Well, that was fast. Turns out my first instinct was correct, as CBS wasted no time (less than a week) in announcing Stephen Colbert to take over The Late Show from Dave when he retires in 2015. No date has been announced yet, but The Colbert Report is expected to cease production after this year, along with retiring the "Stephen Colbert" character that has made lampooning ultra right-wing Republicans his bread and butter for the last nine years. Even though I love Colbert dearly (as you know he's my number one favorite late night host), I'm actually of mixed feelings about this. Retiring the Colbert character is going to be a huge loss, in my opinion, since there's been no one sharper or better or more spot on in his political satire (not even Jon Stewart). I'm going to be be very sad to see that go and it's hard for me to even imagine a monologue or jokes that he'll be doing when not in character. What's this show going to look like anyway? Colbert Report fans will certainly not be tuning in to the same kind of thing they've been used to. Stephen's great at the showman-type stuff like singing, dancing, spoofs, and he's terrific with celebrities (I think he's actually going to be a really good interviewer), but where he excelled and was truly special was the political angle- the last thing The Colbert Report was was neutral, or just another generic late night talk show. I hope he's got something a little more clever up his sleeve planned for this move- because I'll definitely be watching, but it will be really unfortunate to see an incredibly intelligent, pointed, opinionated and hilarious satirist dumbed down to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
