Jon Liedtke joins Gene Valaitis on 610 CKTB to break down the “forensic decommissioning” of the Late Show, arguing CBS sacrificed Stephen Colbert to secure a multi-billion dollar merger approval. He connects the Manhattan “signal landlord” strategy to Ontario’s own “managed silence,” linking corporate bribes to Doug Ford’s $200 voter rebates in a singular era of decommissioned dissent.
Transcript (Gemini Generated):
Gene Valaitis: Today our good pal Jon Liedtke is standing by. Good morning, Jon.
Jon Liedtke: Good morning, Gene.
Gene Valaitis: Hey, so the lights went out at the Ed Sullivan Theater last week, and that was it for the Colbert show. CBS told us it was just business. But you’re going to have to explain this one to me, because I saw a clip of it 23 hours later: Colbert re-emerged in a Michigan basement on what looks like a really cheap and cheesy cable TV show—something akin to Wayne’s World way back in the day. So, you have to explain that one to me, and why the lawyers went into a bit of a tailspin when suddenly they just thought Stephen Colbert was going to walk away, and all of a sudden he’s doing a cheesy cable TV show—but I mean, he had like Eminem on the thing!
Jon Liedtke: It was—so he started out The Late Show because he had to transition from The Colbert Report on Comedy Central where he was a, you know, right-wing provocateur comedy satirical host. So they wanted to do a bit of a palate cleanser, and so he showed up on Monroe Cable Access in Michigan for like 15 years ago—11 years ago—for a one-hour segment. And he transitioned out of The Late Show by doing the exact same thing. And he had Jack White doing the music, he had Eminem show up, Jeff Daniels, Steve Buscemi. It was incredible, and it really put CBS in their place because it showed he doesn’t need their platform; he has his own.
But we’ve got to admit what’s actually occurred: CBS had a premeditated corporate execution that’s being sold as a strategic pivot. It’s not a business decision; it’s the liquidation of the public square. They didn’t just turn off the lights; they destroyed the set, they pulled the plug, and now it’s a shakedown that we’re all watching, and the audience is actually a victim, and the shareholders are the beneficiaries of the silence. And it’s all because they want to set the stage for a merger that—oh, that’s right—Donald Trump’s friend, who FCC chair has to approve.
Gene Valaitis: Yes, of course. It was definitely a corporate shakedown; I think nobody believes it was just business as usual.
Jon Liedtke: I don’t see how you could. I mean, and we can talk a little bit more of that as it comes up, but I mean they paid essentially what was a bribe to the presidential library. Colbert called it a bribe on air, and then he was cancelled days later. I mean, we just have to look at the series of events chronologically. It doesn’t take a scientist here.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. CBS is replacing The Colbert Show, the late-night show, with Byron Allen’s Comics Unleashed. Now, you know, here’s what’s interesting about that. Well, two things. A) they had the first episode the night after Colbert signed off, and I found out why: because that is the anniversary date that Byron Allen appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, so he wanted to bring it around full circle. But then you’re telling me Byron Allen’s not getting paid? What? Hello?
Jon Liedtke: Well, I mean, that would be one thing. He’s actually paying CBS for the opportunity of having the time slot. And it’s a total shell game. They didn’t just fire the top guy in late night; they’ve turned a historic Manhattan stage into a low-yield rental property. They’re no longer in the business of paying for talent in a late show; they’re in the business of rent collection to keep things quiet. They’re using this man as a financial human shield. They get to claim diversity while leasing the airwaves to a guy who has been directed to keep it apolitical. This is the ultimate big yellow taxi—they’re paving paradise for a parking lot here. They’d rather just put up a food truck.
Gene Valaitis: Well, Paramount paid 16 million as a settlement to Donald Trump recently for—it’s going to go to the library. Now Colbert called it the big fat bribe—I mean, how else does it look? I mean, come on.
