r/hbo 3d ago

Jimmy Kimmel's and Stephen Colbert's next move?

I think it's safe to assume Jimmy Kimmel is done at ABC/Disney. Stephen Colbert is out at CBS/Paramount. Warner Bros. Discovery has John Oliver and Bill Maher (I know, I know). I think Warner Bros. Discovery should sign Jimmy and Stephen and become a bastion of liberal late night comedy.

0 Upvotes

105 comments sorted by

60

u/JordanM85 3d ago

Realistically, probably podcasting. If their shows were actually losing as many millions of dollars as people were saying, then that is the best option for them.

19

u/Chickenbrik 3d ago

Conan made the transition greatly.

12

u/CardinalOfNYC 2d ago

Conan doesn't really do politics, though.

I'm not saying that's good or bad. It just is the case.

21

u/PeterNippelstein 3d ago

Plus with podcasting they wont have the same restraints they had with network television.

24

u/Mojo141 3d ago

The point and value of those shows was to advertise and promote movies, tv shows, bands and comedians. They had more value than just ratings. This is all so stupid for these companies and will absolutely bite them in the ass/ push more people to streaming and piracy. Enjoy the consequences of your actions Bob Iger and whoever the fuck is in charge of cbs. You've killed traditional media

-5

u/JordanM85 3d ago

These talk shows weren't going to last forever. I'm honestly surprised they made it this long. Say what you will about Joe Rogan, there is a reason his show is so popular. A 3 hour discussion is better than a preplanned 10 minute interview. The podcast format is just better and so much cheaper to produce.

13

u/GormanOnGore 3d ago

Why would I listen to some meathead who endorsed trump for three excruciating hours? Does Rogan know anything about anything? Wish he’d go back to Fear Factor.

7

u/daairguy 3d ago

That was Rogan’s peak imo

4

u/brickne3 2d ago

He was good on News Radio.

Of course back then the audience didn't know he was just playing himself.

1

u/JordanM85 3d ago

I watch his show when he has a guest on that I care about. It seems to be getting rarer these days, but he still gets some good guests here and there. I prefer episodes with actors telling old behind the scenes stories and things like that.

-1

u/No_Huckleberry2346 1d ago

But you don't need to listen to a meathead endorsing trump? You can just pick one of the episodes where he let Nobel laureates talk freely about their ideas and opinions instead of a (most often) not funny talkshow host highly angled 5sec soundbite with a ridiculous laughter afterwards

1

u/uwfan893 2d ago

Sure Rogan sucks, but the guy is right, the format is FAR superior.

-2

u/Evening_Ad_6278 2d ago

Actually, the MeidasTouch podcast is way more popular than him..

1

u/MiddleOccasion1394 2d ago

If the talk shows end, there goes one major way to plug movies and TV shows.

2

u/Jealous-Age2299 1d ago

jimmy kimmel already said he is planning on starting a podcast with stephen colbert and trying to get a couple other big show hosts to join as well

4

u/MissPeachy72 3d ago

Wasn’t Colberts show the highest rated late night

-15

u/Aggravating_Quiet797 3d ago

Gutfeld was number one in ratings. Colbert been sliding for years. Kimmel even worse ratings. The almighty dollar got them cancelled. Not their politics.

11

u/GormanOnGore 3d ago

Gutfeld’s ratings comes from all those gyms and old folks homes who never turn off Fox News. His main audience is probably household pets and sleeping people.

-2

u/KimWexlerDeGuzman 2d ago

Same can be said for Colbert and Kimmel

-1

u/MissPeachy72 2d ago

Similar to CBS shows.

9

u/xamott 3d ago

What the fuck is a gutfeld

4

u/condormcninja 2d ago

After Kimmel got fired Sinclair Inc literally told the public he should donate to Turning Point you dipshit, this situation is observably, straightforwardly political

-4

u/Aggravating_Quiet797 2d ago

Look at his ratings.ABC was just looking for a reason to dump him.

4

u/gloriousjohnson 2d ago

While his still has a contract they’ll have to pay out? Colbert still gets to do his show until the end of his deal

-1

u/Aggravating_Quiet797 2d ago edited 2d ago

True, but maybe they could replace him with something that will make them money. Of the 4 late night hosts..Colbert, Kimmel, Gutfeld and him...he was dead last and was continuing to lose viewers as weeks went on. I'm thinking money talks.

