He's back on but two big affiliates will not carry his show pending further enquiry.
Broadcast TV is dying, with only oldies (ahem) watching. Younger people do not "get" the idea of appointment TV. They stream what they want, when they want. Amazing how Carson, Letterman, Craig Ferguson all managed not to be didactic finger wagging schoolmarms.
Exactly right. I've been very frustrated at the desire to stomp on Kimmel's show from the right, even if he deserves it, when the best thing is just to let him disperse in the breeze. Sadly seems impossible to stop. I think the time of fish in a barrel is coming to a close, for better or worse.
But though It's ugly, and tactically dumb, it may be ultimately for the best that the fight is being botched. It's false to be arguing about late night cable shows like they're what the culture pivots on anymore. Gonna have to find a new way somehow.
‘The functioning of the system might be opaque and inaccessible but the legacy media is the place that finally gives you a name and a face you can point to, and a target you can hit, from your living room.’
This is a really great distillation.
Something that I have not seen mentioned anywhere, and which really just moves your point from the general to the specific, is that it would have been better for the right had Kimmel not been suspended and instead kept on air while a storm of outrage whipped up around him. By suspending him so quickly, that pressure was immediately released and the left got to assume the role of victim.
I think the best example of what you're referring to here is the Jimmy Fallon bit where he was singing and dancing with a load of costume syringes encouraging people to get vaxed. Regardless of how one feels about the issue, that was incredibly cringe and ghey and probably did more harm than good from the regime's POV.
But, is Kimmel off the air because he was 'cancelled' by Trump, or because his show was shite that no one watched, and the network took the bad PR as an opportunity to dump an unprofitable venture?
I’m late to this essay, but holy smokes is this good. Especially keen insight regarding how the media acts as a stand-in for unaccountable institutions and decision-makers.
I'd say the US Late Night shows are analogous to Eastenders/Coronation Street in Britain.
In the 1980s/90s 'everyone' watched them and discussed them the next day in school or work. But then they veered from their original purpose and the one sided political messaging began creeping in. Viewing figures gradually declined and then fell off a cliff mid 2010s. I understand these shows do very badly with with people under 50.
Their audience in 2025 is pretty much whoever is left alive from their audience in 1992.
He's back on but two big affiliates will not carry his show pending further enquiry.
Broadcast TV is dying, with only oldies (ahem) watching. Younger people do not "get" the idea of appointment TV. They stream what they want, when they want. Amazing how Carson, Letterman, Craig Ferguson all managed not to be didactic finger wagging schoolmarms.
Exactly right. I've been very frustrated at the desire to stomp on Kimmel's show from the right, even if he deserves it, when the best thing is just to let him disperse in the breeze. Sadly seems impossible to stop. I think the time of fish in a barrel is coming to a close, for better or worse.
But though It's ugly, and tactically dumb, it may be ultimately for the best that the fight is being botched. It's false to be arguing about late night cable shows like they're what the culture pivots on anymore. Gonna have to find a new way somehow.
‘The functioning of the system might be opaque and inaccessible but the legacy media is the place that finally gives you a name and a face you can point to, and a target you can hit, from your living room.’
This is a really great distillation.
Something that I have not seen mentioned anywhere, and which really just moves your point from the general to the specific, is that it would have been better for the right had Kimmel not been suspended and instead kept on air while a storm of outrage whipped up around him. By suspending him so quickly, that pressure was immediately released and the left got to assume the role of victim.
I think the best example of what you're referring to here is the Jimmy Fallon bit where he was singing and dancing with a load of costume syringes encouraging people to get vaxed. Regardless of how one feels about the issue, that was incredibly cringe and ghey and probably did more harm than good from the regime's POV.
But, is Kimmel off the air because he was 'cancelled' by Trump, or because his show was shite that no one watched, and the network took the bad PR as an opportunity to dump an unprofitable venture?
I think the 'Vax Scene' dance was Stephen Colbert (though wouldn't surprise me if Kimmel or Fallon did one too!).
Yep, you're right actually. But these guys are basically interchangeable robots so does it really matter?
I’m late to this essay, but holy smokes is this good. Especially keen insight regarding how the media acts as a stand-in for unaccountable institutions and decision-makers.
Thank you! never too late, that’s the good thing about substack!
I'd say the US Late Night shows are analogous to Eastenders/Coronation Street in Britain.
In the 1980s/90s 'everyone' watched them and discussed them the next day in school or work. But then they veered from their original purpose and the one sided political messaging began creeping in. Viewing figures gradually declined and then fell off a cliff mid 2010s. I understand these shows do very badly with with people under 50.
Their audience in 2025 is pretty much whoever is left alive from their audience in 1992.