• A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    Firing Colbert and canceling his show, days after he criticized Paramounts Payola to Trump. Thats the “financial decision”

  • fox2263@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Highest rating show. Financial decision.

    Nah. All who oppose Trump will be silenced.

    Kimmel next

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Late show was also just nominated for an Emmy.

      Kimmel and John Stewart are in fact being targeted next.

      I predicted that this would happen if the country started an irreversible slide into fascist warlord dictatorship, I just thought it would be much further down the road.

      Watch, in about a year all of these comedians and liberal pundits are going to be replaced by right-wing grifters and podcasters capturing the stupid, populist attention spans of people who just want to stare at flashing lights and listen to people screaming about how evil trans children are interrupted by ads for essential oils and testosterone supplements. This isn’t an exaggeration, this is what we can expect.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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        6 days ago

        It will just be filled copaganda shows, and sprinkle in some military props, and mostly reality shows, which caters to the lowest common denominator, which happens to be conservatives. The news in these networks will just turn into another fox clone, if it isn’t already

    • Drusas@fedia.io
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      6 days ago

      Kimmel has already said this is his last season, voluntarily.

      Daily Show is next. Maybe Seth Meyers.

      • ameancow@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Kimmel has already said this is his last season, voluntarily.

        Remember that when Conan was forced out, he had specific gag orders about what he could say or not, so take the “voluntary” part with a few grains of salt until that potential gag order expires, if it ever does.

        Really what’s happening is fascist censorship of opposition voices and satire is a powerful tool in speaking truth to power, making comedians highly threatening to fascists. Corporations like Skydance don’t care about civilization or a better world, they need line to go up, and the fastest, most efficient way to get that line up is to buy some fascists to run the country you’re located in.

    • hansolo@lemmy.today
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      6 days ago

      It’s because they want to do the Skydance merger.

      The “financial decision” is “We want money money money money, we’ll do anything! Look! Look! We’ll fuckin’ fire one of our highest rating earners. You like that, Papa T? We did that to make you love us ;)”

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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        5 days ago

        kinda wierd people are denying its not because of trump in this thread, multiple subs are already reporting including other talk show host indicated it was a threat-based cancellation. some of the users got mad because nutrek was axed by paramount, eventhough the franchise in its current form is terrible other someone like kurtzman.

        • hansolo@lemmy.today
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          5 days ago

          Yeah, but it is and it isn’t, right?

          Companies will do all sorts of crazy stuff for mergers to work out. History is riddled with epic failures like this as well. Microsoft buying Nokia comes to mind. Mergers have sunk costs and emotional, ego-driven people at their core.

          So when something is sooooo close to happening and needs and just ONE more thing, approval from the FCC. In an environment where what truly does amount to a $16 million bribe isn’t enough to get the last last last paper signed, Paramount will act irrational in the short term to get long term financial gains.

          Personally, I think it’s a bluff. They’ll cancel a decently rated show in its 11th season, with nothing to replace it at all…next year? Well the merger should be fine sooner than that, allowing time for Paramount to undo the cancelation.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    7 days ago

    This was part of CBS’ bribery payment, along with the $16 million to settle the 60 Minutes case, which would have been an easy win in court.

    ABC and CBS have been compromised and have paid bribes. When will he go after NBC?

  • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    If he wants to continue he should just produce his show on his own and air it on YouTube. No one really watches broadcast tv anymore.

    Jon Stewart should do the same.

    • DFX4509B@lemmy.org
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      5 days ago

      Google would probably cancel them there too if enough money exchanged hands between the right (err… wrong) people.

      Speaking of ‘financial decisions,’ CBS isn’t entirely wrong there, money has to have exchanged hands somewhere for this to happen.

    • AppleTea@lemmy.zip
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      6 days ago

      Sure, in like four or five centuries maybe.

      All that science fiction with colonies across the solar system by 20XX (or even the 2100s), its more fiction than science. Any sort of colony on Mars or the Moon or the skies of Venus or whatever is gonna have to recreate a biosphere from scratch. That alone would take decades upon decades of work – and that’s only really possible after we stabilize the biosphere we already live in.

      First building an equilibrium with nature would give us the kind of expertise needed to actually make space colonies anything other than a pipe dream.

      • SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        There’s a lot about life today that would feel like science fiction long ago. But we wouldn’t get here without progress. Administrations like the current American one for example are an example of regression not progression.

        First building an equilibrium with nature would give us the kind of expertise needed to actually make space colonies anything other than a pipe dream.

        Yeah, we’re definitely backtracking on that one.

        • AppleTea@lemmy.zip
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          5 days ago

          Sure, modern tech allows for a lot of things that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. But we’ve also hit a plateau when it comes to major developments in physics. Building a truly long term habitat (like, can last many multiple generations) is just flat out gonna take several lifetimes before any actual results come to bare. Maaaybe you can shave logistical stress off the margins with a space elevator, but we don’t actually know how to build on of those.

          Short of some jarring, borderline miraculous breakthrough, we’re not gonna see it in our lifetime. Hell, safe bet is our grandchildren won’t either.

  • Psythik@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    I feel like he just replaced Letterman a year or two ago and now the show is already ending. Where the hell did all the time go? How am I nearly 40 already?

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      If it makes you feel better, this has nothing to do with normal Hollywood celebrity shuffling and contractual disputes, this is entirely targeted political censorship. Colbert is/was the highest rated talk show on network television and was just nominated for an emmy.

