Do you ever wake up and feel this weird sense of dread creeping from your stomach up into your throat? That’s kind of how I’ve been feeling every day when new late night news comes down the pipeline. I’m not saying the death of Jimmy Kimmel Live! is imminent, but ABC head honcho Dana Walden’s comments the other day gave me no solace, and now insiders, as in multiple, are here with more disturbing things to say about the future of the TV genre.
Basically a slew of insiders anonymously spoke with Page Six. There were two things that were a common refrain. The first is that several said Kimmel is “unmanageable.” They pointed to him roasting Disney at this year’s upfronts and saying whatever he wants on the air, even when it has gotten him suspended and in trouble with the FCC.
On this same note, others also alleged that when Disney wants him to have an in house guest, he doesn’t always “play ball,” either, marking another example of them having little control over the longtime late night host, who has been a fixture at ABC since 2003. Kimmel himself has stated he doesn’t like to be “micromanaged” by the network, so this wouldn’t exactly be surprising.
Secondly, another insider alleged things have changed in the late night landscape rapidly every since Stephen Colbert said his goodbyes and the Eye Network unceremoniously dumped Byron Allen into the timeslot, pocketing a cool $15 million in cash while doing so. CBS quitting the game has left the door open for other networks to follow suit.
Now, some refuted the "unmanageable" bit and no one has said Jimmy Kimmel Live! is officially done, but the conversation has certainly been coming up a lot more lately.
Why Is This Conversation Coming Up So Much Now?
Listen, we know there's a lot of discussion about this right now because Jimmy Kimmel’s contract is up at the end of this TV season. Word on the street was the man was “fully prepared to retire” when this contract ended in May of 2027. That was before Stephen Colbert got canceled, Kimmel’s ratings went up, and he clearly has felt like if he goes the entirety of late night will go and not just him. In fact, he publicly said he feels late night is being “poisoned.”
At the end of the day, ABC hasn’t officially said anything yet about whether or not Jimmy Kimmel Live! or some other iteration of a late night show will exist this time next year. Yet, it’s worrying me a lot. Late night is still an institution and a way for new projects to get on the radars of so many regular folks at home who are not deeply plugged into the entertainment business.
In more recent years, it’s also become a pipeline for keeping tabs on all the crazy news that’s been going around, and it's being delivered to the masses in funny and informative ways. It’s also just a key component of pop culture, and seeing something potentially dying that always felt like it would be a given is uncomfortable, and it’s also really sad.
Sure, if Jimmy Kimmel Live! goes the way of the dinosaur, NBC may stick around to take those ad dollars and be the only network performer in the space. We’ll still have The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight. But none of those programs are offering the exact same thing Kimmel is, and you know it.
