Late Night Television

[Finch]

So, 500k subscription cancellations and billion dollar losses on the stock market moved the needle. Not surprised but also acknowledging that this successful pushback matters a great deal for momentum and symbolically. Hopefully the other corporations heard the message loud and clear.

What Kimmel doesn't say tomorrow is going to matter as much as what he does say.

Lots of other details unclear too, such as what Sinclair and Newstar are going to do.

[Finch]

Sinclair are going to preempt the show with news programs on their stations.

[dx23]

So, 500k subscription cancellations and billion dollar losses on the stock market moved the needle. Not surprised but also acknowledging that this successful pushback matters a great deal for momentum and symbolically. Hopefully the other corporations heard the message loud and clear.

What Kimmel doesn't say tomorrow is going to matter as much as what he does say.

Lots of other details unclear too, such as what Sinclair and Newstar are going to do.

Funny how the Cracker Barrell people who pointed at the restaurant's losses after their recent logo change and in-door rebrand are very quiet about the losses that Disney experienced over the weekend. Disney really fucked up in this one as they have held back in negotiating with cable and satellite providers about the re-branded ESPN app, which was the only way to watch the WWE Premium Live Event over the weekend and they did this strategically to get a quarterly bump on Disney+, Hulu and ESPN subscribers and the whole Kimmel thing backfired on them spectacularly. Not only didn't they get the bump in subscribers, they went the other way and lost 500K subs, with many of them not returning for sure after Disney's brass repeatedly bending over to this fascist administration. By the way, Disney is one of the companies being heavily affected by the downturn in tourism too. Even more amusing that Michael Eisner of all people spoke up about Iger's cowardice to Trump and the MAGA crowd. If Iger really want's to correct this, he needs to sue both Nextstar and Sinclair for their boycott. Hurt both of these companies.

And to those pointing out that ratings are down for Late Night TV, well yes, but everything else on Network TV has gone down too. Streaming, and a variety of choices for entertainment has lowered the ratings for everything on network TV with the exception of football. Add to this the continuous boycotts from right wingers of anything that Trump gets offended by and the only programming that gets a boost is Gutfeld, Joe Rogan, and UFC.

John Oliver ran a very good segment about Kimmel, attacking Carr's overreaching and illegal threat against TV by weaponizing the FCC. Still, the main problem is that besides corruption, there's no one in power who is standing up against these goons. Won't be surprised when next month either the View, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon or even Oliver himself gets canceled and persecuted by the right, because that's now the name of the game and everyone has accepted it as a normal thing.

[Matt]

Sinclair are going to preempt the show with news programs on their stations.

I remember in 2009 when the Boston NBC affiliate said it would not air Jay Leno's (ultimately disastrous) nightly 10 PM show because they believed they'd get better ratings with a local news program at that time slot. NBC strong-armed them by threatening to revoke the station's network affiliation, and they ended up airing the show. But I can't see Disney/ABC doing the same with Sinclair or Nexstar, who own dozens of stations between them. Disney/ABC will be happy to let the station owners take the heat, and then they can just let Kimmel's contract expire in May 2026. And in 2024, Kimmel seemed just fine with not renewing. Why would he stay with a company that so quickly threw him under the bus like this?

[dx23]

Sinclair are going to preempt the show with news programs on their stations.

I remember in 2009 when the Boston NBC affiliate said it would not air Jay Leno's (ultimately disastrous) nightly 10 PM show because they believed they'd get better ratings with a local news program at that time slot. NBC strong-armed them by threatening to revoke the station's network affiliation, and they ended up airing the show. But I can't see Disney/ABC doing the same with Sinclair or Nexstar, who own dozens of stations between them. Disney/ABC will be happy to let the station owners take the heat, and then they can just let Kimmel's contract expire in May 2026. And in 2024, Kimmel seemed just fine with not renewing. Why would he stay with a company that so quickly threw him under the bus like this?

Disney has nothing to lose by strong arming Sinclair. Sinclair is in the beginning stages of in illegal merger so Disney has all the chips on their side on this. By the way, I'm in one of the Sinclair station owned areas and one of the guys working at the station told me they've been getting calls and bombarded with emails since last week to bring back Kimmel, which is surprising due to the station being in a very red MAGA area full of elderly retiree assholes including Nicholas Sparks.

[dx23]

Nexstar is joining Sinclair in preempting Kimmel. Again, Disney needs to strong arm both and take away their affiliation if they don’t cave.

[Matt]

Kimmel grabbed 6.3 million viewers on his first day back. Right now, his monologue has over 16 million views on YouTube.

