👎 CBS has officially fired Stephen Colbert.

The Late Show, once one of the most valuable time slots in television history, is done. No replacement. No reboot. No rebranding. CBS is walking away from late night altogether. Not with a bang, but with a shrug. That's not a programming note—that's an obituary. An institution just died.

If you've ever seen HBO's The Late Shift, you know the backstory. After Johnny Carson stepped down from The Tonight Show, there was a war—Leno vs. Letterman. A behind-the-scenes bloodbath that consumed NBC and ultimately pushed David Letterman to CBS. That war is what launched The Late Show. It was CBS's entry into the late night arena, their effort to plant a flag and go head-to-head with an American institution.