Hello Nation!
Ladies and gentleman, a summer has passed and I have finished licking my wounds. I have finally come to terms that David Letterman is gone and never coming back. Stephen Colbert is now holding court in the hallowed halls of a television landmark, the Ed Sullivan Theater. I have now watched a full week of shows and am ready to pass judgement.
The lead up to this shows launch to me, as a television enthusiast, has truly been like being a kid in in a candy store. I love seeing how things like this come together. It started just a day after Letterman went off the air when they began to dismantle the set within the Ed Sullivan Theater. I have to say I love what they have done within the theater. They maintained, and restored many of the theaters historical aspects. When CBS bought the theater in 1993 for Letterman they saved the theater from ruin. In the process however they hid many of the theaters features including the large chandelier in the theaters rafters, as well as a series of large stain glass windows. These are back and look amazing, The marquee out front also has a bit of an 'old timey' feel which I like. What I really don't like however is the shows branding. Located on the marquee as well as on various surfaces (including Stephen's desk) within the theater is a logo for "The Late Show with". It lacks Colbert's name and this bothers me.
From the first seconds of the new 'Late Show' it was clear this was a different kind of 11:35 network show. The show doesn't break into a main title sequence right off the bat. The show has a kind of cold open where bandleader Batiste is seen running across the stage while Colbert runs onto the stage to the cheers of his adoring audience. What's odd about this is Colbert comes out tells a couple jokes, goes over the nights guest, introduces the band, and then we break into the main title sequence which introduces the nights guests and the band. It's very odd.
One thing which I am glad to see is that Colbert has shed his alter ego character. A conservative, narcissistic, news anchor. Whats not gone however is the newsy feel which was so prominent in the 'Report'. Colbert is still doing the same news shtick with on screen graphics just without the conservative leaning character.
Colbert's interview skills are fantastic and I love his choice of guests. Celebrity interviews are great but I love the substance some of his guest have brought to the program. The Jeb Bush interview was great, as was Joe Biden's. Tomorrow Colbert interviews Apple CEO, Tim Cook.
The show for me really falls flat with the comedy bits. Over the past week we've seen a number of skits that have just been quite frankly over acted and not funny. I'd like to see Colbert drop these and just let the two Jimmy's and Conan duke it out for our YouTube likes.
To me the real off putting thing about the show is how it appears to be visibly spliced together. Most shows of this nature are recorded live to tape. Maybe this will change after they get a few more shows under there belts but all the taping's thus far have run long and had to have been edited down.
On the whole I really like this new Late Show and will more then likely continue to watch it on the regular. As much as I like the show I still don't know however if CBS made the right choice. It just doesn't feel to me like an 11:35 show. To be honest the only show anymore I think does have that feel is Conan, and we all know how that worked out. Time will tell.
I'm sorry if this blog post seems under thought and ill prepared because frankly it was. Anyway's until next time I hope you found your time on this site to be time (and bandwidth) well wasted.
