We’ve heard from various voices in the late-night TV game, including David Letterman, Samantha Bee, and Jay Leno, about their opinions on CBS firing Stephen Colbert and ending The Late Show. But few are as acquainted with the highs and lows of late night as Conan O’Brien. “I’ve dabbled in other things, but that’s where I’ve lived,” he said while accepting an award from the Television Academy Hall of Fame (via Variety). “And for those of you under 40, late-night television was a service designed to distract college students until science would perfect the internet and online pornography. Boy, did they get that right.”
In his remarks, O’Brien conceded that “late-night television, as we have known it since around 1950, is going to disappear.” Nevertheless he still sees a future for the medium and for the creatives who make it. “People like Stephen Colbert are too talented and too essential to go away,” he said. “Stephen is going to evolve and shine brighter than ever in a new format that he controls completely. So, technology can do whatever they want. It can make television a pill. It can make television shows a high-protein, chewable, vanilla-flavored capsule with added fiber. It still won’t matter, if the stories are good, if the performances are honest and inspired, if the people making it are brave and of goodwill.”
It’s an optimistic view, and one that doesn’t get into the political ramifications of Colbert’s firing (or the ramifications of television’s tech overlords cozying up to the politicians who are meddling with the medium). O’Brien acknowledged that folks are “rightfully” afraid of the “seismic change” occurring in TV. But he pointed to shows like Hacks, Abbott Elementary, and I Think You Should Leave as examples of a path forward. “I choose not to mourn what is lost, because I think in the most essential way, what we have is not changing at all,” he said. “Streaming changes the pipeline, but the connection, the talent, the ideas that come into our homes… I think it’s the focus. We have proof here tonight.”
![Paramount really wants the Duffer brothers to craft its next blockbuster [UPDATED]](https://img.pastemagazine.com/wp-content/avuploads/2025/08/15122339/paramount-duffer-brothers-square.jpeg)