[dx23]

Rumor going around that ABC will blackout Monday Night Football for Sinclair and Nextstar stations if they don't immediately stop boycotting Kimmel's show.

[hearthesilence]

I don't know if anyone else here already knows this, but Sinclair has always been a slimy operation so I hope ABC finally stands up to them. This is the same company that in 2018 made their local news anchors read the same disingenuous statement on the air against "fake" news. And Nexstar isn't much better.

[dx23]

I don't know if anyone else here already knows this, but Sinclair has always been a slimy operation so I hope ABC finally stands up to them. This is the same company that in 2018 made their local news anchors read the same disingenuous statement on the air against "fake" news. And Nexstar isn't much better.

I think this was discussed in the politics thread at one point, and John Oliver did a segment on them showing all the anchors reciting the right wing script that they were given about bullshit fake news. Even worse, both companies want to break FCC rules by acquiring more stations through mergers, and that's why they are bending the knee to Trump. They own now about 20% each of affiliate stations nationwide and if the mergers are approved, that number spikes to a ridiculous amount of ownership, basically giving them the advantage to call the shots and peddle us with more bullshit

[domino harvey]

Sinclair folded and will be airing Kimmel after all

[hearthesilence]

Same with Nexstar. Power to the people.

[pistolwink]

The one thing more important to corporations than Trump: $$$

[dx23]

I believe the Daily Show is pretty much done after the end of the year, but it doesn't help their case when they bring Whitney Cummings of all people to do a segment when she has been spouting alt-right wing red pill bullshit since COVID. Why the hell do comedians believe they are above everyone else in being criticized for shitty takes and jokes that punch down on the less fortunate? I feel bad for Desi Lydic, Jordan Klepper and a few others that have tried doing the lord's work of fighting the whole right wing bullshit since forever, but with Jon Stewart both sides bullshit and the recurrent special hosts like Charlemagne and Cummings, both enablers of the current presidency, the Daily Show should just wrap it up.

[beamish14]

I believe the Daily Show is pretty much done after the end of the year, but it doesn't help their case when they bring Whitney Cummings of all people to do a segment when she has been spouting alt-right wing red pill bullshit since COVID. Why the hell do comedians believe they are above everyone else in being criticized for shitty takes and jokes that punch down on the less fortunate? I feel bad for Desi Lydic, Jordan Klepper and a few others that have tried doing the lord's work of fighting the whole right wing bullshit since forever, but with Jon Stewart both sides bullshit and the recurrent special hosts like Charlemagne and Cummings, both enablers of the current presidency, the Daily Show should just wrap it up.

Craig Kilborne was right all along, and I will stand by that until I die. None of these horrible correspondents or other bullshit that Stewart ushered in

[hearthesilence]

I thought he liked Stewart's show (or at least eventually did)?

He even returned as a narrator for a segment last year and there was no mistaking his identity given a reference three minutes in. (Title of this eventual YouTube upload also clinched it.)

[Black Hat]

I believe the Daily Show is pretty much done after the end of the year, but it doesn't help their case when they bring Whitney Cummings of all people to do a segment when she has been spouting alt-right wing red pill bullshit since COVID. Why the hell do comedians believe they are above everyone else in being criticized for shitty takes and jokes that punch down on the less fortunate? I feel bad for Desi Lydic, Jordan Klepper and a few others that have tried doing the lord's work of fighting the whole right wing bullshit since forever, but with Jon Stewart both sides bullshit and the recurrent special hosts like Charlemagne and Cummings, both enablers of the current presidency, the Daily Show should just wrap it up.

Craig Kilborne was right all along, and I will stand by that until I die. None of these horrible correspondents or other bullshit that Stewart ushered in

Right about what?

Kilborn is the only person in the modern era who did the humane thing by packing his bags and going home, never to be seen again. Really respect him for that. His offbeat sense of humor, combined with his air of superiority, made for a great show. His dancing on Fridays was an awesome bit.

My hot take with late night is it's only dead because these shows are bad. Would ratings still not be what they used to be, sure, but how about trying a show with a charismatic host, who's compelling? Who the hell wants to watch beer pong with a dork, or hang out at midnight with corny nerds? Say what you want about Jay, but even he would occasionally show teeth.

The funny thing is, they had someone, I forget her name, Taylor something, who was on after Colbert for a second, she would have killed as a host.

Nobody is dumber than a tv executive, and it's long past due for Lorne to be put out to pasture. It's insane the amount of control a man who was in high school when Ben Hur came out still has.

