Despite the show quietly getting a third season renewal that had yet to be announced publicly, the late-night show “After Midnight,” hosted by Taylor Tomlinson, will conclude after just two seasons on CBS.
Instead of seeking out a replacement host or show, the network has opted to stop programming the post-“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” time slot altogether, which technically aired at 12:30 a.m., but in reality ran Monday through Friday from 12:37-1:37 a.m. ET/PT, with the preceding Stephen Colbert-hosted late night program airing from 11:35 p.m.-12:37 a.m. ET/PT.
According to Deadline, it was Tomlinson’s decision to exit the show as she made it clear to the network and the show’s producers that she had an interest in returning to touring as a stand-up comic.
“Hosting ‘After Midnight’ has genuinely been the experience of a lifetime, and I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity to be part of this incredible journey,” Tomlinson said in a statement. “Though it was an extremely tough decision, I knew I had to return to my first passion and return to stand-up touring full-time. I appreciate CBS, Stephen Colbert, the producers, and the entire ‘After Midnight’ staff and crew for all the love, support, and unforgettable memories.”
Photo by Scott Kowalchyk
“After Midnight” premiered Tuesday, January 16, 2024, just over two months after Tomlinson was first announced as the show’s host during an appearance on the Tuesday, November 1, 2023 episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” The new late-night show replaced “The Late Late Show with James Corden” which ran on CBS for eight seasons before concluding its run in April 2023.
Prior to Corden, “The Late Late Show” first aired in late-night with host Tom Snyder in January 1995, followed by Craig Kilborn and later Craig Ferguson. The earlier iterations of the show was produced by Worldwide Pants, run by former late-night staple David Letterman.
Speaking of Letterman, in the years since his departure from late-night, ratings for the genre had been relatively stable with the likes of Jimmy Kimmel (“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”), Jimmy Fallon (“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”), Seth Myers (“Late Night with Seth Myers”), the aforementioned “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and even “The Daily Show” emerging as the standout performers in both ratings and entertainment value.
With the advancement in technology and massively increased competition from your everyday YouTube or TikTok star with their ability to drop content at any time of time, the genre is finding its way into insolvency, with Kimmel saying last year during an appearance on the “Politickin’” podcast, “I don’t know if there will be any late-night television shows on network TV in ten years. Maybe there’ll be one but there won’t be a lot of them.”
“There’s a lot to watch and now people can watch anything at anytime, they’ve got all these streaming services,” Kimmel continued. “It used to be Johnny Carson was the only thing on at 11:30 p.m. and so everybody watched and then David Letterman was on after Johnny so people watched those two shows, but now they’re so many options. Maybe more significantly, the fact that people are easily able to watch your monologue online the next day, it really cancels out the need to watch it when it’s on the air and once people stop watching it when it’s on the air, networks are going to stop paying for it to be made.”
“I want to thank CBS for their constant support and invaluable partnership on ‘After Midnight,’ and the whole staff for their amazing dedication. While we were excited and grateful for our third season to start in the fall, we respect Taylor’s decision to return to stand-up full time,” said Colbert, who also served as an executive producer.
Produced by CBS Studios, Spartina Industries and Funny Or Die, “After Midnight” executive producers include Stephen Colbert, Carrie Byalick, Tom Purcell and Evelyn McGee Colbert of Spartina Industries; James Dixon of Dixon Talent; Joe Farrell, Mike Farah, Whitney Hodack and Henry R. Muñoz III of Funny Or Die; and Jason U. Nadler of Serious Business.