Thread: How long before Steve Colbert goes?

I have only watched Steve Colbert once and one time only, on The Late Show. But once was enough (speaking only for myself). Perhaps I was too used to Letterman. Colbert has a hyper style, with his hands often moving in jerky motions when he talks, and he spent a lot of time of the show talking about US domestic politics, which after a long day, I have no interest in. I did not like his style at all. Colbert did NOT have the the "it" for the show, IMO.

Anybody else think the same way, or differently.

I do not think Colbert will last.

Bill Carter: How Jimmy Fallon Crushed Stephen Colbert (and Everyone Else in Late Night)

by Bill Carter 12/16/2015

....In a year of unprecedented change in late-night television, one date stands out as the defining moment. No, not Sept. 8, the night circled on most calendars — the premiere of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on CBS. Colbert, a Comedy Central alum flush with a second Emmy for outstanding variety series, did arrive with plenty of fanfare.

But none of that mattered — for long. D-day for late-night TV was Sept. 9, when Colbert's splashy, classy introduction to the Ed Sullivan Theater was upstaged abruptly by a commotion a few blocks south at 30 Rock. NBC's Jimmy Fallon came crashing through TV screens with the most boisterous blockbuster hour of entertainment he could fashion. Opening with a blast of dance and song — "History of Rap 6," accompanied by his signature guest, Justin Timberlake — and backing it with Ellen DeGeneres in another regular Fallon bit, a lip sync contest, the Tonight Show host made a statement: Welcome to late night, Stephen.

One prominent late-night player told me facing that show that night was like "going up against Hiroshima and Nagasaki." Fallon clearly had no interest in sitting back to allow the swirl surrounding Colbert's arrival to run its course. Those killer second-night bookings were long in the planning and very much the host's idea, says a Fallon staffer. Colbert's ratings preeminence lasted 24 hours: Fallon beat him the second night — and 55 of the next 58 nights. During recent weeks, the gap has grown in the 18-to-49 demographic coveted by late-night advertisers.


CBS had no realistic hope of knocking Fallon from his perch atop late night — at least not right away. But Colbert's solid early numbers have slid (though he's bringing in a younger audience than his predecessor, David Letterman); the other Jimmy, Kimmel on ABC, has moved ahead of him as well. During Thanksgiving week — admittedly a bit unusual — Colbert fell behind Seth Meyers' NBC show, which plays an hour later.

Several theories have been floated as to why Colbert's opening splash seemed to dry faster than expected. One veteran late-night writer calls him a very funny guy doing a quality show, but "maybe too smart for a mass audience?" Another longtime producer says, simply, "He needs to be more commercial, more social media friendly."

Bill Carter: How Jimmy Fallon Crushed Stephen Colbert (and Everyone Else in Late Night) - Hollywood Reporter