If you ever deal with insomnia as I do, you’d note that a lot of these musings drop at times when many of you are fast asleep. Those of you who are awake are probably using ambient white noise along with a hot beverage for sustinence, and in my case that often means playing back the monologues of whatever late night talk show was in originals the night before. I do realize that habit is being existentially threatened, and yesterday saw a trio of stories that collectively served to be a sobering reminder of how imminent that need to adjust may indeed be.
The day technically started when Monday’s LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS was delivered at 12:37 AM, and there was more than a bit of anticipation on this occasion because, well, yet again someone who lives rent-free in the otherwise empty head of the farter-in-chief triggered him enough to prompt his own insomnia-driven reaction. CiNEMABLEND’s Eric Swann captured the ludicrousy perfectly:
Seth Meyers has also found himself on the receiving end of POTUS’ critiques, many of which have been shared via social media. Within the last few days, Trump called out Meyers and declared that his show should be canceled. Interestingly enough, though, these gripes came after the president apparently watched an episode of the show he’d already complained about. During the Monday, November 17th edition of Late Night, Seth Meyers addressed the president’s latest comments about his show. Meyers prefaced the discussion (which is on YouTube) by explaining that several weeks ago, President Trump expressed “displeasure” with how he “talked endlessly about electric catapults on aircraft carriers. Meyers went on to explain that in Trump’s Saturday post, the Commander in Chief mentioned that the comments Meyers made were broadcast “last night” or more specifically, Friday, November 14. As it turns out, though, the episode that was broadcast on that particular weekday was a repeat – the episode involving the catapults.
“Displeasure” would be an understatement , as the dynamic duo of Laura Parnaby and Melissa Koenig of THIS IS MONEY detailed:
The president claimed Late Night host Meyers was ‘suffering from an incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS)’ in a Saturday night post. He was viewed last night in an uncontrollable rage, likely due to the fact that his “show” is a ratings DISASTER,’ Trump wrote. ‘Aside from everything else, Meyers has no talent and NBC should fire him IMMEDIATELY.’
Were this merely yet another overreaction from someone whose attention to detail is remarkably minimal, this wouldn’t be worthy of a thought, let along a musing. But Parnaby and Koenig also pointed out that a particularly toady of his who’s been a little dormant of late took note:
Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr appears to be backing Donald Trump‘s push for NBC to fire comedian Seth Meyers. Carr, who is in charge of the body which regulates US public broadcasters, shared Trump’s Truth Social post outlining why he thinks Meyers should be ousted.
Yep, that’s the same dude that stoked the kerfuffle that created the recent national nightmare surrounding Jimmy Kimmel, which we most def devoted a number of musings to. His dutiful fealty caught the attention of station group owners Sinclair and Nexstar, who jointly decided to make the otherwise financially defensible decision to replace Kimmel immediately. They collectively represented about a quarter of the country’s ABC affiliates–a significant but not necessarily devastating percentage of the country, especially in an era where next-day streaming availability can blunt the potential impact of a blackout of that magnitude, But after a week where hastily added newscasts performed even more poorly, and more importantly ABC threatened detonating the neutron bomb of pulling football in response, the saber-rattling right-leaning station groups reversed course.
But later yesterday those same behemoths were also back in the news cycle, one taking the first step and one taking the next step toward becoming significantly bigger. The Nexstar gang were first out of the box with the news broke of rubber-stamping of what was already evolving when L’Affaire Kimmel went down–shared verbatim via a press release which BUSINESS INSIDER regurgitated:
TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) announced that at a special meeting of shareholders held earlier today, its shareholders voted to adopt the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of August 18, 2025 (the “Merger Agreement”), pursuant to which TEGNA will be acquired by Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (“Nexstar”)…The transaction is expected to close by the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
And that’s important because as a previous TEGNA press release from January 2024 noted, they’re a more than modestly significant contributor to network footprints–particularly Meyers’:
TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) and NBC today announced a comprehensive, multi-year deal that renews station affiliation agreements for 20 TEGNA markets nationwide, including 10 of the top 25 markets for NBC. The 20 markets renewed cover more than 21 million households, nearly 17 percent of U.S. TV households. TEGNA is the largest independent owner of NBC affiliates.
