CBS may be stepping away from traditional late-night next month when The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ends, but it’s not closing the door entirely. The catch? Any future return to the space will likely look very different from what fans have come to expect.
The network’s current late-night era is officially coming to an end, with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert set to wrap up on May 21. That finale follows CBS already pulling the plug on The Late Late Show with James Corden and, more recently, After Midnight. Taken together, the decisions effectively leave the network without a traditional late-night lineup for the first time in decades.
In place of Colbert’s show, CBS isn’t launching a new late-night TV production. Instead, the network is handing the time slot over to Comics Unleashed, hosted by Byron Allen. It’s a time-buy arrangement, which means CBS isn’t footing the bill. Allen’s company pays the network a fee to air the show, and in return, his team handles ad sales in an effort to turn a profit.
At CBS’ fall 2026 schedule reveal, a network executive confirmed the decision came down to increasing profitability in the 11:35 p.m. timeslot. George Cheeks, Paramount’s Chair of TV Media, also hinted at where CBS may go next when it comes to late-night TV.
“I do want to say one thing: I started in late-night. I grew up in late-night. I believe in late-night,” Cheeks said. “I think the reality is that the reach is still there, but the reach is there primarily on YouTube, which is under monetized. So, if we’re going to go back into that space, we have to go back into that space with a different financial model.”
Nothing in CBS's recent series of decisions suggests the network still believes in late-night. But Cheeks isn't wrong in his assessment of how fans consume late-night TV. While clips from shows like Colbert’s routinely rack up millions of views online, those views don’t translate into the same kind of revenue that TV advertising once delivered.
With that in mind, any future CBS late-night effort would almost certainly come with a significantly reduced budget. That could mean smaller writing teams, fewer (or no) in-studio audiences, and stripped-down production elements. The days of lavish sets and full house bands may be replaced by something closer to a digital studio environment.
A new show would likely be designed with YouTube and social media as the primary distribution channels. Instead of building a full hour of television and editing it into clips, CBS could flip the model and produce shorter, viral segments first, then package them for broadcast.
Of course, branded content, sponsorships, and deals with YouTube or other streaming outlets could also bridge the monetization gap Cheeks referenced.
But would that really be late-night TV? The genre has long been defined by hosts like Colbert, David Letterman, and Conan O'Brien making a nightly connection with audiences. It's something that requires serious thought and planning. CBS appears to have bought itself some time with Comics Unleashed. Hopefully, Cheeks and company can figure out a way to stay true to late-night while still turning a profit.
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