On Thursday, Stephen Colbert signed off from “The Late Show” with record ratings, in a finale heavy on nostalgia and notably light on the politics that came to define it. Amid hand-wringing about what his cancellation means and augurs, both to television and society, Colbert closed out his CBS late-night run with a celebratory appearance by Paul McCartney, who returned to the Ed Sullivan Theater stage where The Beatles first broke through in America more than 60 years ago to perform the aptly chosen “Hello, Goodbye.”
The relatively subdued farewell stood in sharp contrast to Colbert’s penultimate episode, when Bruce Springsteen used the program to take a pointed jab at Donald Trump and Paramount’s David Ellison as “small-minded people,” saying Ellison and his father, Larry, “feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want.”
Yet for CBS and Paramount, which have weathered a barrage of negative publicity as the show’s end, announced 10 months ago, finally neared, questions now turn to what lies ahead, and the consequences of discarding network television’s most-watched late-night program.
Indeed, one network insider told Status there could be various hard-to-measure costs baked into the “Late Show’s” absence, including its impact on other CBS programming. Colbert wasn’t a particularly eager foot soldier when it came to promoting the network’s lineup, but the show did create a platform for talent associated with series like “Tracker” as well as former “CBS Evening News” anchor John Dickerson, whose kinship with Colbert became such he emceed the late night show’s Wednesday episode.
Network sources anticipate…
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"The Mandalorian and Grogu." (Courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd.)
Lucasfilm’s Baby Steps: After a seven-year theatrical hiatus, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” arrives with the weight of IMAX-sized expectations on its shoulders, which is exactly the wrong way to look at it; rather, this promotion of the Disney+ series serves as a kind of baby step for “Star Wars” back onto the big screen, delivering slightly disjointed fun that shouldn’t be over-analyzed regarding the state of the franchise, not that such a disclaimer will dissuade anyone from trying.
Director Jon Favreau and co-writer/producer Dave Filoni, who has since ascended to assume creative oversight of Lucasfilm, can be accused of creating a “movie” that essentially feels like…
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