Farewell to the Late Show and Stephen Colbert

I have not been much of a late night TV watcher for many decades. I just go to bed too early. But back in my youth I had a boyfriend who watched David Letterman religiously and I took to watching too. I did not always get the bits, but I loved the guests. I probably was more of a Johnny gal.

Over the years I have come to appreciate the late night TV shows for being good commentary on what was going on in the country. The monologue’s could be rewatched the morning after and I appreciated their take on current events. Even more so as traditional media became less objective. When morning shows turned into catalogue sales channels, rather than news I almost totally stopped watching.

So when CBS, once a stalwart of objective news coverage, got taken over by a one sided monster that was it for me. Then they canceled Colbert and I watched him a little more closely since he was seemingly one of the few at CBS speaking truth to power.

I stayed up last night to watch his final show. Although he did not mention the true cause for his firing by name, he instead rose above it and had some fun with great guests. Having Sir Paul McCartney was a brilliant way to end. The Music with Jon Baptiste and Elvis Costello and Sir Paul was great.

I am not worried about Colbert landing on his feet. His popularity was never in question. I just hope he keeps voicing his opinions so the world can be smarter. As for CBS, I am just not going to watch them ever again. 60 minutes has already slid down, but it is CBS Sunday morning I will miss the most. I just can’t support a network which so clearly does not share my values.

These days I try and chose to spend my money and my time only with people and entities that share my values and I am not shy about it. It is hard, but worth it.