The far-left Hollywood Reporter sure is a good dog. As left-wing Late Night TV continues to wither on the vine, the propaganda outlet fabricated all kinds of excuses and managed to do it without mentioning the word Gutfeld!
You gotta be a real good dog to do that.
Late-night TV is dying. What had been a cheap-to-produce cash cow less than ten years ago, is no more. Ratings are in the toilet. Shows are being canceled. Fridays are all reruns. Cost-cutting is happening everywhere.
Earlier this year, NBC’s Late Night With Seth Meyers had to drop its house band as part of budget cuts. And last year CBS opted to end its Late Late Show after James Corden left, opting to replace it with the less expensive After Midnight comedy game show.
And here’s the dismal ratings news:
Five years ago, The Late Show finished first in total viewers among late-night talk shows with 3.81 million, to 2.44 million for The Tonight Show and 2.04 million for Jimmy Kimmel Live. In 2023-24, The Late Show remained No. 1, but with only about 2.6 million viewers — a decline of about 32 percent from 2018-19. Kimmel moved into second with 1.82 million viewers, down about 11 percent from five years earlier (having Monday Night Football as a lead-in once a week last fall helped some; the show averaged 1.77 million viewers from January to May). The Tonight Show slipped to third in viewers with 1.43 million, losing 41 percent of its 2018-19 total.
So what does the Hollywood Reporter blame for this demise? Could it be that Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and even Jimmy Fallon turning their backs on entertaining America and sixty years of tradition to instead lecture, shame, virtue signal, and divide might have something to do with it? Not according to the Hollywood Reporter.
No, no, it’s TikTok and YouTube and streaming. Yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket.
Except as of last month[emphasis original]:
Gutfeld! brought in 1.65 million total average viewers between August 19th and the 22nd — as well as 293,000 viewers in the demo. Colbert landed in second place with 1.62 million total viewers and 287,000 demo viewers during the same time frame.
Jimmy Kimmel came in third with 799,000 total viewers and 170,000 demo viewers, all according to Nielsen ratings. The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon was not far behind with 731,000 total viewers and 189,000 demo viewers.
Gee, and let’s not forget that Gutfeld!is only available via pay TV, which means it reaches millions fewer homes than Colbert and the Jimmies.
Oh, and Gutfeld! is still doing so well, Fridays are new shows, not reruns.
It’s also worth pointing out that the guests on Gutfeld! are not Hollywood/celebrity/recording royalty.
If you go back look at those August numbers, Gutfeld! drew more total viewers than the Jimmies combined.
We’re told that 81 million people voted for Joe Biden in 2020, and yet, even in the middle of a presidential election, Colbert and the Jimmies can hardly attract three million total combined viewers.
Why?
Because no one, not even leftists, find woke lectures and smug pandering appealing or entertaining. The whole idea behind Late Night when it launched with Jack Parr and Steve Allen some 60 years ago, was to give the American people a place to unwind before bed. A few laughs, some funny skits, a few attractive stars, good music… For three decades, Johnny Carson attracted around nine million viewers most every night. Today, his Tonight Show replacement, Jimmy Fallon, can only attract 731,000.
I get that the TV universe has changed along with people’s viewing habits. No one expects 15 million viewers in the age of 500 cable channels, the internet, and other distractions. But those distractions were all there five years ago when left-wing Late Night’s ratings were much healthier.
Something else drove those ratings down, and we all know what it is.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
