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CBS News shows, Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Night’ on track for record-low January ratings
New York Post ^ | Jan. 23, 2026, 6:06 p.m. ET | Alexandra Steigrad

Posted on 01/23/2026 8:39:41 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum

CBS News’ marquee morning and evening shows — including the network’s “Late Night with Stephen Colbert” — are heading for record-low ratings this month, The Post has learned.

“CBS Evening News,” hosted by newly-minted anchor Tony Dokoupil, is on pace for its lowest-rated January since at least 2000, according to Nielsen data. The show has averaged 4.3 million viewers, with 560,000 of them in the coveted 25- to 54-year-old demographic

By comparison, the program got a massive ratings spike back in 2006 when Katie Couric debuted as anchor, drawing 14 million viewers just that night.

Dokoupil’s low monthly average comes despite posting a viewership high of 6.4 million viewers on Monday.

“CBS Mornings,” co-hosted by Gayle King and Nate Burleson, is also heading for its lowest-rated month on record, delivering 1.7 million total viewers and 258,000 viewers in the 25-to-54 demographic.

Meanwhile, “CBS Saturday Morning,” which is co-hosted by newly-minted anchors Adriana Diaz and Kelly O’Grady, is on pace for its lowest-rated January ever, averaging 1.6 million total viewers and 207,000 viewers in the key demo.

Even CBS’ “Late Night with Stephen Colbert” is on track to turn in its worst-performing January ever among viewers in the 25- to 54-year-old demo, averaging just 285,000 viewers.

CBS News is in the midst of an overhaul under editor in chief Bari Weiss, who joined the company in October with a mandate to bring a more balanced viewpoint to the network.

“Bari Weiss has her work cut out for her,” a CBS source told The Post, calling the turnaround of the third-place news network a “Herculean task.”

The ratings of CBS’ three main news shows had been plummeting before Weiss arrived, with the source noting that a core problem for the programs — plus Colbert’s show — is that they tend to speak to an audience of coastal...

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: cbs; coalbear; latenight
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Poor humor sucks greatly.


21 posted on 01/24/2026 5:49:38 AM PST by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: pepsionice

Yep. I haven’t watched late night TV for over a decade...and I don’t think I’ve missed a thing!


22 posted on 01/24/2026 6:47:59 AM PST by econjack
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Why does anyone watch the Dinosaur Media?


23 posted on 01/24/2026 6:59:22 AM PST by bray (It's not racist to be racist against races the DNC hates.)
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To: Apparatchik

as long as Stephen can keep bullying his mother and her friend to watch his unwatchable show, CBS will keep him on the air ...


24 posted on 01/24/2026 8:15:16 AM PST by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
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To: Fido969

she’s rearranging deckchairs on a sinking ship is what she’s doing ... that’s not gonna work ... she’s going to lose her job anyway, so she might as well be truly bold and drastically turn the ship away from the iceberg field by instituting actual factual reporting across the board ...


25 posted on 01/24/2026 8:23:46 AM PST by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
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To: pepsionice

Good point.

Some people I know don’t watch TV, or traditional television networks at all. All they watch are streaming services.

And now I’ve heard some of the streaming services are having original programming of their own.

With the technological change, we’re never going to go back to a day where you just have three major broadcast networks dominating television.

Anyway Colbert is gone pretty soon anyway,, as CBS has canceled his show. And I recall the announcement that Colbert was not going to be replaced, but that CBS was just not going to have a late night show anymore.


26 posted on 01/24/2026 10:08:18 AM PST by Dilbert San Diego
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