"After Midnight" To End Run In June

[DoItRockapella]

https://deadline.com/2025/03/after-midnight-canceled-cbs-taylor-tomlinson-1236351453/

The linked article gives no precise date for the final show. After said final show, CBS will apparently stop programming that hour entirely.

Disappointing, but IMO not entirely unexpected.

[Matt Ottinger]

For those who didn't read the article, it's noteworthy that, "CBS had quietly renewed the show for a third season but had not announced it publicly." Tomlinson says she wants to focus on her comedy career, and CBS must have decided they didn't want to try and insert a new host into the format.

[DoItRockapella]

Thank you for the clarification, Matt - I honestly wasn't sure from skimming the article whether this was CBS's decision (due to low ratings or whatever) or because Ms. Tomlinson was leaving.

[BrandonFG]

I enjoyed the first few months, and while that time slot is great for experimenting, they didn’t know what they wanted to be. I dunno if it was the decision of the producers or the network, but when they shifted gears from the comedic current events game show to more of a talk show, they lost me.

Also felt the humor was very forced on this version. Felt more organic on the Comedy Central version.

[Hastin]

I'm a little bummed, but after tuning in most nights for like 4-5 months straight, I personally just got tired of it. Tried turning in again after a few months off, and short of trying a bit of the monologue, it just couldn't capture my attention anymore. It wasn't wrapping up the day of news, it didn't feel connected to internet culture the way "@midnight" did (maybe because that culture is so disjointed, angry, and broken compared to the old days), and the rotation of comedians felt less and less. Tomlinson was great as a host, but it feels like so much has changed with people's free time at night. I'd still consider half the run of the original show pretty good given the current landscape.

[Matt Ottinger]

Thank you for the clarification, Matt - I honestly wasn't sure from skimming the article whether this was CBS's decision (due to low ratings or whatever) or because Ms. Tomlinson was leaving.

Didn't mean for that to come across as a correction, just an observation that this seems to be a deal where Taylor wanted out.  To me, the big story here is that CBS is just giving up on the hour.

I dunno if it was the decision of the producers or the network, but when they shifted gears from the comedic current events game show to more of a talk show, they lost me.

And that also appears to have been Taylor's idea.  She wanted a monologue, and the opportunity to chat more with the guests, who on an average day were just three of her less-well-known comedy friends.

All of this is Taylor's fault!

[Neumms]

To me, the big story here is that CBS is just giving up on the hour.

Me, too. At least give it to the news division.

[DoItRockapella]

At this point, I'm going to go ahead and quote a post I made on this Forum on December 28, 2023, in the earliest thread about the possibility of a revival of @midnight replacing The Late Late Show:

To be completely honest, though...while it will certainly be better than Comics Unleashed (not hard), am I the only one who can't see After Midnight as that great an idea? @midnight was great, but it was also representative of an era of the Internet that seems to me to be over. Hashtag Wars losing a lot of its luster now that Twitter has become X is just one example.

Still, I'm going to check After Midnight out, and am ultimately rooting for it to succeed - I get the feeling that if it doesn't, CBS will just give up on that time slot entirely.

So...yeah. Again, I'm disappointed, but I did see more or less see it coming.

[BrandonFG]

I get the feeling that if it doesn't, CBS will just give up on that time slot entirely.

Do you have the Powerball numbers for this week?

[aaron sica]

Well, now Matt Kaiser will never figure out whether or not it’s a game show.