Stephen Colbert has been vaporized, cancelled by CBS. Donald Trump is celebrating. Liberal Hollywood is outraged! Regular folks don't care.
Goodnight, everybody.
But not so fast. This is a fascinating story when you examine the power angle. The once dominant network television media is completely falling apart. According to the Nielsen ratings people, fewer than 20 percent of Americans now watch any network programming. Why? Because it's largely boring and traditional Americans resent the liberal culture the networks embrace all day and all night. Woke on parade. Political correctness runs amok.
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I have a unique vantage point here. Because of my bestselling books and controversial demeanor in general, I have appeared on late-night shows an astonishing 75 times. I know all these guys and the world they inhabit.
Mr. Colbert basically committed performance suicide. When he took over for David Letterman ten years ago, he was coming off the red-hot satire of Jon Stewart's Daily Show. Yes, the boys were left-handed pitchers, but they tamped down the malice, at least somewhat. I had a lot of laughs debating Stewart.
Over the past five years, Stephen Colbert has lost more than a million viewers; his numbers descending to just above two million households daily. Profits crashed.
The primary reason is Colbert's hatred for Trump and the MAGA brigades. Eighty million Americans voted for the President. Few of them can stomach Steve. Ideological zealotry at midnight can be tedious. The all-time king of late night, Johnny Carson, understood that. Old Johnny got his zingers in, but he rarely tried to demean anyone.
All the late-night hosts have talent. Impossible to do the job if you don't. Letterman was very quick and edgy. My debates with him are legendary, especially the one where he called me a thug but couldn't back it up when I challenged him.
On my final appearance with Dave, his audience gave me a standing ovation.
Letterman was cranky but didn't often display rank hatred. He invited me on 16 times and wrote me a gracious note after every appearance.
Jay Leno was essentially a stand-up comedian, not deeply invested in promoting politics. Same with Jimmy Fallon, although he understands the far left culture at NBC. Remember the heat Fallon took when he good-naturedly messed up Donald Trump's hair?
Jimmy Kimmel has drifted into the political swamp mostly because he despises the President. I like Kimmel personally. But he'd be wise to spread the satire around. ABC will be the next place to purge extremists.
My old adversary, Stewart, a brilliant talent, has also succumbed somewhat to strident presentations. Although when I sparred with him last August, the mischievous glimmer was back, at least for a night.
So, Stephen Colbert leaves the CBS stage. New ownership is looming, and the Skydance Corporation apparently doesn't want a leftist pep rally every night. Hollywood will take care of Colbert, so we will see him again.
I bet Donald Trump can't wait.
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