Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' snags post-Super Bowl TV show spot
Colbert's CBS program will air after the Super Bowl next year. It's an unusual choice, with sitcoms or dramas more often coming on after the big game.
Colbert's CBS program will air after the Super Bowl next year. It's an unusual choice, with sitcoms or dramas more often coming on after the big game.
Forget Red of 鈥淭he Blacklist鈥� or Jess of 鈥淣ew Girl."聽
Next year, millions of viewers will be spending their post-Super Bowl time with late-night host Stephen Colbert. CBS recently announced that Colbert鈥檚 program, 鈥淭he Late Show,鈥� will air following the game in February.聽
According to CBS, this is the first time a late-night program will air directly after the game. Colbert debuted on the program just this fall. He previously served as host of the Comedy Central program 鈥淭he Colbert Report鈥� before taking over David Letterman鈥檚 hosting gig.聽
James Corden, who hosts CBS鈥檚 鈥淭he Late Late Show,鈥� will also air a show on Super Bowl night, according to the network 鈥� the local news will air first, then Corden鈥檚 episode will debut.
This isn鈥檛 the first time a late-night host has had a show air on Super Bowl night, but previous programs like ABC鈥檚 鈥淛immy Kimmel Live鈥� have been paired with other shows rather than debuting directly after the game. For example, "Kimmel" aired after the show "Alias." Last year, NBC selected its drama 鈥淭he Blacklist鈥� to air after the game, while Fox selected its sitcoms 鈥淣ew Girl鈥� and 鈥淏rooklyn Nine-Nine鈥� to go on the year before that. CBS鈥檚 Sherlock Holmes drama 鈥淓lementary鈥� and NBC鈥檚 鈥淭he Voice鈥� are a couple of the other recent programs to air after the game.
What would have led CBS to select Colbert for this spot? The novelty of having the late-night program air after the Super Bowl is certainly getting attention. Meanwhile, Colbert is doing well in the ratings compared to his predecessor Letterman, but Jimmy Fallon of NBC鈥檚 鈥淭he Tonight Show鈥� is still number one. While Colbert鈥檚 ratings are good, particularly compared to what Letterman used to get for viewers ages 18-49, perhaps CBS is hoping to give Colbert an extra bit of visibility with this post-Super Bowl show.聽
It鈥檚 interesting that CBS didn鈥檛 give this slot to drama 鈥淪upergirl.鈥� The ratings for the superhero show have slid, so it wouldn鈥檛 have been surprising if the network decided to remind viewers 鈥淪upergirl鈥� is on by putting it after the game.聽
But instead, Super Bowl viewers will spend the rest of the evening with Colbert and Corden.