Once iconic (in a good way) CBS seems determined to drive itself into mediocrity. What the Ellison family had done and continues to do to the news division has moved into the programming/entertainment part. They are being increasingly dickish about it and what happened with the final airing of The Late Show last Thursday night is an ugly example. Family members of staff, many of whom had worked for Colbert since his days hosting a show on Comedy Central came to watch the finale. They didn’t take up a single audience seat, instead squirreling themselves away in various spots. CBS executives ordered them tracked down and kicked out of the building – even the kids!
What kind of asshat would do something like that? Ten bucks says they are easily identifiable as asshats because they have a hat that says MAGA, or Trump. This was pure assholeness and vindictiveness, no doubt in part because lately the excuse CBS used about the Late Show’s cancellation being because ‘it was losing $50 million a year’ is being questioned. Perhaps they’re worried actual numbers on the show’s revenue vs. expenses will get leaked and it turns out the “losses” were a big, fat lie?
As we learn from The Daily Mail we almost didn’t get Colbert’s final episode. From what it says Colbert himself never knew what had been going on with the evictions but enough staff raised hell to those kicking out their families to mitigate it. Basically it was an ultimatum – let them back in or there will be no show at all. THAT probably panicked CBS because other late night hosts were there, and a quick call to their networks and to other outlets would have had a bunch of pissed off staffers and their families pouring out how classless CBS was live in front of the famed Ed Sullivan Theater. With Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon and others joining in. I’ll speak more about this later but first let’s look at how we got here.
CBS jumped like circus animals through multiple hoops to finally get the Trump administration to sign off on the merger that put the Ellison family in control. More to the point with Colbert is that one hoop was CBS settling a frivolous lawsuit over the editing of the 60 Minutes Kamala Harris interview. Every sane legal observer said the suit was frivolous and would get tossed out of court but CBS caved. On July 1 last year they agreed to a $16 million settlement. A couple of days later Colbert criticized the network on his show. A couple of weeks after THAT CBS in effect fired him! CBS and Team Trump can shovel all the bullshit they want but Trump, as Bruce Springsteen said as a guest on the penultimate show can’t take a joke. Make no mistake – Colbert was cancelled to curry favor with Trump. Period.
Still, he had a contract that wasn’t due to end until this past Thursday night. CBS would have been out a LOT of money if they didn’t allow the show to run its course. Not just contractual fees to Colbert and his production company/staff but also to advertisers who’d pre-booked ad time. NBC faced the same problem with Letterman’s late-late night show when Johnny Carson was retiring and Jay Leno wanted to take over the Tonight Show instead of presumed (and preferred by Carson) heir Letterman. Anyway, and no doubt to Trump’s ire CBS bit the bullet and let Colbert’s contracted show run till the end. And the brass there seemed to ignore tossing aside decades of late night brilliance (from both Letterman and then Colbert) and the marketing opportunities they provided for regular entertainment programming to suck up to Trump.
Yes, late night shows hadn’t been the money producers they once were. But here’s a question – how much effort was put into promoting them. Networks are DETERMINED to make us ALL accept streaming. Don’t think for one second they haven’ calculated how much MORE money they’ll make from the model they are shoving down our throats. That’s a longer subject but call me a cranky old fart, a curmudgeon etc. but I resent the holy hell out of no longer being able to see stuff on my nice, big TV screen without a bunch of gear and learning how to use it (my TV only has one HDMI port). My point is that maybe if the powers-that-be spent more effort promoting traditional broadcast and cable those platforms would be struggling!
Anyway things finally rolled around to last Thursday night and the final airing of The Late Show. There were some gags related to it being the end but they could have made a much bigger deal out of it all. Instead Colbert and other stars present poked some fun at the whole thing. And since everyone KNEW Trump would be watching, everyone was careful not to mention his name. NOT ONE SINGLE TIME. That had to take a bunch of wind out of the set of gloating Trump tweets/’truths’ he had lined up. Personally I’ve never been a habitual viewer of late night shows other that The Daily Show (and Colbert) back in the day. Well, growing up I liked watching Dick Cavett but Carson ruled the roost back then and the former never got traction. Sometimes when certain guests were going to be on I’d watch them but for the most part have simply looked up clips of memorable moments after the initial airing.
Still, I think given how popular Colbert seemed to be (and other late night hosts) such shows were better than seeing the same old recycled for the umpteenth time news stories that’s the norm in the 24/7 news environment. Late night comedy and satire often makes news hit a nerve – the way it used to when I was much younger and the people presenting it (anchors and correspondents) were true professionals who knew their subjects.
Anyway I said I’d get back to this so I will. Family members (including children in some cases) were tracked down and kicked out of the building on orders from CBS executives. An awful lot of Colbert’s crew were called up to share the stage during the finale and it was touching. Because we didn’t know what had happened earlier but the wife of a veteran crew member went on record:
Samantha Knox claimed that family members of the crew were told to ‘get out’ mid-show, allegedly being informed: ‘You’re not allowed here.’
She claimed that even her 12-year-old child was escorted out and was left ‘shaking and in tears’ following the encounter.
‘Let’s be clear – this wasn’t Stephen. Had he known, I know he’d be furious,’ Knox said.
‘Crew members were the backbone of that show, working endless hours to make sure the show you watched was perfect.
In a single pointed statement, she declared: ‘F*** YOU CBS.’
It was her husband who went and told those responsible that if they didn’t allow the family members back in there’d be no show. I’ve already said CBS incredibly had a moment of clarity about the consequences of trying to hurriedly sub other programming only to have every other (well, maybe not Fox) outlet doing a live show from outside the theater and relented. But they by god intended to be dickish and found another way. Many of those Colbert staffers might have gone on to other jobs with the network but noooooooo!
Those who stood up to the brass found themselves fired with the same finality as their beloved boss. Paramount HR sent an email informing them they too were done the same day Colbert was, and ‘disinviting’ them from the load out of all the stuff from the old show. It’s my understanding the set will be moved to Chicago and put on display, and of course there’s all the office space files and video archives to move. Even if many of the staff wouldn’t wind up getting other jobs at CBS at least they deserved that last couple of week’s pay. It would even be tip money to David Ellison.
Colbert should never have been cancelled in the first place. But he was because Donald Trump can’t handle even mild criticism, much less being made fun of. Presidents before him have felt burned at times but even they sometimes laughed at content from the late night shows. Not Trump. He’s like any tinpot dictator who thinks that making fun of him is, or should be punishable by life in prison. If not death.
In any case Stephen Colbert will be just fine. He’ll have projects he can work on and still show his creativity. Those staffers who spent years working for him? Not so much. I’m sure he will do all he can to help them find work. But the point of my writing is that the steady life they’d enjoyed is gone. They knew it was coming. Still, gathering their families with them for a final show (always at best bittersweet) was something CBS bosses just couldn’t resist sh!tting on.
I agree with Ms. Knox’s post: ‘F*** YOU CBS.’
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
