2025 Is the Year Late Night TV Fell Apart: A Complete Timeline

The late-night TV lineup is undergoing a drastic shakeup this year. 

From the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to ABC abruptly pulling Jimmy Kimmel off the air, it’s been a time of upheaval for weeknight comedy programs.

Here are the latest shifts in the 2025 late-night landscape:

Stephen Colbert Canceled

On July 17, the affable host surprised viewers when he announced that his CBS show will end in May 2026. 

“Next year will be our last season, the network will be ending The Late Show in May,” Colbert, 61, said on the air. 

When the studio audience began to boo, he remarked, “I share your feelings.”

“It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced,” he said. “This is all just going away. I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. … And I’m grateful to the audience, you, who have joined us every night, in here, out there, and all around the world.”

Following the news, CBS issued a statement claiming that the decision was “financial” and unrelated “in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

Kimmel supported Colbert publicly, writing via his Instagram Story,  “F*** you and all your Sheldons CBS.”

And over the summer, Andy Cohen — who hosts Watch What Happens Live on Bravo — weighed in on the cancellation, saying, “I think it’s a sad day for late night television. I think it’s a sad day for CBS. I think Stephen Colbert is a singular talent. He’s going to have an incredible next chapter. I can’t believe CBS is turning off the lights at 11:30 after the local news. I’m stunned. He’s one of three late night shows deemed worthy enough for an Emmy nomination. He produces a brilliant show.”

The Late Show Wins an Emmy

Colbert and his team triumphed at the 2025 Emmy Awards on Sunday, September 14, finally scoring the award for Outstanding Talk Series for the very first time after multiple nominations over the past decade.

The crowd chanted Colbert’s name as he took the stage to accept the trophy.

“Sometimes you only truly know how much you love something when you get a sense that you might be losing it,” he said in his speech. “Ten years later, in September of 2025, my friends, I have never loved my country more desperately. God bless America. Stay strong, be brave, and if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy and punch a higher floor!”

Talking to Us Weekly and other outlets backstage at the Emmys, the comedian said that he planned to focus on The Late Show for the time being.

“I love what we do, and I want to go to work on Tuesday and for the next nine months with these people and work hard but have fun,” Colbert said. “We do the show with each other; we do the show for each other every day. And then I have the privilege and the responsibility that day to share with the audience what we did. And I love it, and I know it’s coming to the end in May, but I’m going to savor every day of it. I want to land this plane absolutely beautifully, and I got nothing else on my mind.”

ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Off the Air

The network stunned Kimmel’s fans when it pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! following backlash over his recent comments about the late Charlie Kirk. 

“Jimmy Kimmel Live will be pre-empted indefinitely,” an ABC spokesperson confirmed to Us on Wednesday, September 17.

ABC’s move came after Nexstar Media, who owns multiple TV stations, reportedly threatened to eliminate Kimmel from its late-night schedule. The company told Variety in statement that its “owned and partner television stations affiliated with the ABC Television Network will preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the foreseeable future, beginning with tonight’s show.”

Kimmel, 57, made headlines for remarks he made during a Monday, September 15 monologue where he spoke about Tyler Robinson, who is accused of shooting and killing Kirk, a conservative commentator, during a September 10 speaking engagement at Utah Valley University. 

“The MAGA Gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said during his talk show. “In between the finger-pointing, there was grieving.”

Before his monologue, Kimmel took to Instagram and condemned gun violence in the wake of Kirk’s death. 

“Instead of angry finger-pointing, can we just for one day agree that it is horrible and monstrous to shoot another human?” he wrote.  “On behalf of my family, we send love to the Kirks and to all the children, parents and innocents who fall victim to senseless gun violence.”