The news that CBS’ AFTER MIDNIGHT was coming to an abrupt end in June after a mere two years took me and others by surprise; after all, we had heard little about any disenchantment with ratings or cost from either the network or its affiliates. It was especially surprising to moi considering when it was introduced it was widely derided by aficianiados of late night television as an embarrassing concession that the network was either unable or unwilling to attempt to find a proper replacement for James Corden, who had revitalized a slumbering 12:37-ish time slot with an injection of irreverence and viral videos such as his acclaimed CARPOOL KARAOKE that broke through with millions of online views and eventually found their way into prime time. AFTER MIDNIGHT was a de facto revival of a modestly successful lead-out for Comedy Central’s THE DAILY SHOW, @MIDNIGHT, which was ironically introduced shortly before Colbert’s eponymous REPORT ended its CC run as a lead-out for THAT show, thus making that title accurate at least at the outset.
But Colbert, who like his predecessor David Letterman was given the ability to program his own lead-out on CBS, found a uniquely appealing rising talent in Taylor Tomlinson to host, and she injected the daypart with a needed dose of female appeal and Gen Z energy. She proved to be ideally suited as a traffic cop in what some folks had to be consistently reminded was a MOCK game show, played exclusively for laughs much like another successful one-time Comedy Central staple WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY. Relying upon a steady stream of improv-trained comedians both established and aspirational, they gleefully took on the challenges of providing captions and commentary for whatever its staff could discover on the Internet, which with the advent of Tik Tok and Instagram now provided far more WTF fodder than the original version did. Personally, I was hooked.
So yesterday’s news was disappointing but understandable, especially in light of the angle that VULTURE’s Hershel Pandya, among others, offered in his reporting:
Bad news for fans of comedy, Taylor Tomlinson, and Stephen Colbert’s production résumé: CBS’s After Midnight is coming to an end. The late-night show hosted by Tomlinson, which currently occupies the time slot formerly held by the The Late Late Show, is ending its run after two seasons, with Tomlinson stepping away to focus more on stand-up. The show, which had recently been renewed for a third season, will now air its series finale in June. “Hosting After Midnight has genuinely been the experience of a lifetime, and I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity to be part of this incredible journey,” Tomlinson said in a CBS release. “Though it was an extremely tough decision, I knew I had to return to my first passion and return to stand-up touring full-time. I appreciate CBS, Stephen Colbert, the producers, and the entire After Midnight staff and crew for all the love, support, and unforgettable memories.”
Tomlinson is barely 30 and has every right to pursue her goals. She has a long runway ahead of her. Which is more that can be said for the daypart, particularly in light of the finality of what else was reported yesterday by, among others, DEADLINE’s Peter White:
As a result, CBS has decided to move out of programming the 12:30am slot, which was previously filled by The Late Late Show. This marks a major blow to late-night in general, which has seen the number of late-night shows airing across broadcast, cable and streaming, fall over the last few years.
And I just couldn’t help but think as to how this all comes back to David Letterman, and how far TV has regressed.
When Letterman began his late night career in 1982 as an irreverent interloper with a similar background and demography as Tomlinson he would often have a portable television by his desk to remind viewers what they were missing on other channels at 12:30 am. Indeed, little else of consequence was running elsewhere, most notably on the one broadcast network that was counterprogramming him–CBS. As they had been doing at that point for a decade, CBS was programming something it called THE CBS LATE MOVIE, which at that point was made up of back-to-back reruns of relatively recent off-network procedural dramas that had yet to be sold to local stations. As Letterman would catch a glimpse of something as ludicrous as an aging BARNABY JONES or a winded CANNON chasing down a criminal, he’d snark “Ya know, CBS, it’s not that late and it’s not a movie”.
So when Letterman moved his show up to 11:30 and his address to CBS he, like his own predecessor Johnny Carson, had earned the ability to program the 12:30 slot with something original. His initial choice was to resurrect the very personality he replaced it that slot at NBC, Tom Snyder, who combined elements of his fondly remembered TOMORROW show from the 70s with live call-in elements being popularized by Larry King (indeed, it aired live on the East Coast). But as NBC found a worthy comedic replacement for him in Conan O’Brien, Letterman and CBS were pushed to counter with something more in that wheelhouse. Out of that came the LATE, LATE SHOW iterations that unleashed the two Craigs, Kilborn and Ferguson, and eventually Corden as well. They rarely beat NBC in ratings but they at least got CBS stations in line with carrying the network in pattern and gave the network a relatively contemporary look.
I’ll allow for the possibility that even AFTER MIDNIGHT was too expensive a production to justify at this point; while significantly cheaper than a show like Corden’s, it did have writers and a day-and-date production schedule. But the fact that CBS has apparently thrown in the towel on even competiting at all in the time slot is something I simply can’t find plausible.
Maybe challenging Seth Meyers, who’s having his own financial troubles (he was forced to let his Fred Armisen-led live band go last fall), was too ambitious. But there is another network that currently programs at least part of the 12:30-ish time slot–ABC, with the now 45-year-old franchise NIGHTLINE. CBS currently operates a 24/7 streaming news service which it is tapping into for programming to fill open daytime slots on its owned-and-operated stations. Wasn’t there at least a discussion if an original show, perhaps in the mold of what Snyder used to do, could be gleaned from that world–even something that could be repurposed from prime time a la John Dickerson’s extension of what at least in name is THE CBS EVENING NEWS?
And even though Letterman mocked it mercilessly, the concept of programming pre-syndication reruns was profitable for CBS during the LATE MOVIE era. Indeed, it was developed out of a similar strategy that had been employed in daytime for years when affiliate pre-emptions were rampant, which was also true of late night prior to Letterman’s arrival. CBS owns a library of procedurals that have yet to hit anything resembling an aftermarket–FIRE COUNTRY, WATSON and MATLOCK for starters, not to mention cancelled but acclaimed shows like SO HELP ME, TODD. Was the cost of merely paying residuals on such shows–substantially less than the production of any original–still too much for the beancounters?
And unlike the era where CBS gave up programming daytime time slots at all due to a proliferation of successful syndicated alternatives that gave stations (including the ones it owned) higher ratings and more sellable inventory, little exists these days that would provide anything close to that. About the closest thing that might be available this fall to even fill the time slot might be the just-announced PERFECT LINE and the renewed FLIP SIDE from CBS’ Media Ventures division. Actual game shows, such that they are. And shows that would be sold on syndication cost-per-points and a patchwork lineup, virtually guaranteeing less revenue than, say, if the CBS network were to run them themselves. The same executive who controls CBS NEWS also controls the CBS stations and Media Ventures. Was she even consulted on all of this?
As this musing is being written I’m concurrently watching AFTER MIDNIGHT. I’m kinda saddened that I’ll soon be back to seeking out something else in vain much the same way David Letterman did with his audience. And just like he did, I’m inclined not to stop on CBS. By giving up completely and returning its stations to a wasteland not seen in more than a half-century, it’s likely too late to get me to reconsider.
Until next time…