In Carson’s day, the guests were the stars, and he was the facilitator. In Colbert’s, this successful formula was inverted.
CBS has killed The Late Show. It is possible that, in so doing, it has killed the late show, too.
Since the news was promulgated, entertainment analysts have been busy looking for the murder weapon. Some have suggested Donald Trump. Others have pointed to the political climate, or the state of the TV market, or the economics of producing a spectacle in contemporary New York City. My choice is less complex. The executioner was Stephen Colbert.
As the host of the Late Show, Stephen Colbert was annoying, in a direct and palpable sense. He hectored; he sneered; he gatekept for a narrow, ...
