Latest news with #endings
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Commentary: Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' is canceled, but he won't go quietly into that goodnight
We seem to be in an era of endings. The end of ethical norms, of the rule of law, of science, of democracy, of Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast, possibly the world and the just-announced end of "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," when the host's contract runs out in 10 months — which may presage the end of late-night television, at least on CBS, which says it has no plans to replace him or keep the show. "This is all just going away," Colbert said in a statement taped Thursday. Coincidentally, or not, Paramount Global, which owns CBS, is seeking regulatory approval from the Trump administration to sell itself to the Hollywood studio Skydance Media. (I'd never heard of it either.) An official statement, claiming that the "Late Show" cancellation represents "a purely financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night … not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount" (italics mine) is — however true it might be — just the sort of thing to make one say, "Pull the other one." "Other matters" would seem to refer to the merger and to Paramount's recent payment of $16 million to settle a frivolous Trump lawsuit over the perfectly routine editing of a "60 Minutes" Kamala Harris interview that was somehow supposed to give Harris an unfair advantage in the 2024 election and to have caused her opponent "mental anguish" — a payment Colbert characterized in a monologue just a few days ago as a "big fat bribe": "As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended. And I don't know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company. But just taking a stab at it, I'd say $16 million would help." Read more: CBS to end 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' next year Though he responded to his studio audience's supportive boos saying, "Yeah, I share your feelings," he was only kind to the network: 'I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners,' Colbert said. 'I'm so grateful to the Tiffany network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home." But there have been plenty of surrogates to draw connections, provide context and bite harder, especially in light of the departure of "60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens and CBS News President Wendy McMahon. 'Love you Stephen," ABC host Jimmy Kimmel, posted on Instagram, "adding "F— you CBS and all your Sheldons.' (In January, ABC also settled a Trump suit for $16 million, over George Stephanopoulos erroneously saying that Trump had been found civilly liable of "rape.") Of the remaining late-night hosts, we may say that each is special in their own way. Colbert, 61, who has been at "The Late Show" for 10 years, is the most mature, professorial and philosophical — gentle, a gentleman, and at times a mock-gentleman, addressing his audience as "My fellow Americans," or echoing Walter Winchell, "Mr. and Mrs. America and All the Ships at Sea," or as "Ladies and Gentlemen." He slaps himself in the face twice before every show to "be in the moment … [to] only do this for the next hour." Though he may still kick up his heels during a monologue, as an interviewer he is composed and thoughtful and curious — and funny, to be sure — to the degree each conversation demands. A committed (liberal) Catholic, he co-narrated the English-language audiobook of Pope Francis' "Life: My Story Through History," with Franciscan Father John Quigley, at the same time, he's a first-generation Dungeons & Dragons devotee, a lifelong reader of science fiction and a man of whom director Peter Jackson said, "I have never met a bigger Tolkien geek in my life." (Jackson cast him as "Laketown spy" in "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.") He's a person who will quote Gandalf in a conversation on grief and loss with Anderson Cooper, or, on "The Friendship Onion" podcast with Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd, a.k.a. Merry and Pippin, declare that after reading "The Lord of the Rings" after college, "I realized that Aragorn is the Apollonian model of manhood … The Hobbits are us. And we should love life as much as they do." And he knows a thing or two about Ronnie James Dio. And grew up on Mad magazine, where young minds were taught to recognize the deceptions and hypocrisies of politics, business and media. Read more: 'Jimmy Kimmel is next': Trump gloats after cancellation of Colbert's 'Late Show' Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," which he hosted from 2005 through 2014, had a huge cultural effect beyond the reach of any late-night host now, Colbert included. Because it ran on basic cable and not network television, and because Colbert hid within the character of a pompous conservative pundit, the show could take wild swings; to the extent it looked respectable, it was only a matter of irony. Colbert and Jon Stewart, on whose "The Daily Show," where Colbert had earlier worked, staged a "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" on the National Mall in Washington, which drew a crowd of more than 200,000; he ran for president twice and created a PAC, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, "100 percent legal and at least 10 percent ethical." During its run, he (or his writers) gave the world "truthiness," named 2006's Word of the Year by Merriam-Webster, which defined it as "a truthful or seemingly truthful quality that is claimed for something not because of supporting facts or evidence but because of a feeling that it is true or a desire for it to be true." Colbert was twice named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People. Ben & Jerry's created an ice cream flavor, Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream, in his honor, and NASA dubbed a piece of exercise equipment for use on the International Space Station the "Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill," or COLBERT. Testifying in character in 2010, before a House Judiciary subcommittee on legal status for immigrant farmworkers, he said, as if looking into 2025, "This is America," he