The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Okay, but incredibly disappointing after The Colbert Report.

I was skeptical when Stephen Colbert got offered the role of hosting The Late Show. The Colbert Report was one of the funniest, if not THE funniest, shows on TV. It was clever, edgy and didn't mind taking pot shots at politicians, esp right-wing ones and Fox News. Surely moving to a mainsteam show would mean Colbert would have to dumb it down and appeal to a wider audience?

Well, I gave it a fair chance but I fear I was right. The edginess has gone ("Oh, no, kids might be watching!") and his shtick has been dumbed down quite a lot.

Even worse, and something I did not see coming as I figured its is well beneath him, he is having to play all those stupid clickbait games that Jimmy Fallon does (and which makes Fallon's show such a waste of time). You know, get some major star in and instead of asking them intelligent questions, get them to do something stupid. Just so that there'll be dozens of clickbait posts the next day with "See Stephen Colbert get Victoria's Secret models to eat buffalo wings!", say.

There are occasional glimpses of the old Colbert. Some clever skits, biting satire and the pokes at right-wing politicians, but they are few and far between.

Best thing to do: watch the clever stuff, fast forward through the rest.

From being a player on ABC's short-lived variety show The Dana Carvey Show to being a correspondent on The Daily Show for 8 years and hosting his own show for 9 years playing a fictionalized character, Stephen Colbert has conquered a lot of challenges, and in 2015, he would do his biggest challenge yet: to host CBS's The Late Show as a successor to David Letterman.

When Letterman retired on May 20th, CBS went all out with promoting the show and reworking the famous Ed Sullivan Theater where Letterman has hosted in from his entire tenure (apart from his on-location shows outside of New York).

It was the beginning of a new era of The Late Show.

It may have taken him a while to find his footing as he was being himself for the first time after playing a character for 9 years, but the execution was there, and he was smooth sailing by the following years. My grandmother had never heard of him until I showed her the Comedy Central Christmas special and now, she watches him every weeknight on this show!

So, if you're a fan of Mr. Colbert and only known him as his Report character, see him in action as himself.

You won't regret it!

Colbert's Late Show is a major disappointment. The review written by DVD says it all for me. He's a grinning, prancing shell now. Was he bought out of his hilarious, cutting-edge, truth-seeking "Report?" Is he paid now to deliver vapid lines that don't expose political lies and hypocrisy? I miss you, too, bold,relevant Stephen. I counted on you to shine a light on important truths. I couldn't wait to laugh so hard I cried when you exposed fools with self-serving policies. How often I thanked God, and yes, I am a Christian, that you and Jon Stewart were delivering important news with humor that connected with our brains. I can no longer watch the "real" you, sitting beneath your massive ego dome, proud and smiling. About what?

Well, after 3 shows that were quite disappointing, it's clear that (i) Colbert is a fantastic host but (ii) being on CBS basically kills his potential.

This new show is passable, barely saved by Colbert's talent but offers pretty much no fun and no depth. In a nutshell, it's just another bland network TV show without much interest.

The inability to bring the best of the best TV host in the US on CBS demonstrates why it is way overdue that network TV shall disappear and cable shall take over. HBO has done it for TV and movies, Comedy central demonstrated it in reverse by letting Stephen Colbert go and lose most of his potential.

Stephen, please come back to cable and do what you do best instead of losing your soul and wasting your potential on CBS.

I had to write a review for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, because I am appalled by the number of negative reviews here.

Colbert is one of the very few late night show hosts whose monologues I click immediately. He is hilarious, but not offensive, and his interactions with guests are natural and funny as well, unlike some other hosts. In response to other reviewers that say he talks about Trump too much, the thing is, Colbert still makes it interesting to listen to and not rehashed. And can you really blame him--Trump gives way too much ridiculous content--plus he most definitely makes fun of Democrats too. Quite possible that some of the naysayers don't actually watch a majority of his videos...