[brundlefly]

Tomlinson's latest stand-up special, "Prodigal Daughter," comes to Netflix on February 24th.

[beamish14]

I believe the Daily Show is pretty much done after the end of the year, but it doesn't help their case when they bring Whitney Cummings of all people to do a segment when she has been spouting alt-right wing red pill bullshit since COVID. Why the hell do comedians believe they are above everyone else in being criticized for shitty takes and jokes that punch down on the less fortunate? I feel bad for Desi Lydic, Jordan Klepper and a few others that have tried doing the lord's work of fighting the whole right wing bullshit since forever, but with Jon Stewart both sides bullshit and the recurrent special hosts like Charlemagne and Cummings, both enablers of the current presidency, the Daily Show should just wrap it up.

Craig Kilborne was right all along, and I will stand by that until I die. None of these horrible correspondents or other bullshit that Stewart ushered in

Right about what?

Kilborn is the only person in the modern era who did the humane thing by packing his bags and going home, never to be seen again. Really respect him for that. His offbeat sense of humor, combined with his air of superiority, made for a great show. His dancing on Fridays was an awesome bit.

My hot take with late night is it's only dead because these shows are bad. Would ratings still not be what they used to be, sure, but how about trying a show with a charismatic host, who's compelling? Who the hell wants to watch beer pong with a dork, or hang out at midnight with corny nerds? Say what you want about Jay, but even he would occasionally show teeth.

The funny thing is, they had someone, I forget her name, Taylor something, who was on after Colbert for a second, she would have killed as a host.

Nobody is dumber than a tv executive, and it's long past due for Lorne to be put out to pasture. It's insane the amount of control a man who was in high school when Ben Hur came out still has.

I was clumsily trying to endorse Kilborne’s vision of The Daily Show as a spotlight of local oddball nonsense instead of a look into the hellscape of modern America. I just really enjoyed his interviews as well. Smart as hell and didn’t pander at all.


Apparently very difficult to work with, though

[domino harvey]

+1 for the Kilborn Years Were the Best Years. Five questions, moment of zen, the Italian language box office report, best lineup of correspondents

[dx23]

+1 for the Kilborn Years Were the Best Years. Five questions, moment of zen, the Italian language box office report, best lineup of correspondents

There's one that lives rent free in my mind since the day it was said in the show: "Hope Floats... so does poop". It's one of the most stupid jokes ever, yet I laugh like a 5 year old whenever I come across that Sandra Bullock film.

[hearthesilence]

In all honesty, the times play a big role in shaping these shows, and the drunkenly optimistic '90s were a great fit for Kilborn's kind of show. I watched him when he left for CBS, and I remember when he and Letterman were the first to return after 9/11. (Letterman likely made the call given both shows were under his production company and The Late Late Show was always meant to follow Letterman's.) He made the point that their show was never a current events show, but they were booking guests who could "help us understand this" as they were navigating what kind of show they could do in the immediate aftermath.

The Daily Show under Stewart leaned much harder into advocacy once the Bush years got underway, and it's an understatement that those were extremely dire years for the country at the time - very credible arguments were made pegging him the worst President in history, at minimum over the previous century, given a war that was waged on false pretenses, torture and prisoner abuse at the prison in Abu Ghraib, and the blatant Orwellian aspects of that administration. It was a unanimous view at the time that the nation was never more polarized in anyone's lifetime. (Oh, how much lower there was to go.) And I think doing that kind of show to popular success over eight years permanently re-shaped The Daily Show to be what it is today.

[flyonthewall2983]

”The banal horror of Jimmy Fallon”

[dx23]

Fallon has been NBC's useful idiot. Just a more sterile, less funny version of Jay Leno who doesn't want to shake any trees or do anything that may ruffle any feathers. Like a morning TV host thrown to the night spot to send brain dead people to sleep with warm thoughts of mediocrity. Fallon himself has admitted publicly that he doesn't want to be political and wants to keep out of anything controversial. Don't know if keeping this facade is what let him to the battle with alcoholism he had about a decade ago. Backstage, Fallon has created a toxic workplace that parallels another comedian who sold her soul for comfort, Ellen Degeneres. He fits perfectly to that saying that when you stand for everything you stand for nothing.

[Finch]

Thanks for that article, flyonthewall. It gets at why Fallon is like nails on a chalkboard. That rictus grin and the desperation not to be offensive to anyone is just sad to witness. Mind you, out of all those hosts, John Oliver is the only one I can genuinely enjoy. Maybe Seth Myers at a push. I like that Kimmel gets under Trump's skin but that's about it. Colbert I can take or leave depending on my mood.