Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Tuesday, July 22nd 2025:
SOME MORE CONTEXT ABOUT THE COLBERT CANCELATION
The Ankler's Lesley Goldberg has a really well-reported piece on the cancelation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and there are a couple of passages I wanted to highlight:
On June 27, just a few days before Paramount would announce its $16 million 60 Minutes settlement with President Trump, James Dixon received a call from CBS executives informing the prominent talent manager that the network was walking away from his client Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show. Dixon knew the news more than two weeks before his client, I’ve learned.
Colbert, though, would not learn the news of his show’s demise until he returned from vacation. It was after Colbert taped the Wednesday, July 16 episode, I’m told, that Dixon informed him of CBS’ decision. The following day, Colbert stunned the TV industry and announced the cancellation at the top of the show.
Much of the piece quotes unnamed CBS and Paramount sources arguing the decision and the timing were not influenced by Skydance Entertainment head David Ellison and it was not made in hopes of easing the way for a government approval of the merger. Which is something I have also been hearing from network people all day today. And while that may be primarily the truth, this passage suggests that Ellison's future role might have been a bit of a concern at CBS:
As improbable as it may seem, given news of both Paramount’s settlement with Trump and his claims of a Skydance pre-close side deal to run PSAs for his benefit, sources stress this decision to ax The Late Show was made without the knowledge of Skydance CEO David Ellison and his consultant, Cindy Holland, as CBS execs feared the incoming regime would not allow Colbert to remain on the air, unchecked, through next May. (I wrote two weeks ago about the hopes for Holland’s coming leadership at “New Paramount,” once Skydance’s acquisition of the company is approved.) “[They] didn’t want Skydance to come in and say, ‘Get rid of it now’; they wanted to give him a proper send-off,” says a source familiar with the discussions to end Late Show next May.
It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out. Jimmy Kimmel's contract is up next year and he has talked about leaving the show after this renewal. Or perhaps not renewing at all. I suspect the exit of Colbert might tempt him to stay on for awhile, if for no other reason than to prevent President Trump for taking credit for him leaving.
SPEAKING OF LATE NIGHT
While Jon Stewart's show-opening rant against Donald Trump on last night's episode of The Daily Show was wildly praised by opponents of the president, viewers were less than thrilled with the rest of the show, which had Stewart interviewing Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong:
“Everyone is pissed,” one staffer told me. “The consensus is that Jon Stewart’s interview was awful. It seemed like he hadn’t read up on the guy.”
It really did seem as if Stewart was completely unaware of Soon-Shiong’s abysmal record at The Times over the past eight months. Not only has he quietly executed multiple rounds of layoffs that have gutted the newsroom, but he’s also appeared hellbent on steering the paper into a more pro-MAGA direction. The red-pilled billionaire has slammed his own staff as too liberal, driven out progressive columnists, and heaped praise on dishonest right-wing figures like Scott Jennings. He’s suggested the editorial board “take a break” from criticizing Trump, pushed through new policies to make it harder for opinion journalists to scrutinize him, backed false claims against one of his own journalists, explored hiring extremist pundit Candace Owens, and even entertained a partnership with anti-vaccine activist Rob Schneider. In many ways, Soon-Shiong has been one of the worst owners of all, decimating The Times' reputation in the process of appealing to the administration, all in an attempt widely believed to be aimed at ensuring the federal government approves his drugs. Yet, none of this came up in Stewart’s interview.
It's even more disconcerting because Stewart can be a solid interviewer and generally seems to be well prepped for interviews. But last night's interview was uncomfortable to watch, especially given the previous hard-hitting opening segment.
THE PROBLEM WITH FAST CHANNELS
I tend to primarily watch FAST channels late at night when I can't sleep. And my go-to choices are the food and home themed channels such as BBC Food, Tastemade, America's Test Kitchen and The Jamie Oliver Channel. My platform choice tends to be Pluto TV, since they have the widest selection of FAST channels in those genres. Although for whatever reason, the only Tastemade channel they include is an "exclusive" channel devoted to grilling.
But as much as I enjoy watching them to unwind, I've grown tired of them because many of the channels have a similar problem. If you tune in at a specific time in the evening, you'll see the same shows every night. Despite the fact that the channels typically have a wide range of programs available. This problem is especially an issue on The Jamie Oliver Channel, because most of his shows are one season, short-run series tied into one of his books. So it doesn't take long before you've seen every episode.
One workaround I've found with the Tastemade channels is that mini-MVPD Philo TV allows you to record a show while you're watching it. And then you can watch the entire season run on demand.