said, "I don't want my tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American, then sliced by a Guatemalan and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian … My great grandfather did not travel over 4,000 miles of the Atlantic Ocean to see the country overrun by immigrants. He did it because he killed a man back in Ireland. That's the rumor, I don't know if that's true. I'd like to have that stricken from the record." The signature segment of "The Late Show" is the "Colbert Questionert" in which the host poses 15 questions "ergonomically designed to penetrate straight to the soul of one of my guests and reveal their true being to the world." (It's "a scientifically verified survey; I've asked several scientists and they assured me — yeah, it's a survey.") Designed to create comic and/or sincere responses, they range from "What's the best sandwich?" (Will Ferrell: "Salami and grapefruit on rye, with a light sheen of mayonnaise.") to "Apples or oranges?" (Colbert considers apples the correct answer, because you can put peanut butter on them.) to "The rest of your life in five words." (Tom Hanks: "A magnificent cavalcade of color.") Cate Blanchett took it lying on Colbert's desk, as if in therapy. "What do you think happens when we die?" he asked. "You turn into a soup," she replied. "A human soup." But it's Colbert's extended interviews and discussions, from "The Late Show" and elsewhere, posted online, that dig the deepest and reveal the most about him in the bargain: a much circulated conversation with Nick Cave from last year; a long talk with Anderson Cooper, after the death of his mother, both about grief and gratitude; an episode of "The Spiritual Life With Fr. James Martin, S.J.," from a couple of weeks ago. (Colbert describes himself as "publicly Catholic," not "a public Catholic.") Such discussions perhaps point the way to a post-"Late Show" practice for Colbert, much as it became one for David Letterman, who passed the seat on to him. (He's only the second host since the show's premiere in 1993.) As to the field he'll be leaving next May, who can say? Taylor Tomlinson's "After Midnight" game show, which followed "The Late Show," expired this week. Kimmel and Seth Meyers, who go as hard against Trump as does Colbert, and the milder Jimmy Fallon, seem for the moment safely fixed at their desks. Though new platforms and viewing habits have changed the way, and how much, it's consumed, late-night television by its temporal nature remains a special province, out at the edge of things, where edgy things may be said and tried. (Don't expect Colbert to go quietly into that goodnight.) Yet even as the No. 1 show in late night, "The Late Show" reportedly loses money. There's something to that "financial decision," I'm sure; it's the "purely" that smells. We'll see. "I absolutely love that Colbert got fired," Trump posted on his vanity social media site, going on to say that he "hears" that "Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert." Trump and Colbert could not be farther apart as humans. The president sells fear; he uses it as a club. But the TV host is sanguine. "You can't laugh and be afraid at the same time," Colbert is fond of saying, sometimes adding, "and the Devil cannot stand mockery." Sign up for Screen Gab, a free newsletter about the TV and movies everyone's talking about from the L.A. Times. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword
Bloomberg
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Bloomberg
Inside the Ambitious Japanese Video Game That Almost Bankrupted Its Makers
Hi everyone. Today we're diving into an ambitious game with 100 possible endings, but first... This week's top gaming news:
Digital Trends
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
10 most confusing movie endings ever
Great movies leave their audience thinking about what they saw long after the credits roll. Typically, this means raising some questions about the story and concluding the film without providing any answers. This approach can sometimes tank a film's reception, but there have been multiple cases of movies winning over audiences with confusing and ambiguous endings. Even after they premiered so many years ago, these ten films still leave viewers scratching their heads with their endings. Recommended Videos Inception (2010) After Cobb rescues Saito from Limbo and completes inception on Robert, the former wakes up in America and passes through airport security. Having finished his mission, it seems Saito has fulfilled his end of the bargain and cleared Cobb of his criminal status. However, when Cobb finally reunites with his kids, the camera shows the top he uses to prove whether or not he's awake continues to spin until the film cuts to black. The implication that Cobb is still dreaming has made an already mind-bending film even more perplexing. It's chilling to think that Cobb may be unknowingly trapped in his own sleeping mind. However, the ending to Inception also shows how he is no longer questioning his reality, as he is just happy to see his children's faces again. No Country for Old Men (2008) After Llewelyn is killed off-screen and Anton escapes with the stolen money, Ed retires as sheriff and recounts a couple of dreams he had to his wife. He says both dreams were about his father, with the first one being about losing money he was given. He says the second one had him and his father riding through the snow in days of old, and that the latter rode off carrying fire in a horn, with Ed knowing he would build a campfire for them both. Ed then says he woke up, and the film cuts to black. It's an unusual, anticlimactic way to end a film like No Country for Old Men, especially considering everything that came before it. Nevertheless, it fits the story's style of dark realism, with all the characters getting an unsatisfactory ending and Ed hoping for better days to come soon. Shutter Island (2010) After Teddy investigates the disappearance of a patient at the titular psychiatric hospital, he realizes that he is actually 'Andrew Laeddis,' one of the hospital's delusional patients, and that the doctors are helping him live out a fantasy to try and bring him back to reality. At first, Andrew seems to have accepted the truth, but he soon appears to