Stephen Colbert will not begin hosting ‘The Late Show’ until later summer, early fall

We imagine that most who have been following the story of “The Late Show” on CBS likely saw this one coming: While Stephen Colbert is going to be taking over the late-night show from the great David Letterman, he will not be doing so officially for a while.

How long are we talking here? Think along the lines of the late summer or early fall. According to the Los Angeles Times, it could be late August before Colbert ends up taking the reigns to the franchise. This comes a day after it was revealed that Letterman is going to depart the show on May 20, which is around the end of May sweeps.

Why are we not surprised by this? It really comes down to thinking that CBS would not want to launch the show during the summer, since that is typically when ratings are lower and people have other things they want to do. If we were the network, we would probably give the show a start date of Monday, September 14. That way, you can promote it heavily during NFL opening weekend, and while it is a week earlier than the start of the fall season, it can be used to promote some of those shows. Also, this will allow the network to push it hard on its existing summer shows, and then shift the attention somewhat after it starts airing. Monday, September 7 would also be acceptable, but we feel like anything earlier than that would not allow for full NFL promotion.

This is a big transition for CBS, but it also is for Colbert. This will be the first time that he has hosted a late-night show as himself, and not the manic character that he plays over on “The Colbert Report.”

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