CBS to cancel "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" next season
The big picture: The sunsetting of the iconic late night show will come in May 2026 and was "purely a financial decision," the network said.
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Fox News
3 hours ago
- Fox News
Skydance responds to Dems, denies bribery accusations, involvement in Colbert decision ahead of Paramount deal
Skydance denied any involvement in the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's late-night CBS show and said it had complied with anti-bribery laws in response to Senate Democrats who had suggested there was wrongdoing ahead of its acquisition of Paramount Global. "Throughout its history and during the review of the proposed acquisition of Paramount, Skydance has fully complied with all applicable laws, including our nation's anti-bribery laws," Skydance General Counsel Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon wrote to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a letter first reported by Deadline. McKinnon's letter also said Skydance was "not involved" in the cancellation of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." The announcement, made on July 17, was reportedly in the works before Colbert spoke out that week against parent company Paramount for settling President Donald Trump's election interference lawsuit against CBS News and "60 Minutes." McKinnon noted that Paramount did provide notice to Skydance about axing Colbert's show, which will stay on the air until May, but only after the company had made its own independent decision on the matter. According to Deadline, McKinnon also said Skydance "was neither a party to the lawsuit nor to Paramount's settlement of its litigation" with Trump. She added that Paramount requested, and received, Skydance's consent that one of the settlement terms included CBS News making public transcripts of its interviews with White House candidates in the future. The liberal senators had previously warned Paramount that "it is illegal to corruptly give anything of value to federal officials to influence an official act — and if Paramount settles the lawsuit in a quid-pro-quo arrangement to influence the Administration's assessment of the Paramount-Skydance deal, company officials could be breaking the law." Paramount was accused of paying, as Colbert put it, a "big, fat bribe" to the Trump administration in the form of a $16 million settlement of the suit ahead of the FCC approving its merger with Skydance. Fox News Digital previously reported another eight-figure sum would be allocated for advertisements and public service announcements for conservative causes set to be funded by the new ownership. Last week, FCC Chair Brendan Carr announced he was giving the Paramount-Skydance merger the go-ahead, citing multiple commitments Skydance said it would make. "Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change. That is why I welcome Skydance's commitment to make significant changes at the once-storied CBS broadcast network," Carr said in a statement. "In particular, Skydance has made written commitments to ensure that the new company's programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints from across the political and ideological spectrum. Skydance will also adopt measures that can root out the bias that has undermined trust in the national news media." "These commitments, if implemented, would enable CBS to operate in the public interest and focus on fair, unbiased, and fact-based coverage. Doing so would begin the process of earning back Americans' trust. Today's decision also marks another step forward in the FCC's efforts to eliminate invidious forms of DEI discrimination. And Skydance's commitment to enhancing local news and reporting—coverage valued by the public—will also inure to the benefit of the American people," Carr continued. The Paramount-Skydance deal is set to close August 7. The newly formed Paramount Skydance Corp. is led by CEO David Ellison, the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, who will serve as president. Paramount's controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, who controlled more than three-quarters of Paramount's Class A voting shares, will exit the company. Before the merger became official, Paramount and CBS agreed to settle Trump's "election interference" lawsuit last month for a sum expected to be north of $30 million, including $16 million upfront for Trump's presidential library. Redstone, who recused herself from discussions related to Trump's lawsuit in February, wasn't thrilled with being tied up in litigation with the sitting president and signed off on a settlement. It is widely believed that she wanted to settle in hopes of preventing potential retribution by Trump's FCC, which had the authority to halt the merger with Skydance. Meanwhile, Paramount ignited further backlash among liberals last week when it announced the cancellation of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." CBS insisted it was purely a financial decision, while many critics, including top Democrats, accused the network of political motivation ahead of the Skydance merger. But Colbert's show was reportedly losing CBS $40 million a year and had been running on a whopping $100 million budget per season. Still, Paramount has been at the receiving end of intense criticism for its recent moves, including on its own programs like "The Daily Show" hosted by Jon Stewart and "South Park," both of which air on Paramount-owned Comedy Central.
