AILSA CHANG, HOST:
News that Stephen Colbert's "The Late Show" will be canceled by CBS in May has brought a lot of reaction, including some gloating by President Trump and a statement with a four-letter expletive from fellow late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel. Colbert told his audience and the whole world about the cancellation in a message last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT")
STEPHEN COLBERT: It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of "The Late Show" on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away.
(BOOING)
COLBERT: And I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners.
CHANG: Despite Colbert's conciliatory words for CBS, two U.S. senators have questioned whether there's a political dimension to this decision which will end the top-rated late night TV show. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans has been covering all of this and joins us now. Hi, Eric.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hi.
CHANG: OK, so it seems like President Trump, who Colbert has spent a lot of time criticizing on his show, wasn't all that sad to hear news of the cancellation. But what's been the whole range of reactions out there?
DEGGANS: Well, as you might expect, you know, fans are shocked, while those who don't like Colbert's politics, in particular his passionate criticism of President Trump, they're celebrating. So in a post on Truth Social, President Trump wrote, quote, "I absolutely love that Colbert got fired," saying that Kimmel's show on ABC would be next. Now, Kimmel, the host of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" posted F you on social media to CBS.
The network says that Colbert's show has been No. 1 for nine consecutive seasons, and they canceled it, quote, "purely as (ph) a financial decision," as revenue and viewership have dropped, but, you know, there doesn't seem to be much of an attempt to figure out how to do the show more cheaply. And the Writers Guild of America has asked the New York State Attorney General Letitia James to investigate possible wrongdoing in this action.
CHANG: OK, well, as we mentioned, politicians are questioning whether there is a political motive to this decision. So what are they saying exactly?
DEGGANS: Well, CBS's owner Paramount needs government approval to finalize its sale to Skydance Media. And already, they've settled a lawsuit filed by President Trump connected to a story by CBS's "60 Minutes" which legal experts said they had a good chance of winning. And they settled for $16 million. Now, on "The Late Show" Monday, Colbert joked that the settlement was a, quote, "big fat bribe" to Trump. So senators like Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren posted messages on social media asking if there was a political dimension to this cancellation.
Paramount also owns Comedy Central, where "The Daily Show" has also spent a lot of time criticizing the president. Now, on his podcast, "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart said he hasn't heard from Paramount's new owners about his program, and he'll handle any issues if and when they arise.
CHANG: OK, well, is there any sense of what options might be available to Stephen Colbert when he leaves CBS? Because - I mean, will his political positions make it harder for him to move elsewhere, you think?
DEGGANS: Yeah, I think that's tough to know now. Certainly, it seems more likely that he might create his own independent media company in the way that, say, former "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien did. I've seen some people suggest a platform like Netflix should step up with a big checkbook - that streaming service is still trying to find its way with topical shows - and another big streaming service, Prime Video, who is owned by Amazon, whose founder Jeff Bezos has been supportive of President Trump recently.
CHANG: Well, I can't believe I'm already using the word legacy here, but when Colbert's show leaves the air next May, what do you think will be Colbert's legacy and the legacy of "The Late Show"?
DEGGANS: Well, he started as a "Daily Show" correspondent and became a star on his own spin-off show "The Colbert Report" before taking on this seemingly impossible task of succeeding TV pioneer David Letterman, who created "The Late Show" on CBS. I'm always going to value the way he coined the term truthiness (ph) in his first "Colbert Report" episode in 2005, describing how people think something is true because they want to believe it's true, which happens a lot in today's politics, I think.
CHANG: That is NPR TV critic Eric Deggans. Thank you, Eric.
DEGGANS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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