Jon Liedtke: This is like asset management truth, Gene. Paramount paid the bribe, Colbert called them out, days later he’s been shown the door. And the reason is because Paramount is desperate for FCC approval on an eight-and-a-half billion dollar merger. The Trump state has signaled that the satire exemption is done. And I mean, he’s even going after The View right now for gosh sake. They’ve traded the First Amendment for a regulatory rubber stamp, and they didn’t cancel the show because it was losing any money; they cancelled the host because they wanted to secure the windfall. This is a corporate lobotomy performed for a permit.
Gene Valaitis: Let’s get back to that little Michigan cable TV show. That was a surprise, but immediately it was hit with copyright infringements by CBS. So I mean, so now they claim they actually financed the production of that? Did Colbert—was—did he pull a fast one on CBS?
Jon Liedtke: This might be the best part of this all, Gene, quite frankly. So he used their own poison pill budget to fund his rebellion against them. They claim they financed it? Yeah, they did. Colbert used his remaining production crew and budget to build a digital life raft while he was still on their clock. Paramount only waived the copyright strikes that they started to levy at him because it was PR suicide to keep going. They realized, wait, he put together a show for probably fifteen thousand dollars that’s garnered six-and-a-half million people in eight hours, and it had Eminem and Jack White and Jeff Daniels and Steve Buscemi. They realized they paid for the lighting match that Colbert used to start the fire, and now they’re trying to invoice him for the smoke damage that’s been caused. But again, the whole thing was started by their actions at the beginning. So, ah, you know, my daddy always said: don’t go to pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the gallon, but also, don’t go to fight with a guy who has 100 million fans on the internet and is able to garner support on a moment’s notice.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. Well, I’m glad they’re shipping the late show set off to a museum in Chicago. But boy, that theater is just so incredible, it’s just filled with history—which is why they had one of the Beatles on there, because you know, everybody knows the Beatles from The Ed Sullivan Show and that’s the Ed Sullivan Theater. I hope they’re not getting rid of this theater, are they?
Jon Liedtke: So when they got rid of David Letterman through that forced retirement sort of that it was—it was a voluntary forced retirement—the day after the show ended, I think there was a literal dumpster fire outside of the theater of all of the assets of it. And that set was completely destroyed. I think they recognize that if they did that in this case, it would be a really bad PR move, especially with the internet being what it is today.
But let’s not call it charity. I mean, I agree with you, they’re shipping the set to Chicago—that’s where Stephen Colbert is from—but, and I like that it’s being saved. I love a good walking museum, don’t get me wrong. But they’re physically gutting the infrastructure of the set. This is sort of like what Doug Ford is doing with the Ontario Science Centre: move the landmark under the guise of logistics and then the space can never be used for the original purpose again. They’ve dismantled it so that if the political winds do change after approval or otherwise, there is nothing left to come back to. They want a quiet empty room that produces nothing but margin and silence. Hopefully, it can get back to what it once was because it’s such a storied room.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. And I guess if you look at Doug Ford’s 200 dollar rebate checks and you take a look at CBS cancelling the show Trump didn’t like to help build his library… Can we say we’re getting into the era of managed silence, Jon?
Jon Liedtke: It really feels like it. I mean, the asphalt is still wet, the footprints lead straight to the boardroom. Whether it’s a Manhattan theater, Gene, that’s being gutted or the Ontario Science Centre being moved to a waterfront parking lot, the strategy is still the same: decommission the things that aren’t good for your brand, whether it’s a corporate brand or a political brand or the Venn diagram overlap. These people want us living in a world of Comics Unleashed—evergreen, apolitical, safe for the shareholders, but unpalatable for the vast majority of the people who will ever pay attention to it. And that’s probably the same with a Science Centre that’s going to be shrunk. So they’re paving the public square, they’re handing us the 200 dollar rebate to cover the parking fee and telling us to enjoy what you get—that’s the scraps, scraps of it. But Paramount owns the signal, Colbert though owns the match as I said. So the flames, they’re still visible from Monroe and we’ll see who’s laughing when the merger dust settles. The bill comes due and Colbert still has his audience.
Gene Valaitis: Great take, I love it. Thank you, Jon.
Jon Liedtke: Thank you, Gene.
Gene Valaitis: There he goes, Jon Liedtke. Always a great take on things happening on our planet Earth. That was good.
This aired on 610 CKTB
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