Nexstar will now control 49 of NBC’s stations, archaic “coverage limitations” be damned. No, they still don’t control the largest markets–Comcast has a lock on the top six–but it’s a pretty significant crop of cities to be sure.
And on the heels of that, not to be outdone Sinclair chose to let their growth intentions be known, news which the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER’s Alexander Coolidge covered clearly telegraphing hometown sentiment :
Maryland-based broadcaster Sinclair Inc. has acquired a stake in WCPO parent E.W. Scripps Co. “in contemplation of a possible combination,” according to a regulatory filing. But Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps signaled it wasn’t open to a deal and the local company’s unique stock structure may protect it from a potential hostile takeover attempt.Sinclair already owns two local television properties, WKRC-TV (channel 12), a CBS affiliate and WSTR-TV (channel 64).
More to the point, Scripps also owns 11 NBC affiliates, which coupled with Sinclair’s existing array of 21 of their own gives them a pretty intimidating chunk of ‘Merica to play with. And do note they don’t exactly reflect an array of markets where Meyers’ distinctive New England roots and liberal bias go over all that well to begin with.
To be sure, this most recent development is anything but a laydown, as DEADLINE’s Jill Goldsmith was quick to point out:
Scripps said its “board will take all steps appropriate to protect the company and the company’s shareholders from the opportunistic actions of Sinclair or anyone else.”Scripps’ board of directors and management are focused on driving value for all of the company’s shareholders through the continued execution of its strategic plan. The board and management are aligned on doing only what is in the best interest of all of the company’s shareholders as well as its employees and the many communities and audiences it serves across the United States,” Scripps statement said. “The company’s board has and will continue to evaluate any transactions and other alternatives that would enhance the value of the company and would be in the best interest of all company shareholders.”
And when one looks at the respective business models and trajectories of how Scripps’ success in creating viable alternatives to the outdated model that Sinclair royally screwed up via their management of the one-time FOX regional sports networks and their ill-fated rebranding to FanDuel, let alone how they’ve found relative success with the ION network that largely uses the same kind of model of rerun stacks akin to FAST channels while Sinclair management thinks they’ve reinvented the wheel on when they brag about national deliveries of tens of thousands of viewers with SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE reruns that happen to run adjacent to the World Series with their quizzically rebranded TBD diginet, it’s more than understandable that the fine folks on the Ohio river are more than a little suspect at the thought of having Chris Ripley and gang muck up their henhouse.
But we do know that in this climate, clout and capitulation speak volumes. And without the immediate spectre of significant football games to throw a bucket of cold water on a dumpster fire that apparently gets lit when the leader of the free world stumbles onto a rerun while taking a dump in his newly remarbled bathroom, the leverage a network might have over a station group to force them to back down from supporting his determined obsession to stifle anything he considers to be criticism of his genius diminshes. Especially when Meyers’ratings at 12:37 am are even lower and less crucial than Kimmel’s at 11:35 pm are.
Meyers does have a contract that runs through 2028, two years longer than Kimmel’s current deal, so there’s that small detail to be worked out. But his name has frequently surfaced as a potential successor to Lorne Michaels, and if the reviews of the first batch of the second half-century of SNL under the stewardship of an octogenarian mean anything it may just be time for that transition to at least begin to germinate. I’m sure something could be worked out, especially when as many as 81 affiliates could be mollified in the process.
I’m still not sleeping all that well, and I confess that tonight’s Meyers was a lot less entertaining because it didn’t include his signature A CLOSER LOOK segment. I’d like to think this may have filled the void, at least for now. Long-term,after yesterday I’m a lot less optimistic.
Until next time…