Stephen Colbert's supposed to resume his show tomorrow and the story is that they shut down this week because his mother was ill.
One interesting (to me) thing about the entertainment industry is that enterprises so often hinge on one person. I'm sure there must be other fields where this is the case to some extent but it occurs often in show business. 200 people might work on her show but if Ellen DeGeneres gets the flu, Ellen doesn't tape. I've heard stars speak of feeling a certain tension or pressure because of this.
Back in the days of live TV, there were a lot of fill-ins and emergency replacements…and there are still some shows that think they're better off bringing in a guest host or someone. Even after tape came in, that was the thinking but it's changed. Johnny Carson occasionally couldn't do his show because of some last minute problem. In the sixties and seventies, they'd scurry about and bring in a replacement.
One time, it was Ed McMahon and you'd think he could have handled it but no. I remember watching that night. He came out, acknowledged the applause of a clearly-disappointed studio audience, then turned and went right to the desk and sat down. No monologue of any sort. It was awkward and so was the show that followed. They'd scrambled to get him some good guests — and more than usual since there was no monologue or comedy spot. Still, every third sentence seemed to include the phrase, "If Johnny was here…"
Oddly enough — or maybe not so odd — Ed often said in his books and later interviews that he wished he'd had a chance to host The Tonight Show just for one night. He did and it was terrible. I guess he'd blanked it out.
Anyway, in the eighties when Johnny had that kind of unscheduled problem, they didn't drag in a guest host or annoint Ed. They ran a rerun. I think that's what any non-news show would do today.