The Late Shift: Theoretical Analysis of Late-Night Networks (You Can’t Get There Without A Pinoy)
Editor’s Note: Bill Carter, a media analyst for CNN, covered the television industry for The New York Times for 25 years, and has written four books on TV, including “The Late Shift” and “The War for Late Night.” The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.
So any suggestion that “The Daily Show” might be going away after Noah leaves (he left his exit date uncertain) is likely miles off base. More than ever, TV is about sustaining established brands. Comedy Central owns a number of shows, including The Daily Show. (“South Park” is still on, but far less frequently.) If networks are bringing back “Quantum Leap,” “The Equalizer” and “The Mole,” it would seem folly to walk away from “The Daily Show.”
The world of late-night television had a startling recent shift, which was akin to the one that happened in the Middle Ages.
It was also an area that was held up well against the changing environment. With cord cutting and the move to streaming increasing, new late-night shows were being added all over the landscape. Even Fox News got into the game with a mix of comedy and hard-right agitprop on “Gutfeld!”
Desus Nice and The Kid Mero broke up over the summer, abruptly ending their Showtime series (one that no less a legend than David Letterman called “the future of late night” when he was a guest on the show.) Ziwe Fumudoh, who followed the duo on Showtime’s lineup, has new episodes starting November 18, but her show has not yet been renewed for a third season.
For the time being, she is doing a limited number of episodes on Peacock. Meanwhile, “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” was canceled on TBS after seven seasons. (TBS, like CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.) James Corden has also announced he’s departing his CBS show in 2023.
“The Daily Show” is obviously a different animal from many of these shows; it’s a franchise. Since 1996 it has been running four nights a week. Jon Stewart elevated it to essential viewing during his 16-year run. He and the show won 11 straight Emmys for outstanding variety talk series.
That was one reason why klieg lights were directed with 1,000-watt intensity at Noah when he succeeded to the host role in 2015. He was a correspondent on the show, but he was a virtual unknown in the US. He said that he turned down Stewart’s personal offer of a role on the show twice.
How coveted was such an offer? Ask Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Samantha Bee and many more alumni of “The Daily Show.” It was the kind of car that made a big name for itself.
From the beginning, Noah didn’t feel like himself. He wanted to remake the show into one that looked more out at the world and was informed by Noah’s South African roots.
It was a wise choice. Following Stewart was always going to be a potentially crippling challenge. Noah took it on and remade the show to his own specifications.
The under representation of minorities and women is a proud flag for Noah to wave.
Which now brings up troubling questions about the future. The departure of a late-night star was the starting point of a mad scramble to find replacements. The speculation game started with the possibility that Wood moves up. Maybe Bee comes back. Maybe Comedy Central tries to woo Ruffin away.
Notably all those names would continue the breakthrough against the long-term White male dominance in late night, which Noah’s tenure more than validated as a priority.
And of course, someone else many of us have never even considered could be lurking under the radar, a largely unknown comic talent like Noah was in 2015.
But also lurking is an existential question: Is a host job in late night still the ultimate dream for an ambitious comic talent? You could not sell that idea the old-fashioned way: by looking at ratings. The Daily Show audience went down from Stewart’s final year, according to the piece in Forbes magazine.
That doesn’t mean people aren’t interested. According to Forbes, the Daily Show has over 10 million subscribers on t he video sharing site, YouTube.
It was all just another day on the internet-driven media, where the demands of algorithms lead to celebrity justice meted out on a regular basis. Yet as with many such brouhahas, it provides clues to soft spots in the culture, to the fragilities that were already there. The late-night landscape is going through a transition and that is why James Corden is leaving his show next year. Quickly after he announced he was leaving, Noah said he was ending his run on the show. There was a rumor he would be replaced by a committee of hosts.
We are in a moment when viewers are questioning what we want these shows to be and what makes for a successful host. For some network executives in the past decade, the answer is clearly likability. If you wanted to have a beer with a star who used to use a political litmus test as a way to gauge their performance, you would want to do that. James Corden was that bloke.
