I just watched Stephen Colbert's next-to-last Late Show. While I admire the guy and his series and wish he would inhabit that time slot indefinitely, the episode I just sat through had, in excess, three things I don't like about his program. One was how they way overtape the show, then hack it down for broadcast. The bulk of the program tonight was Colbert finally answering the Colbert Questionnaire himself and they brought on a different celebrity of some stature to pose each question to him.
It must have run an hour or two uncut and then they edited it down a lot for the version they put up on YouTube and chopped it even further to get what just aired on CBS. Add to that the fact that Colbert, of course, knew the questions he'd be asked and couldn't not have known in advance how he'd answer each one and you have a long, long bit devoid of spontaneity. There was probably a lot in the banter with each guest questioner but it all got tossed.
Second thing I don't/didn't like: Everything anyone (but especially Colbert) said got wild, unreal screams of laughter and applause. And every guest entrance warranted tons of applause and a standing ovation.
And lastly, I usually watch Colbert via YouTube but tonight, I watched it as broadcast on CBS and, my God, how many commercials were there? If he was staying on, I would never watch it that way again. No wonder the audience for late night programming has diminished.
Make no mistake: I love the guy, the show, everything. But my idea of an hour-long talk show is one that takes around an hour to do and they leave in all the rough spots so you get what really happened, not something constructed in an editing room.
I'll still, of course, tune in tomorrow night for the last show…which, they've announced, will run over its usual length. Maybe that will cause it to be less processed.