New York Times
6 hours ago
- New York Times
Kamala Harris's Post-Election TV Diet: ‘Lots of Cooking Shows'
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night's highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now. Questions? Read the Book. Kamala Harris appeared on Thursday's 'Late Show,' giving Stephen Colbert her first interview since she lost the presidential election to Donald Trump in November. 'First of all, you look rested,' Colbert told the ex-vice president, who was promoting her forthcoming campaign memoir. Harris said she was, and then asked Colbert how he was doing, a nod to 'Late Show's' recently announced cancellation. 'I'll get plenty of rest in June,' he said. Colbert had questions about the 2024 campaign, many of which Harris responded to by saying that the answers would be in her book, '107 Days.' 'There's a lot of personal stuff in the book. I mean, poor Dougie,' Harris said with a laugh, referring to her husband, Douglas Emhoff. 'You've blown the lid off of Doug? What's going on?' — STEPHEN COLBERT'For example, my birthday's in October. The election's in November. You see where I'm going? And Dougie kind of dropped the ball on my big birthday.' — KAMALA HARRIS'He didn't get you anything?' — STEPHEN COLBERT'Oh, you have to read the book.' — KAMALA HARRIS Colbert gave Harris credit for predicting what Trump would do if elected. 'You said he would prosecute his political enemies, he would cut Medicaid and Medicare. He would ignore court orders, he would alienate our allies, he would give massive tax cuts to the rich. And I know you're not here to say, 'I told you so,' but would you like to?' — STEPHEN COLBERT'Let me just say this — you are correct that I did predict a lot of it. But Stephen, what I did not predict was the capitulation. I didn't predict that.' — KAMALA HARRIS Harris said it took 'months' before she could watch the news again after her loss. 'You know, I'm just not into self-mutilation,' she told Colbert. Instead, she watched 'lots of cooking shows.' The Punchiest Punchlines (Presidential Fitness Test Edition) 'President Trump signed an executive order today to revive the Presidential Fitness Test for public schools, and then immediately had to lie down for a bit.' — SETH MEYERS 'Yeah, which means now children will have to be as fit as President Trump.' — STEPHEN COLBERT 'Trump's very into fitness. In fact, right now he's trying to run from the Epstein story as fast as he can.' — JIMMY FALLON 'Yeah, the Presidential Fitness Test is back. Trump was like, 'It's time to bring back my favorite sport: public humiliation.'' — JIMMY FALLON 'Apparently, it changed in 2012 during the Obama administration to focus more on individual health than athletic feats. Boo! Make the children perform athletic feats for our amusement! I had to do it when I was in school, and so did all of you — and I think every child should have a chance to struggle through timed situps while the meanest boy in school sits on their feet and farts.' — STEPHEN COLBERT 'Yeah, Trump says he wants to ensure America's future generations are strong, healthy and successful. At least, I think that's what he said. He was gnawing on a K.F.C. 12-piece at the time.' — JIMMY FALLON The Bits Worth Watching Desi Lydic weighed in on the debate over Sydney Sweeney's new American Eagle ad on 'The Daily Show.' Also, Check This Out Nine American artists who have dealt with censorship shared how it has informed their work and lives.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
It's General Hospital vs Young and the Restless on Celebrity Family Feud tonight, July 31
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Many of the biggest soap stars are coming to prime time, as the stars of both General Hospital and The Young and the Restless are competing on the July 31 episode of Celebrity Family Feud season 11 airing on ABC at 8 pm ET/PT. Taking a break from the twists and turns happening in Port Charles and Genoa City, the casts of General Hospital and The Young and the Restless are now going to play the classic game show where they have to come up with the most popular answers to survey questions, all to raise money for their selected charities. ABC's General Hospital is going to be represented on the show by Finola Hughes (Anna Devane on the soap), Donnell Turner (Curtis Ashford), Rena Sofer (Lois Cerull), Tanisha Harper (Jordan Ashford) and Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos). Crossing over from CBS, team The Young and the Restless consists of Bryton James (Devon Hamilton-Winters), Melissa Claire Egan (Chelsea Lawson), Lauralee Bell (Christine Blair), Michelle Stafford (Phyllis Summers) and Joshua Morrow (Nicholas Newman). The soap grudge match is one game in the hour-long episode of Celebrity Family Feud. The other game will see teams led by Diplo and Laverne Cox go up against each other. Bell shared a preview of their time on Celebrity Family Feud on Instagram: Those who want to watch General Hospital and The Young and the Restless stars on Celebrity Family Feud live need to have either a traditional pay-TV or live TV streaming service package. In terms of the latter, ABC is available on Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV (in select markets) and YouTube TV. If you're not able to watch the game show when it airs live, the episode is going to be available to stream on-demand starting Friday, August 1, on Hulu (subscription required). Hulu is also the place to catch up with any episodes of General Hospital you may have missed; for The Young and the Restless episodes become available to stream on-demand on Paramount Plus. You can also check out some of our latest General Hospital spoilers and The Young and the Restless spoilers. Celebrity Family Feud airs Thursdays at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC over the summer. Solve the daily Crossword