      • Psythik@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        That doesn’t really confort me much, given that I just realized that it has been TEN YEARS since Letterman left! I hate how quickly time started moving when COVID first hit. Time never slowed back down, it never slowed back down!

        • ameancow@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          I do feel the same. Somewhere around 2012 - 2015 life just stopped for me. I lost track of media and current hip topics and then life just spiraled into one long series of disasters, both personal and global and now I feel a thousand years old but can’t detect any time that’s passed. When I watch the news and current events, even though logically I know what’s going on, some part of my brain screams that everything looks “wrong” and like we’re in the wrong world.

  • MeaanBeaan@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Everybody is saying this is politically motivated and I don’t really think I buy that. Not ruling out the possibility entirely, though. Anything is possible but the logic just doesn’t work out to me.

    First, CBS paid Trump. Trump didn’t pay them. They already capitulated by paying him off. Why would they capitulate further by getting rid of the most popular late night program if it was profitable?

    Second, if this was political why are they keeping the show on until May of next year? Wouldn’t trump want them to cancel it sooner?

    Third, they’re canceling the late show entirely. If they were canceling it to get someone critical of trump out of there why wouldn’t they just replace colbert with someone more favorable to him?

    Fourth, these shows have had declining ratings for years now and the writing has been on the wall for a long time that these shows were not going to be able to hang around for forever in today’s streaming climate. I think more cancelation announcements are likely.

    As much as I hate trump and wouldn’t put something like this past him I really don’t think it’s likely that this has anything to do with him. Doing this for money reasons is fully in line with how terrible capitalism is for art and I can absolutely believe that this was some dumbfuck accounting decision.

    • forrcaho@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      CBS’ parent company, Paramount, is in merger talks with Skydance. Mergers must be approved by the federal government. (I thought it was the FTC, but I see the FCC mentioned in articles about this … don’t want to dig into the weeds here. The feds must approve.)

      This used to be done by a theoretically impartial board which would make decisions based on benefit to the public. Now there isn’t even a pretense of caring about the public good. If Trump is happy with the tribute he receives, the merger will go through. If he’s upset, it won’t.

      Yeah, CBS already folded and paid a huge fine as a “settlement” to a lawsuit they could almost certainly have won in court, but when you’re trying to appease a mob boss you just have to keep paying.

      It’s true that putting the end date for Colbert a year out isn’t as extreme an appeasement than just pulling him off the air, but there are many factors involved. The mob boss has declared that he is pleased with the outcome, so mission accomplished.

        • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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          6 days ago

          ellison, or whatever his name is the ceo of skydance, he wouldnt want colbert on his networks. it does make sense they also wouldnt wanted nutrek to be part of the network too(right wingers HATE star trek), even if it was costing P+ alot of money to host these shows, the trumper wouldve cancelled anyways.

      • Wispy2891@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        It wasn’t a fine, it was a “donation” to Trump presidential library. It’s completely different

        A fine implies that the money goes to the government, but here goes directly in Trump’s hands

    • OpenPassageways@lemmy.zip
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      6 days ago

      It doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch that Trump wanted the payout AND getting rid of Colbert as part of a bribe to allow the merger.

      Keeping the show until May of next year may just be due to contracts that they have with Colbert and other employees of the show. This way they avoid any lawsuits, etc related to breach of contract.

      Same with cancelling the show. It seems kind of like how instead of termination for no reason, companies “eliminate the position”.

      If the show had low ratings, I might agree, but it doesn’t seem like that was the case. It’s awfully suspicious given that we already know Paramount will bend over for Trump, it’s hard to give them the benefit of the doubt.

    • 60d@lemmy.ca
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      6 days ago

      Why would they capitulate further by getting rid of the most popular late night program if it was profitable?

      Trump is blocking the merger of CBS/Skydance/Paramount. Hence financial decision.

      Wouldn’t trump want them to cancel it sooner?

      Of course, but as a famous deal maker, this is the best Trump could do.

      If they were canceling it to get someone critical of trump out of there why wouldn’t they just replace colbert with someone more favorable to him?

      They will. They’re throwing Trump a bone and will replace the show with some POS pedo right-wing grift-fest. They can’t have anyone on-air who Trump doesn’t have kompromat on.

      I think more cancelation announcements are likely.

      Hell yes they are. Anyone even slightly critical of the regime must go if the Eye of Sauron gazes upon them.

    • nightlily@leminal.space
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      6 days ago

      The Trump admin controls all the levers to make things much worse for CBS. Why do you think they capitulated with that bribe settlement payment for a case everyone agreed had no merit?

    • forrcaho@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Whoever downvoted MeaanBeaan here, why? I suspect you just disagree; that’s not a legitimate reason for a downvote. He bothered to offer his analysis, and at least to me it reads like a legit take on events, not trolling. If you disagree, say what you disagree with (like I did). If you’re too lazy to do that, just skip it. Downvotes are for trolls.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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        6 days ago

        thats because hes just parroting what other conservatives said on reddit, they said the same sht, but ignored the fact this happened right after the lawsuit, and the merger , skydance is a trumper.

  • But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    I mean there’s no way he’s cheap and his salary increases every year, at some point the show becomes a net loss.

    I know people like conspiracy but to be fair, i only ever watch that show on YouTube clips and never live, so the ratings must be dipping