He was described as coming out of nowhere but he was quick to laugh, and eager to please. His signature bit, “Carpool Karaoke,” pulled off the feat of making pop superstars also seem down to earth and relatable, making for charming television and great promotion. The talk- show was perfect.
You watch the news all day, how do you ignore it when you are on stage? It just doesn’t work anymore,” Kimmel said in 2019. I would like to. It is hard for me to talk about subjects that are serious. It’s taking a lot out of me. I’d like to be funny. That is enjoyable.
After he began making more jokes about Trump, the network discovered that he had lost half of his audience.
Jon Stewart and David Letterman have been credited by the late night host for their leadership in how to address hot-button political issues.
Kimmel renewed his deal with ABC earlier this year that will keep him in his hosting chair for three more years. His contract was due to expire in the year 2023.
Taking a Stand for Your Oasis: Giving Up Your Friendships and Representing Yourself in a New Era
Noah, in his closing monologue, said that it doesn’t feel like seven years. Well, not at the desk. I went home in between. It has been a wild ride.
A lineup of correspondents paid tribute to Noah and a video slideshow of goodbyes from Oprah,Hillary Clinton, and many more helped give the host a boost.
Noah encouraged his audience to think outside the box of democrat or republican ideals because of the strong influence American political parties hold.
“As we live in a society where we increasingly introduce ourselves to things that separate us, we forget that real friendships come from the similarities, and then the disagreements are how we polish each other as human beings,” he said.
Noah claimed that issues are real but politics are an inventive way to solve them. “It’s not a binary. There are not just two ways to solve any problem. There are not just two ways to be.”
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/entertainment/trevor-noah-daily-show-final-episode/index.html
Late Late Late Shows: When Did You Get What I Wanna? When Did I Get What You Want? And What Has Your Brain Done Recently About Me?
“I’ve often been credited with, you know, having these grand ideas … Do you think I learn anything from anyone? I was told by you that who you think has shaped me has nourished me. The host said that his mother, grandmother, aunt and other Black women were in his life.
He quickly molded the program around him, puckishly guiding his audience through singular national experiences such as the Trump presidency and the Covid-19 pandemic.
When Noah decided to leave the show, he indicated that it was because they wanted to perform out from behind the desk.
“I spent two years in my apartment, not on the road, and when I got back out there, I realized there’s another part of my life out there that I want to carry on exploring. I would rather learn other languages. Noah said that he doesn’t miss going to other countries.
The comedian is only taking a brief hiatus before hitting the stage again. The tour begins in Atlanta on January 20.
The lineup of comedians who will fill in as host for the show on January 17th has been announced by the network.
The long term future of the show is unknown because the network hasn’t yet said whether hosts will remain indefinitely or if they will be installed in the chair.
The last of the hosts of late-night TV, Stephen Colbert, recently signed a contract extension that will keep him on the air through the year of 2026. Bill and John continue to work at the network in weekly form.
Reports that CBS will replace James Corden’s “Late Late Show” with a revival of the game show “@midnight” follow the exits of Trevor Noah, Desus and Mero, Samantha Bee and Conan O’Brien. NBC followed the success of the show with another title that had a woman of color, “A Little Late With Lilly Singh.”
Those situations unfolded for various reasons, and the loss of opportunities for diverse talent has been an unfortunate side effect of this collective thinning of the herd. Still, the overarching dynamic is a retrenchment by TV networks, reflecting a late-night landscape that can no longer economically support the explosion of shows that came about as everyone seemingly wanted a sliver of that pie.
The Oprah children are not the only ones who have been immune to daytime TV. Phil and Oz are both giving up their shows, since Ellen decided not to run for Senate.
The drive is money and the desire to fill the hour after Colbert with a less expensive program, was noted by Deadline in their report on CBS.
The fact that late-night hosts can more easily get their material out and voices heard, but have more difficulty in generating revenue because of viral clips disseminated via the internet is ironic.
The latest departures do not show that the lights have been completely turned off. But like so much in terms of the way people once consumed TV, they’re dimming. It is clear that the late-night market will look like a crystal ball by the time the contract of Jimmy Kimmel is up.