CBS still leads all broadcasters in total viewers, but during winter press tour, all anyone wanted to talk about was its big upcoming year in late-night. That included network president Nina Tassler, who announced that Late Show with Stephen Colbert will debut Sept. 8. While the title and premiere date are set, everything else about the show is up in the air, as I wrote at Adweek:

Colbert will have music and guests on the show, but “whether or not he’s going to start with an opening monologue, he’s working on that right now,” said Tassler. “But clearly he knows that he is introducing the real Stephen Colbert to his audience. And he’s really putting a lot of attention on making sure the show is still topical, is still relevant.”

Tassler said she is open to throwing out much of the traditional talk show format if that’s what Colbert wants, explaining that part of CBS getting into business with him was about “really letting him do what he wants to do. We’re sitting back and waiting for him to come to us and say what he has in mind.” Still, she said, “I think there will be parts [that are] traditional, in some context, and then there are things where he’s going to want to try something else.”

Tassler also talked about her surprising plans to bridge the gap this summer between Letterman’s May exit and Colbert’s debut in September.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Will Debut Sept. 8

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David Letterman officially has a successor. Stephen Colbert will be the next Late Show host, CBS announced yesterday. I reflected on the news, and what this means for late night, at The Daily Beast, where I wrote,

With yesterday’s news that Stephen Colbert will take over the Late Show next year, the long-held notion of what it means to be a late-night host, and what it means to be a late-night audience, has been forever eradicated.

In 1992, your late-night options were Letterman and Leno, period. As of next year, the lineup will consist of Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel on the broadcast networks, along with cable hosts like Conan O’Brien (remember him?), Jon Stewart and whomever replaces The Colbert Report. Late night is no longer all-or-nothing; it’s an all-you-can eat buffet. Thanks to the Internet, you can sample as many late-night clips from as many late-night shows as you’d like.

In the piece, I trace late-night’s evolution and transformation over the past two decades, and how Letterman has changed from scrappy innovator to odd man out. As Kimmel, Fallon and Colbert have proven time and again, “Late-night” is now late-night in name only.

Stephen Colbert and the Viral Video-Fueled Generation Hijack Late Night

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