Posted on 08/23/2022 3:58:00 PM PDT by Libloather
In July, TBS announced that, after seven seasons, "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" would not be returning, and Desus Nice and The Kid Mero disclosed that their Showtime show, "Desus & Mero," was ending. That news came just months after James Corden revealed that he'd be leaving "The Late Late Show" and about a year after Conan O'Brien decided to say goodbye to late-night after almost 30 years.
If late-night television had a true golden age, we probably passed it sometime in the past decade. After a period of what looked like unchecked expansion, with new late-night shows popping up like wildflowers (or sometimes weeds), the reaper seems to have arrived. Late night's future is now looking much more limited, if not completely grim.
The genre's winnowing arguably began with Jon Stewart's decision in 2015 to walk away from "The Daily Show," which he hosted for more than 16 years. Unlike David Letterman and Jay Leno, who both stayed on well into their 60s, Stewart was only 52 when he stepped away. And O'Brien was only 58.
While Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon are still around as network hosts, their ratings have certainly taken a hit, especially among audiences between the ages of 18 and 54. And among the newer hosts who are still surviving, it seems unlikely many will have runs anywhere near as long as the recent legends.
Losing hosts of color, like Nice and The Kid Mero, and Bee, the most prominent woman host since Joan Rivers in the 1980s, is also not a sign of a prospering genre. At least Amber Ruffin, who broke out on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" and is now starring in her own show on Peacock, has made a strong start.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
The Golden Age ended sometime in the last century.
Johnny then Dave or Dick Cavett on one channel and Johnny on the other. Late night talk shows were never better. Plus the guests were far better back then.
That’s because late night talk shows wrecked themselves.
The golden age ended with the retirement of Jay Leno.
There were some really wild characters back then. Especially on Letterman, but also on Carson. Nowadays, nobody has anything very interesting to say, and everybody's just trying to push their latest project. In the old days, I actually thought they wanted to be there.
I think it ended when they went libtard and no longer funny
The A-Team, Night Rider, Dukes of Hazzard, Airwolf, Johnny Carson, etc
That was the golden age
Carson.
Media is changing more fragmented the old media that gave us late night TV is becoming a thing of the past.
Late Night TV dies when Letterman got political and Jay Leno hung it up. Personally I preferred Carson, but Leno’s monologues were pretty much “must see” as well.
Greg Gutfeld is shredding Colbert, Kimmel and Fallon in the ratings. Therefore, CNN must declare “Late-night television’s golden age is over.”
They’d never admit it, but...half this country doesn’t watch ANY of their garbage.
Craig Ferguson was pretty good though.
You could still watch old Carson episodes and laugh out loud.
Bingo! End of discussion.
I enjoyed Fallon until about six years ago. When Trump arrived and promptly had a bullseye placed on his back. I said goodbye to Fallon.
110% garbage since then.
There was no “Golden Age” of television, late night or otherwise.
Sturgeon’s Law: Ninety-percent of everything is crud.
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