And as long as we're talking about food-oriented FAST channels, I'd love to see a FAST channel devoted to old school Food Network shows. The Food Network owns some of them, but many of them are owned by independent producers who for whatever reason have decided (or are unable) to make them available for a FAST channel.
I am talking about programs such as Cooking Live With Sara Moulton (who currently has a long-running series on PBS), Delicious Miss Brown, Fat Chef, Glutton For Punishment, Good Deal With Dave Lieberman, The Gourmet Next Door, Have Fork Will Travel, How'd That Get On My Plate?, How To Boil Water, The Hungry Detective, Kitchen Accomplished, Kitchen Casino, Kitchen Sink, Ready...Set...Cook, Taste With David Rosengarten, Two Fat Ladies, What Would Brian Boitano Make?, Wolfgang's Cooking Class and many others.
TWEET OF THE DAY
ODDS AND SODS
* Some kind soul has put the entire unreleased 52 episode Hasbro Studios/AllSpark Animation series Micronauts on the Web Archive for viewing and download. Hasbro did a write-off of the series following the EOne merger in December 2019 that lead to the shut down of Hasbro Studios. Based on what I've seen so far, the show is an absolute blast and it's amazing that Hasbro didn't at least sell off the completed series to someone else.
* House Republicans are pushing to rename the Kennedy Center Opera House after Melania Trump. At the same time, Republicans want to cut the center’s budget for the next year by $7 million.
* Starz is ordering the Power prequel Power: Origins to series, with an 18-episode order. The series will tell the origin stories of the fan-favorite Power characters Ghost and Tommy.
* Earlier today, FCC chairman Brendan Carr mocked the fallout over Stephen Colbert cancelation by tweeting this out on X: "The partisan left’s ritualist wailing and gnashing of teeth over Colbert is quite revealing. They’re acting like they’re losing a loyal DNC spokesperson that was entitled to an exemption from the laws of economics."
* Ozzy Osbourne, the iconic Black Sabbath frontman who also headlined the classic MTV reality show The Osbournes, has died at the age of 76.
* HBO Max has rolled out in 12 more markets in Europe and Asia. So good news for viewers in Albania, Armenia, Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Tajikistan.
* Season three of Loot will premiere Wednesday, October 15th on Apple TV+.
* Netflix has ordered The Truth About Jussie Smollett?, a 90-minute feature doc about the Jussie Smollett hoax hate crime attack case. Jussie Smollett will reportedly cooperate with the documentary's producers.
* NBC has given a series order to the new cheerleading comedy Stumble, and here is the official logline: "Coach Courteney Potter (Lyon) is determined to rally her newly recruited junior college cheer squad to win her record-breaking 15th championship and improve their lives along the way."
* Someone put the Donald Trump partying with Jeffrey Epstein video on IMDB.
* Kelly Clarkson, John Legend and Adam Levine and returning to The Voice as coaches for season twenty-nine of the competitive singing show, which will premiere in the spring of 2026. Michael Bublé, Snoop Dogg, Niall Horan and Reba McEntire will be returning as judges.
WHAT'S NEW TOMORROW (AND THE NEXT DAY)
WEDNESDAY, JULY 23RD, 2025:
* Acapulco Season Premiere (Apple TV+)
* Alien Sharks: Death Down Under (Discovery)
* Building The Band Season One Finale (Netflix)
* Critical: Between Life & Death Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Digman! Season Two Premiere (Comedy Central)
* Expedition Unknown: Shark Files (Discovery)
* Expedition X: Malpelo Monster Shark (Discovery)
* Family Law Season Four Premiere (The CW)
* Holmes Family Rescue Season Three Finale (HGTV)
* Match Game Series Six Premiere (ABC)
* My Strange Arrest Season Three Premiere (A&E)
* Shiny Happy People Season Two Premiere (Prime Video)
* South Park Season Thirty Seven Premiere (Comedy Central)
* Stick Season One Finale (Apple TV+)
* The Nice Guy Series Premiere (Hulu)
* Washington Black Series Premiere (Hulu)
* Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Season Four Premiere (ABC)
THURSDAY, JULY 24TH:
* All The Queen's Men Season 4B Premiere (BET+)
* A Normal Woman (Netflix)
* Caught! Sharks Strike Back (Discovery)
* Code Of Silence Series Premiere (BritBox)
* Divorced Sistas Midseason Finale (BET+)
* Frankenshark (Discovery)
* Hitmakers Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Let's Go Karaoke! Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
* My Melody & Kuromi Series Premiere (Netflix)
* Surviving Jaws (Discovery)
* The Congregation: Bride Of Christ (Viaplay)
* The Sandman Season Two, Part Two Premiere (Netflix)
SEE YOU ON WEDNESDAY!