1 week ago
Stephen Colbert closed retired The Late Show connected Thursday nighttime to nan tune of 6.74M unrecorded + same-day viewers, per preliminary sheet only information from Nielsen.
That makes it nan bid most-watched weeknight section ever, CBS says, moreover higher than Colbert’s very first section arsenic host. He signed connected for work connected September 8, 2015 to astir 6.55M viewers.
The section soared good up of nan Q1 2026 assemblage average, which landed astir 2.69M viewers successful L+7.
There person been various different typical episodes of nan late-night show that person garnered much viewers than this. For example, The Late Show pinch Stephen Colbert aired a post-Super Bowl section successful 2016 to 20.55M viewers.
However, nan extremity of nan franchise is surely a newsworthy milestone and intelligibly it attracted immoderate attention. No surprise, particularly fixed really vocal Colbert has been astir CBS’ Ellison-owned genitor institution Paramount Skydance and its ties to nan Trump administration.
Canceled 3 weeks earlier David Ellison officially took power of Paramount, nan web stressed that it was “purely a financial determination against a challenging backdrop successful precocious night” and “is not related successful immoderate measurement to nan show’s performance, contented aliases different matters happening astatine Paramount.” But since nan cancellation came days aft Colbert called Paramount Global’s $16 cardinal colony of Donald Trump’s lawsuit a “big fat bribe,” it’s been difficult for galore to judge nan 2 things were unrelated.
Paul McCartney was his sole sofa impermanent connected nan final-ever Late Show, but the CBS series packed its finale pinch visits from Colbert’s late-night peers John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Andy Cohen arsenic good arsenic Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Elvis Costello.
The Late Show began successful August 1993 pinch David Letterman arsenic host, erstwhile he moved complete from NBC aft he didn’t get The Tonight Show gig. Letterman retired from nan show successful May 2015, and Colbert, who had antecedently starred on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, took complete successful September 2015.
