CBS evening news anchor Tony Dokoupil failed to get a visa to cover President Donald Trump’s visit to China. Bari Weiss, who has never worked in television, is editor-in-chief of CBS News. CBS’ storied “60 Minutes” recently ended a broadcast with an “essay” by right-wing preacher and Trump ally Franklin Graham. “CBS Evening News” frequently drops below 4 million viewers. One of the news magazine’s most distinctive personalities, Anderson Cooper, has quit.
Yet in the upside-down world we are living in, only one show on what used to be known as “The Tiffany Network” has been canceled, and that is “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert. While CBS’ “Late” has lost viewership, too, its decline, from viewership to reputation, is nowhere that of CBS news.
When other late-night shows suffered a viewership/revenue dip, their networks performed a few cost-cutting tricks to keep them going. Colbert was granted no such grace.
That is almost as sad as the flaming dumpster that “60 Minutes” has become. Furthering the upside-down metaphor, as the Trump administration gets meaner, the more that decent human beings become collateral damage.
The Stephen Colbert of “Late Night” might not have been as funny as the smug, clueless character played by Stephen Colbert on “The Colbert Report,” but his humanity was never in doubt. (Look up his 2018 interview with a charmingly impish Jimmy Carter.) How many other TV hosts appointed an official show chaplain? He has been open about his atheism, his return to the church and his grief.
Read what you will into the circumstances: Colbert criticized Paramount studios’ decision to settle a legal dispute with Donald Trump while Paramount was seeking government approval for a merger with Skydance Media. The sitting president then posted on his own social network that CBS should put Colbert “to sleep, NOW,” and ranted later that networks that aired criticism should have their licenses terminated. (First Amendment, notwithstanding.)
The merger goes through; billionaire Trump friend David Ellison controls Paramount-Skydance; Colbert and the “Late Show” franchise are done. CBS, part of the Paramount-Skydance empire, draws heavy scrutiny for its ideological shift. Next up: Ellison’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which means he’ll own CNN and HBO Max, among others.
Ellison may be able to keep juggling these remade properties for quite a while thanks to his dad’s money, but is his aim merely to become Fox News’ farm team? Eventually, Trump turns on everyone. It’s an expensive experiment in consolidation that could threaten the diverse marketplace of ideas and presenters.
At this point in time, we need more critical voices and more viewpoints that speak to power. We’re about to lose one. In the spirit of “competition,” both Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon are going dark on Thursday night out of respect for Colbert on his last night on CBS. That’s right-side up.
— Melissa Davis
