Super Bowl 50 to be followed by ‘Late Show with Stephen Colbert,’ ‘Late Late Show with James Corden’
CBS has finally decided on a direction to take following Super Bowl 50, and to many out there it may be a surprising one. Rather than doing the traditional thing and airing an episode of a scripted or reality series that typically is a part of primetime, they are instead going with a special live episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” and then also a new episode of “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” We’re not sure if it will be live or not, but we’re assuming it will tape after the NFL game since otherwise, there is really no point.
Scheduling-wise, it looks as though things will work like this: “The Late Show” will start immediately after the game on February 7, which tends to be around 10:00 p.m. Eastern time. Meanwhile, “The Late Late Show” will come on after the evening news at around 11:35.
In a statement confirming the news, CBS Entertainment President Glenn Geller had the following to say:
“It’s been a very big year in late night at CBS … We’re extremely proud of our two new late night franchises, and we’re thrilled to give Stephen and James this big Super Bowl Sunday showcase.”
Is this the right move for the network to make? Probably. We feel like they may have considered giving the spot to “Supergirl” had the show’s ratings been a little more steady, but that wasn’t the case. The reality is that when you look at past shows to get this post-game spot like “New Girl,” “Elementary,” and “The Blacklist,” it hasn’t helped them. This is great for a one-time boost in your ratings, and then after that there are just so many options that nobody really cares anymore. It’s better for CBS to try to invest in a late-night franchise, which may at least have a better shot at keeping viewers over the long haul.
CBS knows a thing or two about making surprising moves in this spot that work. Remember when they made “Undercover Boss” a hit for years because of just one airing here?
Let us know what you think about the move in the comments, and head over here to score some other TV news on everything we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)