Back in this post, I predicted that Stephen Colbert would not do his new Letterman-replacing Late Show from the Ed Sullivan Theater, at least at first. Well, it's been announced he will. I'm curious how that will work. I figured Colbert would need a new set and a major building renovation, plus time to just plain move in and then do some practice shows from his new stage. I also figured CBS would want Dave to do his last show on a Friday and then have Stephen commence the following Monday so as not to concede the time slot for several weeks with Letterman reruns or some sort of filler programming. Let's see how they manage this.
And I may also have been wrong with my prediction that Colbert would do his first show on March 2 so Dave's last show could close out the February sweeps rating period. Letterman writer Bill Scheft on his blog recently posted…
THE SHOW has ten months left, give or take a week. I am just focusing on the journey and not the destination, which a Zen-like way of saying I'm repressing. That said, I am thrilled with the news Stephen Colbert will be doing his version at the Ed Sullivan Theater because all the union guys will be retained. I continue to be amazed at the number of people, and people who should know better, assuming I will be going to work for Colbert, like it's GM just getting a new President. That has now morphed into people, the same people, asking me if the Colbert people are in the building yet. Yeah, I got a file cabinet and a rack of his suits in my office.
Ten months suggests the May sweeps…which perhaps not coincidentally is when the last Johnny Carson Tonight Show occurred. Colbert's last Comedy Central show is just before this year's Christmas break so he might be off the air for more than six months.