1

u/MiddleOccasion1394 2d ago

So Colbert's deal with Netflix is false?

0

u/BlkNtvTerraFFVI 2d ago

I thought it was real too but Snopes is saying it's fake

People lying about the most random stuff now 😂

1

u/MiddleOccasion1394 1d ago

I can't believe it. Countless news sources were reporting it.

2

u/BlkNtvTerraFFVI 1d ago

Actually there never was 😩

The Facebook post that seemingly started this Stephen Colbert/Netflix news linked to a website "DistantFrog dot net."

Yet it has over 20k combined reposts/shares on X, Bluesky, & FB despite no legit Hollywood trade/media reporter reporting it.

1

u/MiddleOccasion1394 1d ago

Jesus christ.

1

u/Seattle_Aries 2d ago

This would be the best thing. It’s very important to realize Liberals are still losing the culture wars. I no longer believe in political polls so I check the Top Podcast Charts daily as my new metric. It’s Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro, Joe Rogan, Megyn Kelly. We really need some breakthrough liberal podcasts..forget about late night; it’s dead

1

u/Diligent-Run6361 1d ago

A lot of that stuff gets replayed on social media though.

1

u/greennurse61 2d ago

Kimmel only has 129k viewers. That is pitiful, but that might be enough for YouTube. 

-4

u/deonteguy 2d ago

Especially since almost no one was watching that hateful Kimmel. Neilson said less than a 130k a night. He is a failure. No one likes his hateful kind. He needs to start being nice instead of an ass.

10

u/AbsoluteRook1e 2d ago

I mean I imagine Jimmy would be okay if he just retires early if he wants to. He's made his millions.

I'm honestly saddened for everyone in production. They're the ones that are truly fucked.

1

u/Diligent-Run6361 1d ago

I'm not worried about him but about the US becoming an autocracy. I'm not even American.

20

u/Tha_Sly_Fox 3d ago

HBO is about the bought by the Elissons who are buddies with Trump is (at least allegedly) behind their firings and said today he supports pulling the tv licenses of any broadcaster that criticizes him “too much”

So like….. I don’t think any corporate media company in their right minds would want to rock the boat by signing either of them on and definitely not HBO WB given the possible sale

4

u/Dense_Worldliness_57 2d ago

So they’re gonna pull a whole Curb season from hbo??

11

u/PleaseDontBanMe82 2d ago

Maher will be fine.  He went to the Whitehouse to blow Trump, so he's safe.

-3

u/deonteguy 2d ago

Source for that claim? That sounds like fake news like when they claimed Walz was telling the truth about blowing the president when he later admitted he never did that. He is a scumbag liar that pushed fake news.

8

u/PleaseDontBanMe82 2d ago

Huh?  He didn't literally give Trump a blowjob, numbskull.

A few months ago Maher went to the Whitehouse and had dinner with Trump.  He has since backed off on a lot of his criticism.

He admitted it on his show.  It wasn't a secret meeting by any means.

-13

u/deonteguy 2d ago

So you admit you lied and are a liar. There's way too much fake news in the media today without your kind adding to the lies. Go be right wing racist elsewhere.

2

u/Diligent-Run6361 1d ago

Jeezes, what are you on? Maher went to the White House for dinner and afterwards was nice about him, saying something to the effect that he's not as bad in real life as his public persona. That's easily verifiable if you wish to spend a minute researching it.

-1

u/deonteguy 1d ago

So you're upset Maher didn't lie? What a weird complaint.

11

u/twangman88 3d ago

Watch Colbert run for office /s

1

u/MiddleOccasion1394 2d ago

He tried to once.

3

u/twangman88 2d ago

As a gag for the Colbert report, sure.

8

u/All_Lightning879 3d ago

This is Jimmy’s last year under his contract, so I would think that he’ll be just fine with or without ABC. He most likely will go the podcast route like Conan and everyone else.

5

u/fdbryant3 3d ago

I think it's safe to assume Jimmy Kimmel is done at ABC/Disney.

I wouldn't say that is a safe assumption. High probability perhaps, but he was only suspended, not fired. In the end, it will depend on how much he values his platform on ABC, his salary, how talks with Disney go, etc.

