already, there's no way I'm going to spend another hour or two regularly watching a talk show on top of that. Maybe a segment or two if there's someone I'm interested in but that's it. I was more inclined to watch something like the Late Show back in the days when I was young and actually went out and did stuff at night, followed by crashing in front of the TV for a little bit before bed (with no PVR collecting prime time for me to watch).

I also think the political focus must be hurting Colbert with a larger audience that isn't necessarily tuning into talk shows for that... despite the aforementioned TV glut I did watch the first two or three weeks of his show to see how it was and even after that short time I was sick of watching ten minutes of Donald Trump/election material in every single show.... and now it's been another several months, and the election is still months away. If you're a politics junkie it's fine but if you're not it gets boring and repetitive. (And the incredible protractedness of the U.S. election process is mystifying to us in Canada.) All the shows have to do Trump jokes every night but they don't spend as long on it as Colbert does (or did those weeks I saw anyway). I don't have a problem with funny material about actual issues, but the endless dissection/mockery of the candidates' personalities and peculiarities (or hair) is completely uninteresting to me.

I always thought Colbert was brilliant on the Colbert Report but not being that interested in politics and not being American I didn't watch it much and hoped he could be just as funny in a broader context. Unfortunately, I think everyone is realizing he was better off where he was. The pessimists were predicting from the beginning that would be the case but I didn't want to believe them.

 

Here is another really good article explaining some of the pressures on Colbert to perform on social media:

‘Late Show’ challenge: Social media crickets »

It's actually surprising he has not done better, since he made real traction during "The Colbert Report" with things like his Green Screen Challenge.

 

Where do I sign up?

 

But he's ragging on Trump--how can that not be original, comedy gold?

 

Yes, in the 18-49 demo Stephen is better, but not (as noted by others here) in total viewers.

 

OMG OMG OMG they've already made a HYUUUUGE change - Stephen is wearing a suit that is not only NOT BLUE, but it's also BLACK!

 

And that's the issue for me. The initial buzz was that he was going to change the hoary old late-night formula. Instead, he's largely conforming to it and , as a huge fan of The Colbert Report, it's painful to watch this largely-defanged version of Colbert. The format seems impervious to change. What I'd give to see Colbert and Trevor Noah trade gigs...

D.D.

 

I watched him early on and liked the show, but lately his constant interrupting of his guests is getting to be very annoying. He's forever talking over them as they try to answer his question. And it always seems like 5 minutes after he introduces a guest, they're gone and he's moving on. I don't know..... maybe it's just me, but he wears on me very quickly.

 

Agreed. And the interviews seem to be edited with a very heavy hand.

 

Not that it necessarily means anything, but it's worth considering that Licht's success in morning TV was through finding a unique niche for CBS This Morning, rather than by trying to copy the Today Show or GMA. That gives one hope that he will be receptive to deviating from the familiar format with Colbert also, and will not be seeking to copy Fallon. Trying to make Colbert's show more like Fallon's would be foolish and doomed to failure, given Colbert lacks the skillset to do that type of rah-rah, "I love everything" show.

 

They seem to have made some tweaks to the show after coming back from the last break, with a segment before the monologue, less Dixieland/more rock from the band, and maybe they've upped the pace a bit?

 

It's been better since the last break, it's not as "stoopid." I hope they scrap those skit with the hats, that would help.

 

I've noticed that they are definitely trying to up the pacing. They're now starting the show with a short previously recorded bit, then the intro credits , and then the actual main part of the show where before Colbert always came out first pre intro, did a monologue, always ending with his " and one more thing bit" then the intro credits, then the actual main part of the show. That's all gone.

I've also noticed the political commentary which has been daily fodder for the first 10 minutes or so of each show has been noticeably toned down. They are definitely trying to steer Colbert into more of a traditional talk show host role, as opposed to a political and social commentator/satirist who also just happens to have a talk show.

So far, I think the new changes are not really helping much as political commentary is one thing that Colbert does well. But unfortunately, the political content is referring back too much to his previous gig, and I think that is really starting to rile CBS.

The one thing that really bothers me about Colbert is that he is becoming even more annoyingly self referential, almost to the point of narcissism.

As stated above by vinylbuff, his constant interrupting and talking over his guests is especially galling to me , as well as his insistence on doing bits with them , singing with them, etc. while they are at the chair with him. He's become like that annoying person that everyone knows who is constantly trying to draw the attention to himself/herself at social gatherings, and always at the expense of the other partygoers.

Letterman never did that. He always tired to make his guests feel comfortable,(with occasional noticeable exceptions), kept the attention on them, was always an active listener, rarely interrupted, and when he did it was usually for good reason. He waited until it was his turn to speak and when he let loose a zinger, it usually made both him and the guest look good.

Colbert seems to be too concerned with always making himself look good and being in the center of the shot.

 

Mr. Colbert.

PLEASE stop doing this ...

Thank you .

 

I've seen some abrupt edits that were so obvious that I was wondering if they were done by the intern.

 

Excellent post. The thing that anyone who watched Johnny Carson remembers, is that he always made the guest the most important person at the moment. The show wasn't about Carson. I think he understood that he was having important and exciting people come to him and the best he could do as an interviewer was what made the show good. Self-deprecating humor during his monologue was the other part of the show. So, I think whoever is running late night television at CBS is trying to make Colbert into a more traditional late night talk show host.

 

I have pretty much stopped watching Colbert. In the beginning I actually looked forward to the show as I dislike Fallon intensely and figured Colbert to be a breath of fresh air. That has turned into stale musty air. Fallon, on the other hand, yells a lot..(mostly when announcing his guests) his sidekick annoys me to no end, and his game playing is incredibly childish. Conan and Kimmel are the only hosts that have a format that resembles the Carson/Leno/Letterman style.... which is what I would rather watch.
I've seen guests come on Colbert's show and after five minutes I realize I got nothing out of the interview that pertains to what the guest actually has done, is doing, or will be doing.... it pretty much has to do with how Stephen can become more self referential, and center the activity around what HE has to say. I don't expect him to last too much longer.

 

Great observation and very true. Carson never overshadowed his guests. He also knew that if they looked good , he and the show looked good.

 

I thought that "The Freddie" was pretty much over by 1965:

 

We lost Letterman's show almost a year ago, and I still miss it. I like Colbert, but quit watching and DVRing.

Yes, too much focus on politics...and it's probably making mad half of the population as polarized as this country is.

I do love that he gives a platform to some of the musical act that he does...like having Arturo Sandoval on.

 

Wow...

That was ......unique ...