have relapsed, and he is sent to be lobotomized. However, when he asks Dr. Sheehan if it's worse to 'live as a monster' or to 'die as a good man,' it is implied that he is faking his relapse so he can escape his traumatic memories. Whether or not Andrew is aware of what he's doing in Shutter Island is unclear. Either way, it is a tragic fate for a character who has endured so much guilt and trauma and simply wants to find peace. The Blair Witch Project (1999) After seemingly getting trapped in the woods by the Blair Witch, filmmakers Heather and Mike spend the movie's final moments searching for their friend, Josh, in the abandoned house of killer Rustin Parr. After Mike searches the basement and encounters an unseen entity, Heather finds him standing in the corner, staring at the wall, before the entity attacks her to end the film. The bizarreness of the movie's ending has made The Blair Witch Project all the more terrifying and memorable. Was it the Blair Witch who attacked Heather? Was it Josh? Why was Mike standing in the corner? Ultimately, all the questions raised by this frightening finale contributed to making this low-budget indie film a pop culture phenomenon. Blade Runner (1982) After the replicant Roy's life expires, Deckard returns to his apartment to find Rachel and flee Los Angeles together. However, before they go, Deckard finds an origami unicorn lying on the floor, implied to have been left there by his colleague Gaff. Considering that Deckard dreamed of a unicorn earlier in the film and that replicants' memories are implanted, this final scene suggests that Deckard was, in fact, a replicant. Blade Runner repeatedly questions what defines a person, exploring how replicants like Roy and Rachel have emotions and generating sympathy for them, despite their being androids with false memories. The idea that Deckard could have been a replicant the whole time hammers the film's message home and has led to long-lasting debates among audiences. Even the movie's cast and crew can't agree on whether Deckard is a human or a replicant. But does it really matter? 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) After surviving the wrath of the artificial intelligence HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey, astronaut Dave Bowman finds himself hurtling across the cosmos after coming in contact with an alien monolith near Jupiter. He then ends up in a fancy hotel room, where he rapidly ages in his new home before lying on his deathbed in front of the monolith. However, he then turns into a glowing fetus that looks at the Earth from outer space. From the Stargate's psychedelic visuals to the bizarre hotel room to Dave's sudden transformation, 2001's dialogue-free finale has mystified countless audiences in the decades since the film's release. It is clear that some alien force has been manipulating humanity's development throughout the film. But the mystery behind their actions captures both the beauty and terror of the unknown universe. Donnie Darko (2001) Donnie Darko is filled with mysteries, particularly as its titular character sees a man in a rabbit suit who tells him the world will end in 28 days. This prophecy comes to pass as a vortex appears in the sky, nearly killing his family in an airborne plane. However, time suddenly rewinds, with Donnie getting crushed by the plane engine that nearly killed him at the start of the film. The reasoning for the world nearly ending, time rewinding, and Donnie's death is left unexplained in the movie's theatrical cut. Despite Donnie Darko's ambiguous conclusion, it completes the film's profound message about how one person can affect and connect those around them, exploring realities in which Donnie does and doesn't exist. American Psycho (2000) American Psycho presents Patrick Bateman as an unreliable narrator, and the film's ending shows the extent to which this is true. Though Patrick tries to confess to all his murders, they are all brushed aside, as one of Patrick's victims is said to be alive. Patrick then sits at a table, just as confused as the audience, who have been left wondering how much of what occurred earlier in the film was real or if Patrick imagined all of his murders. Whatever the truth is, American Psycho's ending is a haunting portrayal of the moral bankruptcy of Patrick and the world he inhabits. No one seems to care that Patrick committed so many murders or that he is clearly in need of psychiatric attention. Furthermore, Patrick's inner monologue reveals that he hasn't experienced any growth or remorse for his actions, and the world has allowed a dangerous and depraved individual to go unpunished. The Thing (1982) The Thing invoked incredible terror as the titular alien infects, assimilates, and shapeshifts into any organism it touches, rendering it an elusive world-ending threat. Though MacReady seemingly destroys the Thing at the end of the film, he comes across Childs in their base's burning wreckage. Having disappeared earlier in the film, MacReady questions if the Thing infected Childs. Though both men don't trust each other, they decide to share a bottle of whiskey and 'see what happens.' This ambiguous ending has baffled audiences for decades, with many people trying to determine whether the Thing infected one or both of the surviving men. The fact that audiences are still debating this scene highlights just how terrifying and thought-provoking The Thing is, highlighting the unknown horror of nature and the dangers of paranoia. The Shining (1980) At the end of Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining, Wendy and Danny escape the Overlook Hotel, and a murderous Jack is left to freeze to death in the hotel's hedge maze. The film then cuts to a photo of the Overlook's Fourth of July celebration from 1921, which somehow depicts Jack as one of the partygoers, leaving viewers with more questions than answers. While the scene implies that Jack is the reincarnation of one of the Overlook's previous caretakers, it also suggests that Jack's spirit has been completely assimilated into the hotel's legion of ghosts. Even after 45 years and the sequel film, Doctor Sleep, there's no concrete explanation of what the photo really means, making it one of the most baffling final images in cinema history.
