A Struggling Stephen Colbert Is Not Happy About Rumors James Corden Will Take His Spot
In nearly a year at its helm, Stephen Colbert has turned The Late Show into the finest source of news comedy-and sometimes political discourse as a whole-in late-night television. But some of the nuanced comedy, heavy discussions, and at times tense interviews haven't been drawing in the viewers as CBS had hoped.
Though Colbert started out strong, he's since fallen far behind The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and failed to achieve the viral status of James Corden's Late Late Show. As The Late Show continues to struggle, rumors have started to spread that CBS is considering swapping Corden and Colbert. CBS executives told The Hollywood Reporter that these claims are completely false:
"We have no plans to flip the two shows," says Glenn Geller, president of CBS Entertainment. "It's really easy for people to pit the shows against each other. But they're different kinds of shows, they're different kinds of hosts. One was a known quantity to America, and the other was not. I don't think it's fair to compare the two and say, 'Well, just because one show has this, why doesn't the other?' "
And though CBS claims it's not planning on swapping the show, Colbert tells THR that these rumors still hit him hard:
"The implication of that question is that the show isn't good enough in its present position. So of course that makes you feel bad. But it doesn't jibe with what I know about our show, so you recover."
In an attempt to reverse declining ratings, The Late Show has made some changes to its staff, and for two weeks during the Republican and Democratic Conventions it will be filmed live. In its first night-which brought the reunion of Colbert and Jon Stewart-the show had its best ratings in months, an increase of 24 percent over the previous week.
It also made another big change-Colbert brought back his blowhard rightwing pundit, a decision he didn't make lightly.
"Hopefully they won't be like, 'Huh? That's a different show. Wasn't that 18 months ago? Why haven't you moved on?' " Colbert told THR.
