CBS to replace “Late Show” with “Comics Unleashed”

A headline you thought you would never see. But here we are.

If I were to tell you three years ago that Byron Allen would replace Stephen Colbert in late-night, you’d be questioning my sanity.

But he we are, and that’s exactly what’s happening. In a signal that linear TV is on its deathbed, CBS announced Monday it was replacing the 33-year-old Late Show franchise with the “successful” comedy program Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen, a worthless ass show that somehow has staggered on the air for 20 years on various platforms – a show that at one point averaged a 0.2 household rating. 

Comics Unleashed currently airs after Colbert, which replaced After Midnight last September. Starting Friday May 22, Unleashed is being upgraded to the 11:35 p.m. ET/ 10:35 p.m. CT time slot, a day after Late Show ends its’ run, which was announced last July. Occupying the slot after Unleashed will be Funny You Should Ask, a syndicated game show produced by Allen that ran in various time slots on The U (WCIU-TV) since its September 2017 premiere and is hosted by former NBC 5 sports anchor and Fox 32 morning anchor Jon Kelley. Both shows are expected to remain in syndication on local stations.

Byron Allen and CBS actually has had a relationship dating back to 2010, when the network’s owned-and-operated stations started airing Unleashed after the Late Late Show with James Corden, including CBS Chicago (WBBM-TV) in what was believed to be a time buy.

“I created and launched COMICS UNLEASHED 20 years ago so my fellow comedians could have a platform to do what we all love – make people laugh,” said Byron Allen, founder/chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. “I truly appreciate CBS’ confidence in me by picking up our two-hour comedy block of COMICS UNLEASHED and FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK, because the world can never have enough laughter.” 

Allen Media Group is leasing the two-hour block from CBS and is selling the national advertising in lieu of the network. CBS is expected to make a profit on the deal, which lasts through September 2027; the network and its owner Paramount claims The Late Show was losing money for them, saying the current late-night model was no longer financially sustainable.

Since this is a time buy, both programs won’t be rated by Nielsen, but ratings would be available through the firm’s overnight local people meter measurements located in 44 markets, including Chicago.

Despite being a timebuy, both Unleashed and Ask is network programming, and CBS expects its affiliates to clear each show. But that won’t be a problem, as station groups are probably relieved they would not face viewer backlash as Allen’s shows avoids politics and controversial content, unlike Colbert’s show. Last September, station groups Nexstar and Sinclair briefly pulled Jimmy Kimmel’s show from the airwaves, forcing ABC to suspend it from its schedule for a few days. You can say Allen’s content is “safe” and “non-threatening” for advertisers and affiates alike. 

Outside of The Late Show, CBS has never really had success in late-night, not even programming the daypart until 1969, as the network launched Merv Griffin’s talk show, which lasted only three years. In 1972, CBS started airing various movies and TV shows under the CBS Late Movie/Late Night banner, until 1989 when it premiered the ill-fated Pat Sajak Show. Before the Late Show premiered in August 1993 with David Letterman, CBS programmed the slot with various crime dramas under the Crimetime After Primetime banner.

The decision to lease the late-night block to Allen Media Group is disappointing, but not surprising. Allen’s programming is very lackluster – especially Comics Unleashed, which bombed in the ratings during its primetime Chicago run 20 years ago, but the program continued despite low ratings. CBS could have returned to a late night movie (or air a potpourri of programs from various distributors on the cheap), or even a news program like America Tonight in 1990, although given the turmoil surrounding CBS News these days, this wouldn’t have been a good idea.

And while it’s nice to see a Black person back regularly hosting a late-night show, you are probably saying “why does it have to be this guy?” Allen bought Black News Channel, This TV, and Light TV only to later close them, put in bids for media companies to only increase the price, and mismanaging his own station group, feeling he didn’t need meteorologists. I said in a piece I wrote last year, “Allen is doing more harm than good” when it came to minority ownership in media. “It’s not only disappointing…it’s insulting and infuriating.” He has done nothing to contribute to Black culture – other than telling lame ass jokes, I suppose.

This dumb decision is not a good look for the network, nor linear TV in general. It sends a signal that the platform is dying and CBS is basically waiving the white flag, but as anyone knows, being cheap and uninnovative is, as Jim Nantz says every year describing The Masters on the very same network, “a tradition like no other“. 

Welcome to the newly-rebranded Church Of Ellison. Maybe Byron Allen can solicit donations and pass around a collection plate to keep his entire media empire going.