Andy Cohen has a few ideas about what CBS could’ve done instead of canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
CBS claimed in a shock statement announcing the news last week that the move was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” and had nothing to do with parent company Paramount’s pending merger.
But Cohen, who knows a thing or two about network television, said there are a few steps the network could’ve taken before axing the show, which is reportedly costing CBS $40 million in losses a year.
“I think it is possible that it’s losing money,” Cohen said on SiriusXM’s “Andy Cohen Live” on Monday, before revealing what CBS could’ve done “if a show is losing money that is also super important to the network.”
“They would probably do is say, ‘Listen, Stephen, your show is losing X amount of money a year. There’s two things we could do,’” Cohen said. “‘We could cut the budget in half, maybe move out of the Ed Sullivan Theater, do the show in a small studio that we already own,’ because CBS has a lot of studio space.”
The executive producer shared that they then could’ve “cut down on staff” and easily made adjustments to Colbert’s filming schedule.
“You have 200 people working here. We need it to be 100 people or 60,” he said.
“And instead of you doing your show five days a week, we’re gonna do your show four days a week and you’re gonna gonna pre-tape your Thursday show, so you’re actually gonna be in production three days a week,” Cohen explained, adding “that’s a way right there to cut the budget at least in half.”
Cohen added that usually, a network would give a host or a show time to make the improvements, and then reevaluate the show’s standing.
“Instead they’re turning the lights out completely at 11:30, which says to me, it’s like CBS is just cooked,” he said. “They are saying, ‘We are done.’”
Colbert, who took over the gig from David Letterman in 2015, will continue hosting until the show’s end in May 2026.
After Trump openly celebrated Colbert’s cancellation, the late night host fired back with three blunt words: “Go fuck yourself.”