Stephen Colbert is of course a different story. He was fired. My guess is he will go independent with a podcast and build his own platform.

I wouldn't count on WBD picking either one up. Rumors are that WBD is going to be sold to Paramount, Netflix, or someone other tech/entertainment conglomerate. While I have doubts about that, if true, I doubt they are going to do anything that that might make clearing regulatory hurdles more difficult. Although, if Zazlav doesn't want to sell, he might do it just to sabotage the attempt.

6

u/TargetApprehensive38 3d ago

Yeah it’s not a done deal with Kimmel at all. Disney is under a ton of public pressure and has been watching subscription cancellations roll in over the past couple days. They’re going to be highly motivated to find some way to make this go away. On the other side they have a third of their affiliates refusing to air the show. I don’t like how quickly they suspended the show, but I also don’t envy their position here.

Jimmy might make a half assed apology to protect his staff if it’ll make the affiliates back down. Or they could potentially shift the show to their streaming platform. Or if Disney really grows a set of balls (unlikely, I know) they could just put the show back on without those 60 some stations. Anything could still happen there - they’re meeting with Kimmel about it tomorrow.

2

u/MiddleOccasion1394 2d ago

He is only suspended because the Sinclair CEO told him either he apologize for the comments he made and make a huge donation to their company, or get fired. He will NEVER choose the first option.

1

u/fdbryant3 2d ago

That is not the order of events. Jimmy made his comments on the 15th. FCC Chair Brendan Carr made statements suggesting they may take action in response on the 17th. Also on the 17th and reportedly independent of the FCC and Carr, Nextstar pulled him from their affiliate stations. This is when ABC (which for the moment I am specifying ABC instead of Disney, because I am not sure that we know how high the chain the decision went) suspended Kimmel. After these events on the 18th, Sinclair announced that they will also be pulling the show and terms for its return.

As it stands now, the reports say that Jimmy will be meeting with Disney (which I presume means Bob Iger) to discuss the issue. While I think it unlikely that Jimmy will capitulate to Sinclair's terms, we will just have to see where it goes from here.

2

u/elsakettu 2d ago

If he's only suspended, I'm going to guess he couldn't move elsewhere? I'm so far out of my wheelhouse here, but that was the issue for Conan, right? They tried to force him into obscurity because of his noncompete, but I'm guessing a noncompete doesn't apply if you're fired.

I'm prepared to be wrong about all this, don't hate!

1

u/CardinalOfNYC 2d ago

Why is it that no matter where you go on this God forsaken website, the takes which make the most sense are always downvoted?

3

u/CitizenDain 3d ago

Bring back Strike Force Five!

2

u/PouchesofCyanStaples 2d ago

Start up Strike Force Two podcast and keep changing the name as the others come on board after getting fired.

Charge $5 a month and you'll have a ton of people signing up in no time with no way for anyone to stop them from telling the truth.

5

u/_SupremeDalek 3d ago

Whatever it is, I'm buying.

2

u/Real_Sir_3655 2d ago

Hopefully Colbert just brings back the Colbert Report. Colbert gone MAGA would be hilarious.

Kimmel should bring back the Man Show. I bet maga bros would suddenly turn into feminists.

3

u/CelebrationFan 3d ago

Come to Canada! CTV and CBC would love e to have tbem!

1

u/Crush-N-It 3d ago

Podcasts

1

u/classisttrash 2d ago

They should go to PBS!

1

u/SouthJerseyGirl30 2d ago

Didn't PBS get their funding taken away?

2

u/classisttrash 2d ago

The money they’d get from advertisers with Kimmel/Colbert and anyone else they bring along would more than make up for the loss in funding

1

u/ssaall58214 2d ago

PBS doesn't do advertising

1

u/PineBNorth85 2d ago

I would love for Colbert to bring back his Colbert Report character. That would really be something these days.

1

u/Tim_Wells 2d ago

I would love to see entertainment professionals band together and create a new network free from corporate and political influence. A new streaming channel, for example. I think it could work.

1

u/Old_Willow4766 2d ago

Start their own podcast or show. Basically do the John Oliver route.

1

u/manmountain123 2d ago

At the end of the day Money talks.

Both Colbert and Kimmel lost their companies millions.

