CBS Canceling After Midnight, in Another Blow to Late-Night TV

It’s another blow to late-night television.CBS said on Wednesday that it was canceling “After Midnight,” the network’s 12:30 a.m.comedy show, after the host, Taylor Tomlinson, decided to return full time to stand-up comedy.The late-night comedy genre confronts significant financial challenges as the entertainment world transitions away from traditional television to streaming.

The number of late-night shows is dwindling, and many of the survivors are facing pressure to cut their budgets.Audiences and advertising revenue for late-night TV are getting smaller by the year.Further, the genre, which depends on a large number of episodes and topical humor, has not worked in streaming.

Outlets like Netflix and Hulu have introduced original talk shows with a late-night-like format only to cancel nearly every one.Without “After Midnight,” the 2025-26 season will be the first in three decades that CBS will not have original programming in the 12:30 slot.CBS executives had renewed the show last week for a third season, which runs from September to May, but canceled it after Ms.Tomlinson’s surprise decision.

Its finale will be in June.Ms.Tomlinson, 31, said in a statement that she wanted to tour as a stand-up — her “first passion” — full time.Stephen Colbert, the host of CBS’s “The Late Show” and an executive producer of Ms.

Tomlinson’s show, which follows his, said in a statement: “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.”“After Midnight,” which debuted in January 2024, was an experiment.After James Corden stepped aside from “The Late Late Show” in 2023, CBS decided to scrap the traditional late-night format featuring a host, a monologue and a band and try a comedic game show, with a smaller budget and staff.The move to cancel “After Midnight” — and to remove original programming altogether at 12:30 for the coming TV season �...