Late Show Ratings get Stephen Colbert CBS Post-Super Bowl Spot
Wednesday proved to be a big day for late night TV when CBS announced this year's post-Super Bowl spot will be awarded to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Colbert will be followed by a special Super Bowl edition of The Late Late Show with James Corden. This is the first time the coveted air time will be given to a late show, so it does come as a bit of a shock but great ratings make things happen in TV...
E! reports, "A special live edition of Colbert's late night show will broadcast from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City immediately following the biggest TV event of the year on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016, the network revealed on Wednesday."
Despite the shock of CBS putting Colbert in one of the most watched TV slots of the year, when you crunch the numbers, it starts to make a lot of sense. In two months Colbert's ratings have given CBS's late night line up a well-needed boost. "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon has been consistently beating The Late Show, but Colbert is posting much better numbers in the 18-to-49 demographic than Letterman ever did," says TV.com.
Indeed, positioning The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in this manner may be the best -- possibly the only -- way to push Colbert ahead of ABC's Jimmy Fallon Live. So the move is really quite brilliant and goes a long way to showing just how much CBS values Colbert's contribution to the network.
Shortly after the special Colbert Late Show, James Corden will also get his time in the spotlight with his own Super Bowl themed episode. Corden's show will come on following local newscasts from CBS affiliates.
Airing the show live after the Super Bowl is in and of itself an event for the history books. That said, you can expect Colbert to take full advantage of the opportunity CBS has given him. The eccentric host will almost certainly pull out all the stops to make the episode a red-letter event you will not soon forget... Much like he did in his 2015 Wonderful Pistachio Super Bowl commercial...