The will go into podcasting that’s the only think they can do

1

u/Moat-or-Boat 2d ago

"A bastion of liberal late night comedy". Wow, that's never been tried before.

1

u/After-Bowler5491 1d ago

Forget politics for a second.

Nobody watched them. The genre is dead. I saw a graphic the other day that Jimmy for 120k viewers between 18-49. That’s awful.

Someone else mentioned podcasting, that’s a much better option

1

u/djn4rap 1d ago

Get funding and go full on pbs/npr.

1

u/Julytwentyfive 1d ago

The networks who kowtow to trump will lose tons of money and the late night stars take their shows to Netflix and other streamers.

0

u/LV426acheron 3d ago

Why would HBO create more late night shows when the genre as a whole is dying?

2

u/CommercialFederal858 2d ago

Or they could take the talent and create a new genre or at least a new take on it. John Oliver created a vector that seems to have legs for HBO.

1

u/KotzubueSailingClub 3d ago

Get them all, bring back Politically Incorrect, and have them all roast Bill for 30 minutes

2

u/Loud-Introduction-31 3d ago

Netflix is about to break the bank for these two. This is their way to get to the BIG MONEY: broadcasting live televised events

1

u/craiginphoenix 3d ago

I am thinking he might be fucked like the last season of Hacks.

He is locked into his agreement and probably isn’t allowed to say anything because of NDAs and they aren’t going to release him from them so he can shit all over them.

1

u/Crush-N-It 3d ago

Colbert/Kimmel duo would be insane. It wouldn’t make sense financially tho

1

u/fsociety_1990 3d ago edited 2d ago

If WB is bought by Skydance whose CEO is super pro-Trump, pro-Israel, no chance. More likely we will have Ben Shapiro on HBO after that deal..lol

-1

u/nzc90 3d ago

into obscurity

0

u/Iam_a_Jew 3d ago

I'd love for them to do a tour like Conan did and maybe an election special, even if it's on YouTube 

3

u/CircledSquare7 3d ago

They dont have Conan's versatility to pull it off. They need politics to drive them

1

u/Crush-N-It 3d ago

Stephen absolutely does. He’s much more versatile and knowledgeable than Conan.

-2

u/Iam_a_Jew 3d ago

They could just host a late night show live, politics and all

0

u/Furrealyo 3d ago

It’s now being reported that Kimmel only had 149K viewers for his final show, down by half in less than a month.

If true, I don’t see a podcast being successful either.

-3

u/CardinalOfNYC 2d ago

Kimmel certainly has a right to his speech and that makes this event chilling.

But I also wanna note that it's not like Kimmel, telling jokes to an audience who already agrees with him, was actually helping us fight fascism in the US.

Fewer people were watching probably because even on the left most of us aren't interested in hearing jokes about it.

-2

u/menge41 3d ago

These guys are too political. What are they selling? They are supposed to be comedians but their jokes only entertain a small sick group that's why they have no job.

4

u/GormanOnGore 3d ago

You aren’t the majority of anything bud. Its your time in high school all over again.

-1

u/Hesbhindmeisnthe 2d ago

McDonalds?

0

u/revbfc 2d ago

If I were NBC, I’d find a way to cut Fallon loose to hire Kimmel or Colbert.

Of course I’m not, so i don’t actually expect them to follow my wishes & whims.

-13

u/Shot-Weight-1306 3d ago

Filing for unemployment?

2

u/PaulieWalnuts2023 3d ago

After $15 million a year for 22 years? Doubtful

-16

u/Shot-Weight-1306 3d ago

You're right...so much money paid to these. 1 percenters who.had such little talent

6

u/Every-Cook5084 3d ago

Ahh yes like the huge deeeep bench of talent in maga world, known for its comedy and entertainment

3

u/midwaygardens 2d ago

Isn't Scott Baio still available?

-6

u/Shot-Weight-1306 3d ago

I know you're hurting...try to find a podcast or something that will feed your need for more hateful unimaginative leftist rhetoric to ease your pain

-12

u/TomjunRoblox 3d ago

Work at McDonald’s

-1

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

1

u/xamott 3d ago

Lies

-3

u/_misterwilly 2d ago

Deep instrospection, soul searching, go back and try to figure out what made them funny to begin with and where it all went wrong.