Farewell to Stephen Colbert

[Another thing to wish had not happened, but to try to love.]
Tonight, the final episode of “The Late Show”, the pioneering late-night talk show started by David Letterman in 1993 and hosted by Stephen Colbert since 2015, will air. While CBS has claimed that financial reasons led them to end the franchise, the circumstances surrounding that cancellation are highly questionable.

The network says it decided to end “The Late Show” because it was losing at least $40 million a year. Sounds credible, doesn’t it? Maybe not. Many insiders — including Mr. Colbert’s friend and direct competitor, Jimmy Kimmel — have noted that CBS’s calculation left out some key factors. It did not include the effect of Mr. Colbert’s star presence on the fees CBS is able to command from local affiliate stations. It shrugged off the value the network has gained from sending stars of its series onto the show for promotion. It ignored Mr. Colbert’s role in bringing viewers to those affiliates’ 11 p.m. news shows, in anticipation of the new “Late Show” episode that would air right after.

Whatever the case may be, for the first time in more than two decades, late-night programming won’t include Stephen Colbert. That loss is worth recognizing.

The network that once had the backbone to air Edward R. Murrow taking on Sen. Joe McCarthy has decided that Colbert — one of the sharpest and most honest voices in American media — is no longer worth the trouble.

What’s being lost is not simply a talk show. It is something older and more important.

Though late-night television was seldom part of my routine, I frequently enjoyed watching clips of Colbert in the days after they aired. I’ll miss that, but I’ll look forward to what he does next.

Previously in Stephen Colbert: “I Love the Thing That I Most Wish Had Not Happened”

Link: https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2026/05/21/stephen-colbert-late-night-last-show-bill-lichtenstein