CBS
Recipe! Take one block of one network’s late night programming. Shake. Shake some more. (Pretend it’s a salad, or perhaps some good old-fashioned Shake N Bake.) Attractively arrange pieces on platter to serve. Remove pieces that don’t look tasty anymore. Now serve.
Less than a month after David Letterman announced his plans to retire from The Late Show next year, Craig Ferguson has announced that he too will be vacating his CBS late show, The Late Show’s following act, The Late Late Show. Ferguson announced the news to his studio audience earlier today, clearly take a cue from Letterman’s sign off (or, well, his announced sign off) in early April. Ferguson, who has never been a ratings grabber but has nabbed some accolades during his ten-year (including a Peabody Award and an Emmy nomination), will remain on the show until December, in order to give it a proper send-off.
And, oh, maybe find it a new host?
THR reports that, with the news of Ferguson’s departure in play, Letterman’s own Worldwide Pants (which produces the show) “would likely no longer produce a late-night show following Letterman’s exit.” It’s wide open!
With that in mind, the outlet also reports that there’s one name that might already be in the running – Neil Patrick Harris, who is “ believed to be interested in the job.” One person who’s not? Chelsea Handler, who CBS has already “ruled out” for the soon-to-be-vacated slot. Moreover, the network has told THR that “there are no discussions” with Handler as of this moment. (We’re guessing today’s news that the comedienne is chatting it up with Netflix might have been inspired by CBS’ apparent lack of interest in bringing her into the fold.)
When David Letterman announced his plans to retire from The Late Show earlier this month, we (and plenty of other people and outlets) wondered if that meant that the late night game was ready for a woman. While The Late Show wasn’t – the gig went to Stephen Colbert – perhaps that means whatever becomes The Late Late Show will be. And although our initial list didn’t mention her, the name we’ve been hearing as part of some fan demand is Aisha Tyler. Sounds like a good idea to us.
If you’re a Ferguson fan – and while I’m not exactly a fan, I certainly admire the fact that he’s consistently done his own thing and used his own humor in a job that more often than not looks a bit too much like the other guy’s job – he’s already set up with a new gig: hosting the syndicated game show Celebrity Name Game. George Clooney! Wait, is that not how you play?